Vertically Stacked Partitions

On several occasions I've had a new Revit user "discover" Revit's vertically stacked partitions. They usually think this is the quick and painless answer to all their problems with exterior walls; changes in materials, water tables, etc... I usually then have to patiently explain why, even though they are conceptually a good idea, vertically stacked walls are in fact the devil incarnate (per our Autodesk Revit contacts) and that in the long run these wall types tend to cause more problems then they help solve. Though I have been told they are perfectly good and useful at an early conceptual phase.

However, I have to admit that just the other day I had an inspiration for where vertically stacked walls could in fact be very useful (though I don't make any promises because I haven't been able to use this theory yet). The idea cam up because a user was scheduling material quantities and I pointed out that numbers for GWB can be a bit hazy because of the way Revit typically handles both interior & exterior walls, and quite often there is alot more GWB in your model then the contractor will actually build.


It was then that I realized that we could use a vertically stacked partition for an interior wall where the GWB needs to only go up the ceiling (or just a little past). The image to the right shows my example. The left most wall is a typical partition with GWB on both sides of a mtl stud. In this case it goes all the way to the bottom of the floor system above. The wall in the middle is just metal studs, and the wall on the right is a vertically stacked wall type composed of the two walls to the left. In this cas the vertically stacked partition is named "Inteiror Stacked Wall - 8' Ceiling", the GWB partition is set to a fixed height of 8'- 6" so that there is a GWB overrun above the ceiling height. The metal stud partition is set as variable so that in section the structure appears to go all the way to the floor system above.

In a situation like this you would have to have a Vertically Stacked wall type for each ceiling height condition you have, however typcially a partition like this would be used in offices with no privacy concerns or light commerical; where you probably won't have very much ceiling varation. What is also nice is that even if you have multiple stacked wall types (for different ceiling heights), as long as you use the same basic wall type ot build it; in plan they will all tag the same!