Understanding Stairs

Stairs in Revit can be a source of chaos and frustration.

It doesn’t have to be that way. This guide breaks down all the complex parts into easy to digest small bites. We promise that after reading this, everyone will be baffled by how great of a stair modeler you’ve become. Enjoy these tips.

1- UNDERSTAND ALL REVIT STAIRS DEFINITIONS

Before doing anything, you need to understand all Revit stairs definitions. Have a look a the visual legend below to make sure you get everything.


BASE AND TOP LEVELS: Stairs are based on selected levels that already exist in the project. You can add an offset on these levels if required.

DESIRED STAIR HEIGHT: Total distance between the base and the top of the stairs, including offsets.

DESIRED NUMBER OF RISERS: Automatically calculated by Revit, dividing Stair Height by Maximum Riser Height. You can change this number, which will modify the stair slope.

ACTUAL NUMBER OF RISERS: The number of risers you modeled so far.

MAXIMUM RISER HEIGHT: Riser height for your stair will never go above this value. This parameter is set on the stair type. Usually on par with code requirements.

ACTUAL RISER HEIGHT: This distance is automatically calculated by Revit, dividing the Stair Height by the Desired Number of Risers.

MINIMUM TREAD DEPTH: On the stair type, specify the minimum tread depth. When you start modeling your stair, you can go above this number, but not below.

ACTUAL TREAD DEPTH: By default, this value is equal to minimum tread depth set in the stair type. However, you can set a bigger value if you want more depth.

MINIMUM RUN WIDTH: Set on the stair type, you can specify the minimum run width. This does not include support (stringers).

ACTUAL RUN WIDTH: By default, this will be the same as the minimum run width. You can set a higher value than the minimum, but a lower value will result in a Warning.

2- SET MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM VALUES IN STAIR TYPE

Now that you understand what all these Revit stair definitions mean, time to set them up. Select the stair tool in the architecture tab. Then, click on Edit Type in the properties. Adjust Maximum Riser Height, Minimum Tread Depth, and Minimum Run Width. Usually, these values are set in order to satisfy code requirements. This will affect all stairs using this type.

3- SET BASE AND TOP LEVELS

Select your base and top levels. Set offsets. Desired Stair Height will be automatically calculated.

4- DRAW THE STAIR FROM BOTTOM TO TOP

You can now begin to draw your stair. There are many stair shapes options, for now let’s use the most common straight one. Click a first time to set the start point of your stair. Move your cursor to see the projected shape of your run, based on the tread depth you have set previously. Click again to complete the run.

When drawing a stair path, you start at the low point and end with the top of the stairs. If you did it backward, flip the stairs, by clicking the Flip button or clicking the arrow symbol.

5- HAVE A CLOSE LOOK AT OPTIONS BAR

When entering the stair creation mode, have a look at the option bar. You can change Location Line to decide if you want to draw the stairs based on the side or on the center of the run. You can also change the Actual Run Width to go above the minimum you specified previously.

6- USE 3D VIEWS AND SECTIONS

Using 3D views in addition to plan views and sections is a great way to build and understand stairs. Use Selection Box to isolate the stair in the 3D view if required. To create stairs from a 3D view, make sure the Workplane is set to a plan level, else you will receive a warning.

7- UNDERSTAND WHERE TO FIND ALL PARAMETERS

Finding all stairs parameters can be confusing. It’s because the stair type contains three sub-type of elements, where more parameters are located.

STAIR TYPE: Controls the dimension rules of your stairs, like riser height, tread depth and run width. Inside Stair Type, you will also find Run Type, Landing Type, and Support type.

To modify these types, either go to Stair Type or use TAB to individually select a run, landing or support. Then click Edit Type.

RUN TYPE: Inside this type, you can modify Tread Thickness, and set a Nosing Length
to your treads. You can also set Riser Thickness and decide if you want them slanted. Also, use this panel to set materials for tread and risers.

LANDING TYPE: By default, this will be the same as Run Type. Uncheck the box Same as Run to customize landing material, thickness, nosing, etc.

SUPPORT TYPE: Specify whether to use Carriage or Stringer style support. Also set support Material, Width, and Depth. See advanced tips for more information.

7- LANDINGS ARE AUTOMATIC BY DEFAULT

If you draw two stairs run next to each other, Revit will automatically add a landing to join the two. You can uncheck this feature when creating the stairs (see tip 2).

Landings at the top or at the bottom of the stairs are never automatic, they have to be created manually. Use the Landing Component and select Create Sketch button. Then draw the outline of the landing.

8- ADJUST “DESIRED NUMBER OF RISERS” TO CHANGE STAIR SLOPE

By default, Desired Number of Risers will be equal to the lowest number of risers you need to not go beyond Maximum Riser Height. However, you can specify more risers to get a softer stair slope. Don’t ever put fewer risers than the calculated minimum, else you will receive a warning!

9- ADJUST “ACTUAL TREAD DEPTH” FOR A LONGER RUN

Instead of adding risers, you can also put a bigger value to Actual Tread Depth for a softer stair slope. Changing this value will make the run longer. Again, don’t put a number below the Minimum Tread Depth, else you will receive a warning. Warnings are annoying and mean that you are not following your own rules.

10- ADJUST “BEGIN WITH RISER” AND “END WITH RISER”

In the image below, RUN #1 has the default settings: it begins and ends with a riser. However, we changed the settings for RUN #2, which begins and ends with a tread instead of a riser. You can change this option by clicking on a run and checking/unchecking the parameters.

11- SELECT RAILING TYPE WHILE CREATING STAIRS

While creating stairs, railings will automatically be added to your stair. The default type will be the last one selected. To change it, click the railing button and select another type, or select None for a stair without railing.

12- SELECT CARRIAGE OR STRINGER SUPPORT TYPE

A Carriage Support is underneath the stair, following the shape of treads and risers. This is a type usually used for a wooden residential stair type. A Stringer Support will be separate from the stairs, usually on par with metallic stairs construction type. These settings are found in Stair Type.

 

Source: https://revitpure.com/

 

Roofs and Rafter cut

Here are some quick tips on roofs and rafter tails you might find useful…

These are some of the options you will have when you draw roofs by FOOTPRINT and use PICK WALL option. (Note that some of these are NOT available if you use a different method to build your roof):

1- Rafter or Truss: Revit will allow you to pick if the assembly you are modeling is going to be a rafter or truss and based on that, it will be placed accordingly:

Truss sits on roof level at top of plate

And Rafter sits at the interior edge of the stud (Wall Core)

There are some great features here to use, you can define the Cutoff Level and Cutoff Offset and Base Offset from Level to create Rafter tails:

2- Rafter Cuts: There are three options,

a) Plumb Cut

b) Two Cut – Plumb: This will allow you to also define Fascia Depth

c) Two Cut – Square: also gives you Fascia Depth option

If your Fascia Depth is selected to be same (or more) than your roof assembly depth, then you’ll get a perfect square. (In this example, the Basic roof has 8” thickness, and the Fascia Depth is assigned to be at 9”)

Sloping Building Pad

Creating a building pad for your project is a great feature in Revit.

Ummm… But not all buildings are built flat!

In case you are not aware of this, if you have an on-grade sloping floor, you can give your building pad a slope. This is how:

1- Select your Pad. Click on Edit Boundary.

(Try to break down your building pad, create a separate one for the flat area, and a different one for where there is a slope)

2- Under Edit Boundary, click on Slope Arrow

3- Specify the Slope and input your slope. Slopes are defined in x”/12” format.

Mini Tip: if you want to input 5% slope you can simply enter “ =5/100” (it is important to include the equal sign to identify that you are inputting an equation.)

4- Add a minus to change the direction of your slope.

5 – there you go! Enjoy!

Showing Concrete Core of the wall only

Sometimes, in slab plan, for instance, we want to show the concrete core of the walls only. Typically, you can either show or hide the whole wall, not the finish layers.

Here is one way I have come across that is not perfect, but it does the job!

1- Here we have a sample, with concrete walls, metal walls, and finishes…

2- In Visibility/Graphics Go to Filters. Let’s add a filter, we are going to define what this will filter for us next.

3- Under Categories select Parts, Filter by Material that does not equal to the concrete.
(here you can also filter by Construction, Core and Finish to get the same result)

Here is a little mini Revit session:Try to organize your Materials early on. It makes it much easier if you only have one Concrete material, in this case for example, so it can be filtered out or rendered, or changed easier. I have seen projects with multiple kind of the same material (i.e. something was imported from another project, and project ended up carrying multiple materials for the same thing… Try to avoid that!

4- Let’s now add this filter to the project.

5- Uncheck visibility, this will turn off the visibility for all layers that do not equal concrete – meaning all you see IS concrete.

6- Now, select all the walls in the view, and click on “Modify/Walls” – in the Create section click on the “create parts” icon. For THIS VIEW ONLY, this would take all the layers of your walls apart.

7- In Properties section, and under Graphics, change Part visibility to Show Parts.

8- It’s done!

Notice these walls contain all the layers in all other views.

So… I said this method is not perfect, as you create parts to the walls, the joint feature does not work since we are asking revit to show us the parts as if you are using it for fabrication. So each wall WILL have the start and end. I would love to find a way to create a smooth joints, but I have not been successful. If you know a way, let me know!