Lumber Take Off In Revit

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

It seems like this should be so easy but I've spent most of my day so far trying to make this happen. The problem is sorting the walls by wall thickness. Of course, to do a good material list for framing, you only need a little bit of information:

• Wall Height
• Wall Length
• Wall Thickness
• Stud Spacing

I can get all of this info easily but the core thickness rather than the entire wall thickness is what I'm after. I found a post where a forum user created a calculated value for 'Layer Thickness' using Material: Volume/Material: Area, and assigned 'Core Material' to the Material Comments in order to sort that info. The problem is that some of the walls that are actually 3 1/2" are being calculated as narrow as 2 3/4" of an inch.

I saw that this may be possible through Dynamo, before I jump to the Dynamo Forum and ask that question, does anyone have a thought on how else to achieve this? 

Another perplexing thing that I found today and I think it may be new in 2023 is that there is a 'Width Measured At' field in available fields for wall properties, but I can't find that field anywhere in the wall properties themselves and can't find anything to speak of online about it, anyone have any info on this?

[barthbradley]

Volume/Area=Thickness.  

Revit Formula: =(Material: Volume / 1) / (Material: Area / 1)

BTW: Have you considered modeling your Studs as Curtain Wall Mullions in a Curtain Wall Type?  

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

I adjusted my formula as you indicated but it did not change the values of the walls that I am having trouble with. Here is one of the wall (the first one at the top of the list). If the discrepancy was a little closer to 3 1/2", I could just round to the nearest 1/2". 

We actually have StrucSoft MWF and can produce full framed models but that takes a little time. We are looking to pull data from the models quickly and convert to MTO's.

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

The one thing that every single one of these walls that is coming up with a narrow measurement has in common is that they join into an angled wall. 

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

Create Parts and schedule parts with a filter to include only Parts with Core materials in the schedule.  Thickness is a built-in parameter that you can add to the schedule directly.

[barthbradley]

That doesn't make a bit of sense to me.  Something peculiar is going on if what you are saying is true.  Post a screenshot the Wall's Assembly.

...you know, you make it easier on yourself if you use a uniquely named material (such as "stud") strictly for stud layers.  

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

@ToanDN, I selected all my walls and created parts, I then created a parts schedule. I don't have the option to filter the material though. 

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

I have used Materials such as 'stud' or 'studs', exactly that actually, but these files are from another company. This is one of the big reasons why I am trying to use the data/parameters as opposed to names, so that I can sort/group/filter by consistent data no matter where the model comes from.

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

Create Parts Material Take-off schedule.

[barthbradley]

Regarding your Filtering question, you can Filter by Materials via the Filter Tab.  

[barthbradley]

...but Filtering isn't an issue with either method.  That 3 1/2" Stud Wall that you say is reporting as 2 3/4" IS an issue.  That's not solved by Filtering.   

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

@barthbradley, do you want me to actually create an assembly or do you just want to see the layers that make up the wall?

[barthbradley]

No, I just wanted you to prove to me that that 3 1/2" wall is reporting incorrectly, as you say it is.  Highlight that 2 3/4" Wall in the schedule and press Highlight in Model. Then take a screenshot of the Wall's Edit Assembly dialog box and post it.  

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

I think the reason that I didn't have the ability to filter by Material is due to the fact that I created a 'Parts' schedule and not a Material Take-Off. Based on your last screenshots, I'm sure that's my error. I'm going to retry with a material list in a moment.

With the 2 3/4" wall widths, that seems to be an error with the way the formula is calculating angled walls, as the angled walls are the only walls that are coming up like that.

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

@barthbradley , I did as you requested prior to you requesting it up above. Here is one of the same photos. This is the first entry in the list, I selected that entry>Highlight in model, this is the wall it brought me to. Every wall with a bad width is a wall that connects to an angled wall. Also, the walls properties are below.

[barthbradley]

Alright. I'm sold. Parts to the rescue then.  

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

@barthbradley , you win the internet today. The parts solution with the thickness parameter works just as I wish it did prior to creating parts. But for our purposes, this will work perfectly. Thanks again, between you and @ToanDN, you guys have kept me from ripping my hair out many times.

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

There is unfortunately an issue with the parts solution, you can't calculate totals in a Material List apparently. Which is bizarre to me that they have restricted the ability to sort and calculate the data like this. I would obviously need the total length of 2x4 and 2x6 by height. According to AutoDesk Help:

'The access to this feature is purposely restricted in Material Takeoff  schedules.
 
If an element contains multiple materials, it gets multiple entries in a material takeoff—one for each material. If you total an element parameter, it will be totaled once per material in the element rather than once per element.'

On the other hand, in a schedule I don't have the option to filter by Material but can calculate totals. At this point it looks like a schedule will have to be the solution but I'll have to find a different parameter to filter by. Or perhaps a Multi-Category schedule as Help kind of suggests.

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

Just a quick update for anyone who finds this in the future. I have ended up sorting my schedule by wall thickness and height then calculated total length, and by doing this I was able to sort the data as I need it without using the material field.

[DrakeCanyonArchitecture]

Yet another Caveat in the pursuit of creating a lumber list. It turns out that by creating parts from the wall, you lose the ability to distinguish between interior or exterior as well as bearing or non-bearing. Which is huge in our case as they are using 2' centers and single top plates for interior non-bearing walls, and double top plate at 16" centers for bearing walls. This could all be rectified with a core thickness parameter.

To further that point, typically from the wall information you could get a pretty close count on drywall, stucco, etc. We usually go through the windows to account for waste, whereas Revit would naturally deduct the area of all the doors and windows so it would be a matter of add a percentage back to those materials. As mentioned above, with info from only a few parameters from the walls, you can get tons of info from that. Even baseboard counts, drywall, insulation, etc. The single thing that is missing at this point is the ability to sort the walls by thickness without creating parts from the wall.