Shim space/rough opening for curtain walls

Revit
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Hi!

I’m looking for a way to create a shim space or rough opening for curtain walls. Do you think Dynamo would be a suitable tool for this task? If so, could you guide me on how to approach it? I’m new to Dynamo, so any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

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About the only way to make an opening larger than “curtain wall” is to:

  • Create an opening in the host wall that is appropriately larger than the embedded curtain wall.
  • Either using: Edit sketch on the host wall to draw the opening.
  • Or using the opening tool to create the opening for the embedded curtain wall.
  • Or using a wall hosed family to create the opening.
  • Or (my favorite) is to make a wall hosted family that cuts the space around the embedded curtain wall. This could also include detail items for the shims as well as 3D elements for sealant and other conduction detail.

From a scripting aspect, using a wall hosted family to create the opening is the simplest to code. You only need to gather the size and location. The other methods require digging deeper into the Revit database. This would work for the last two options. Also, these two options could be easily executed with no programing as you could just as easily drop these into the project in about the same time it would take to run a script.

The Revit way to do this for just construction documents, is to just put a detail component in required view to show sealant and shims at the head and jamb that cover the wall graphics. And ignore the fact that there isn’t a gap.

All depends on what level of detail you want and the end sue of the 3D model. In the sketch below, I used a wall hosted family to cut the opening. The shims and sealant are details embedded in the mullion family. So, there is no need to add those separately. No scripting and it is quick. It took longer to write this response.

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I used to like to having the mullion family be the 1/8" larger on my perimeter. This means that

  1. There isn’t an opening in the envelope which breaks energy models.
  2. There isn’t an extra object to coordinate.
  3. A change to the mullion type changes all objects and can happen fast.
  4. The details are hosted to the mullion family as @aaron_rumple noted so detailing is instant.
  5. The renderings still look good, with no light leak between the envelope wall and the curtain wall.
  6. Mullion families and panels still schedule and size correctly without the added geometry.
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Which is a good solution - as long as you are not scheduling the curtain wall based on the length values. The curtain wall endpoint is always at the end of the mullion.

If you are going to this level of detail - I’m assuming there is the desire for a high level of fidelity in the model information. The energy envelope and light leak issue can be resolved with 3d solid elements in your family cutting the opening. The jamb head detail can be embedded in either the mullion or the opening family. A subjective choice.

You can also get additional detail with wall wraps using a separate opening family.

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Good shout out on the length. In my experience it never mattered as once drawings were done there was no pricing/ordering/etc. off the schedule but off the drawings. Early stuff when drawings weren’t done and things were schedule based the numbers were usually rounded up to the nearest 1 1/2" increment.

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yeah thanks for great options, i just do it with wall openings, works normally fine for me…

Revit_sZVMlZ5N5r

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