Hello, and welcome to the Discussion Groups!
More than likely, the Family is not specifically "Wall-Hosted", but rather "Face-Based" meaning that it can be hosted to almost any surface/plane in the Project. If you open the Family and open the "Family Category and Parameters" dialog, and at the bottom, scroll down to "Host", which should read "Face".
If it actually reads "Wall", then the Family is limited to being hosted to an actual Wall. This means that it cannot be hosted to Walls that reside within a Linked Model - it can only be hosted directly to a Wall Element. Thankfully, MEP Elements can be converted to generic Face-Based Families using the method below without too much difficulty.
Applies to: Revit 2011 and up
Many Families that are available for download are built to specifically host to a Wall, Floor, or Ceiling Element in a Revit Project. The problem with this becomes apparent when a Linked Model is involved - these Families CANNOT host to an Element within a Link Model. Therefore, Families that are hosted to a Face are necessary. Any of these element-specific Families can be converted to Face-Based with the following procedure:
1. Create a new Project and draw a Wall, Floor, or Ceiling - which ever element is an appropriate host.
2. Load in the desired Family and place one instance of each Type on the host Element. Exclude Types you do not wish to retain.
3. Save this Project somewhere temporarily and close it. Start another new Project.
4. Link the previous Project file into this one. The placement of the Linked Model is irrelevant.
5. Go to Collaborate tab » Copy/Monitor ▼ Select Link. Select the Linked Project and use Copy to create a copy of each of the placed Elements.
6. The Family is now converted to Face-Based and may be saved/exported from this Project to a separate file for later use.
Note: Only certain Categories are available for Copy/Monitor. If the desired Family is not of one of these, you can edit the Family prior to this process and temporarily change it to an applicable Category and then change it back when completed.
Corey D.
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