Manage Wall Types

The basic data of the wall specification

In the system, specifications for walls can be defined. When creating a wall, the wall type, the texture set, the HRB preamble file, the wall thickness, the reference axis and the layer distribution are adopted from the specification. All these values are then stored in the wall. A change of the specification is not automatically applied to walls that have already been entered.

The specifications are entered via the function 'Manage wall specifications'.

With the selection list at the top of the dialog you can choose existing settings. With the diskette icon you can save the current setting under the same name or a new name. Via the management icon new specifications can be created, also by adopting existing wall specifications, existing specifications can be changed or deleted. See 'Save settings' in the 'General Help' manual.

If you save a favorite for a wall specification (see 'General Help' manual) and click the corresponding icon, the function 'Manage wall specifications' does not start, but the wall input function. The wall specification saved as a favorite is preset. In this way you can place up to nine wall inputs with different wall constructions in the icon bar.

For each specification the following values can be set:

Wall type: A wall type (external, internal or dormer wall) must be specified for the specification. The external and internal wall designation is particularly important for allocation with HRB and for quantity determination. The dormer wall designation causes this wall to be cut not under a roof but between roof surfaces (main roof surface - dormer roof surface). In the HRB allocation a dormer wall is treated as an external wall.

Room determination: For the 'Rooms' module walls play a major role as boundaries of rooms. Thus a wall can limit a room as such or not. The following options are available here:

Room boundary: A wall with this designation automatically bounds a room.

Facing wall (not room-high): If a wall has the option 'Facing wall' for room determination, it is not considered a room boundary. If a facing wall, e.g. in the area of a knee wall, does actually bound the room, it should be set to the standard option 'Room boundary' for 'Room determination'. This has no effect on the wall quantity values, only on the consideration when delimiting the room. These situations mainly occur in the roof area, where even a low facing wall due to roof intersection (knee wall) can be room-limiting. Therefore a facing wall with a maximum wall height of at least 4.0 m is always considered a 'Room boundary'; here the 'maximum wall height' and not the actual wall height is decisive. For the knee wall the maximum wall height could alternatively be set to over 4.0 m.

Only room boundary: A wall with this designation is considered a boundary only when determining rooms, but otherwise is not a wall in the sense of the program. It will therefore not be displayed as a wall in the measurement output.

Additional wall type: We fundamentally distinguish between external walls, dormer walls and internal walls. In some situations a more precise classification of the wall would be helpful, e.g. 'sanitary wall' or 'knee wall'. For this purpose the additional wall type was introduced:

• Entry of the additional wall type:

• In the wall specification: It can be saved with this and thus directly assigned.

• In the wall attributes: Here it can be adjusted without triggering a recalculation of the wall.

• The additional wall type is a free text entry. To access a selection of terms, the file %DHPVOR%\WZusWaTyp.vor can be used; this should only be edited by experienced users.

• Use of the additional wall type:

• The additional wall type is transferred to the HRB system and the combined elements with the system variable EzTyp There it can then be used to control conditions.

• The additional wall type is available in the wall plans. It can be output there in texts.

• The additional wall type is also transferred as information to the wall workstations.

• The additional wall type is transferred in building element lists.

Transfer to the wall workstation: For the wall workstations you can already provide each individual wall with the specification whether the wall should be handed over in viewing direction or opposite to the viewing direction.

HRB preamble: A wall can be assigned an HRB preamble via the specification from the outset. This can be changed later at any time, independently of the specification.

Block construction specification: A wall can be assigned a block construction preamble via the specification from the outset. This can be changed later at any time, independently of the specification.

Texture set: A corresponding browser is available for selecting the texture set. Of interest for walls is the ability within the texture set to distinguish between front, back and edges. Some typical texture sets are supplied.

Wall thickness: The total wall thickness is displayed here and can be entered. The wall thickness always corresponds to the sum of the layer thicknesses. Changes in wall thickness are generally allocated to layer 0.

Reference axis: A special reference axis can be defined for the input. The value is the distance from the left wall edge when looking from the first to the second input point of the wall.

The layer structure (the layers) of the wall specification

Layers: The layer thicknesses are entered. When a change is made the total wall thickness is automatically adjusted. Layer 0 should be the main layer (stud layer) of the wall. Layers -1, -2 etc. are then on the front side, layers 1, 2 etc. on the back side of the wall. For an external wall the front side is always considered the outside.

Core layers (K): Each layer can be a core layer or a shell. The core layers of the wall have a subordinate role and do not influence the intersection of the wall with a ceiling or the roof. However, the displayed wall length in the measurement can be influenced by the core layers. The longest length of all core layers of a wall results in the displayed wall length.

Insulation measurement (I): Layers defined in this way are evaluated as insulation area and insulation volume in the measurement data of the wall surfaces when a wall measurement is stored in the building data program.

Surface measurement (F): Layers defined in this way are evaluated as area and true area in the measurement data of the wall surfaces when a wall measurement is stored in the building data program.

Layer zones for EnEV: With this button you switch to another dialog for entering the layer zones that can occur in a wall. This dialog is described in the chapter Layer Zones for EnEV.

The next three fields have less to do with the specification of a wall than with the input of walls. However, you can make defaults here for the input of walls, which can still be changed again during the actual input.

Connect: When walls meet other walls during input, they are normally intersected with them, i.e. connected. The drop-down list has the following options:

All: All walls are connected without further query.

Single: The program asks for confirmation at each connection.

None: No wall is connected.

Positioning: A wall is entered using two points in the floor plan. In positioning you can choose which line is spanned by these two points: viewing side or back side, center axis, reference axis or choice. With the 'Choice' option the side can be selected graphically after entering the two points.

Input direction: Walls can be entered from right to left or from left to right, with the viewing side remaining on the same side. With the 'Choice' option the wall can be rotated graphically (right mouse) after entering the two end points.

Reference for bottom edge of wall: This is a default for walls that are created with this wall specification, but this setting can be changed when entering the wall. Since most walls with a specific specification are usually entered with the same references and the same height, the default often fits.

As a reference the following option is available:

Bottom edge current storey: The bottom edge of the wall refers to the bottom edge of the storey to which the wall belongs.

Distance to lower reference UA: This is the distance between the bottom edge of the wall and the reference height selected above.

Reference for top edge of wall: For the top edge a reference can be chosen:

Bottom edge current storey: The top edge of the wall refers to the bottom edge of the storey to which the wall belongs. Together with the distance (next field) you can directly enter the maximum wall height, as was also customary with program versions before V14.

Bottom edge layer 0 upper ceiling or Bottom edge layer 0 upper ceiling: The top edge of the wall refers to the bottom edge or top edge of layer 0 of the next ceiling that is located above the bottom edge of the wall. For this purpose a ceiling is searched that is at least 1.8 m above the bottom edge of the current storey. If no ceiling is found up to 1.8 m above the upper storey, the wall is limited by the bottom edge of the upper storey.

Bottom edge layer 0 is typically used for internal walls that end below the load-bearing structure of the ceiling. The load-bearing structure is typically located in layer 0: concrete layer, ceiling beams or cross-laminated timber.

Top edge layer 0 is used for walls that do pass through the main load-bearing structure but still end below the stiffening layer, e.g. below the OSB board.

Bottom edge upper storey: The top edge of the wall is positioned relative to the bottom edge of the next higher storey. This will be the correct approach for most walls. If there is no upper storey, walls are automatically extended to the roof with this option.

Distance to upper reference OA: This is the distance between the top edge of the wall and the reference height selected above.

Definition for upper and lower storey:

The upper storey is automatically searched based on the bottom edge of the storey; the designation (EG, OG 1, ..) does not matter here. The next storey is found that is at most 1.25 m away; if no storey is found up to a distance of 1.25 m, the next one is searched that is at least 1.8 m away. The reason for this interval is that storeys that are created only for ceilings must be found; these have a very small distance, i.e. under 1.25 m. By contrast, intermediate floors should not be found, so the next regular storey must be at least 1.8 m away. For cases where these limits do not yield a suitable result, the references for walls and ceilings should be set to bottom edge current storey so that heights can be entered directly as before.

The building-physical values of the wall specification

In the wall specification you can have building-physical values such as the U-value calculated and display a Glaser diagram. The video shows how this works.