Issue with extruding towards the inside of object. (Pics included)

[Wretchedbeaches]

Hey everyone, 
    So im still learning maya and i am trying to model a apartment building currently, well the reference there is a small U shaped cut into the building and i know i could potentially use a boolean to do this but it seemed like it would be much simpilar to model it until i ran into this issue with the extrude tool. 
If you look at the Pic below when i extrude to the inside of the object i am getting faces being created on the top and bottom of the faces i am trying to extrude. Its not as simple to delete them i can give a example file if needed but what is it i am missing here? Is there a way in settings to make it so all faces AND edges get pushed back or what am i doing wrong? Thanks for all your replies and help and time reading this. 

[damaggio · Accepted solution]

you shouldnt do an illegal extrusion inless you gonna clean afterwards.

[Wretchedbeaches]

Ok gotcha, i am trying to model things now qith better topo and learn the correct way so i dont run into issues with ngons and non-manifold geo as i was having issues with those later on in the process. I just didnt know the correct way to go about it. So would the correct way be to just use the quad draw or polygon create tools to make the outline from top view then extrude downwards?

[damaggio]

its easier to model without floor and ceiling, thats done later.

[damaggio]

Also make sure to protect your work from getting corrupted and work in real scale.

[damaggio]

yes you can extrude an outline of the building if you have a plan.You can also use the multicut tool to draw on a poly plane, then extrude.

[damaggio]

Also architectural buildings for games and film are different than those for Architectural jobs.

[Wretchedbeaches]

Yeah i figured that, thanks for all the info. i always work in real world scale i learned that when doing sims and stuff otherwise it would be all screwy. One last thing, Do you know of any resources that teach modeling in a more effiecent way? i have using the tools down just proper technique is what slows me down greatly having to fix multiple things later and my UVs being horrible. 

[damaggio]

No, there are no resources like that, this learning arc comes from years of practice and reading about tips in this forum, videos and internet articles from working professionals.

You should also create your library of tutorials for Maya tips and technics to help you in the future, modeling, texturing, settings, cameras, lighting, Uvs, shading, scripting, etc.

[Wretchedbeaches]

Will Do, Thank you.