By Dennis Collin
Revit has many ways to cut holes into walls and slabs, but some ways are better practice than others. One method used by usually newer users is the edit profile/footprint option. This process involves editing the sketch of the wall or floor object and users can draw void interior shapes to represent the opening. However, this process is somewhat tedious, it also doesn’t show the opening correctly on the drawing although detail lines and components can be added for clarity, but this is not the most efficient way to work.
Users can also employ tools line Shaft Opening, which is excellent for the coordination of openings across multiple floors such as riser shafts for MEP services and lifts. However, this tool also fails to generate any symbolic linework to represent openings.
Furthermore, neither of these elements can be scheduled either in location or in terms of dimensions. Although it will update material quantities and volumes on the cut geometry.
Another consideration is the potential need to form a rebate and not cut through the slab/wall host entirely. This is best performed by a face or element hosted family, that can not only have parametric schedulable parameters but also enable to present symbolic linework for construction drawings.
The hole or rebate family can be defined as a face-based component. A rectangular void is set, to cut into a host face with length width and depth parameters assigned.
In a plan view, symbolic lines and fill are added to display whether the entity is a hole or a rebate. The display of rebate or hole can be controlled by a visibility parameter set to a type or to in this case a depth parameter.
Once tested and saved this component can be added to a project or template and used wherever holes or rebates need to be added. Use different families for different shapes with instance parameters or family types to control individual element parameters.
If the parameters are of a shared type, then the opening/pits can also be recorded with Revit’s schedules.