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Free building envelope section details for AutoCAD (DWG): walls, roofs, floors, windows, curtain wall

Building envelope section details: 119 ready-made AutoCAD blocks (DWG), free to download and use in your own projects, as a ZIP or one symbol at a time.

119 section detail blocks for the building envelope at real size in millimetres, with every material in its usual hatch: exterior wall build-ups (brick and block cavity walls, rendered and externally insulated masonry, concrete with brick, render or ventilated cladding, timber frame, structural insulated panels, cross-laminated timber, steel stud walls, insulated metal panels); partitions (plasterboard, timber stud, block, brick, concrete, glass); roof build-ups (warm, inverted, green, metal deck, timber, pitched, panel and cross-laminated timber roofs); floor and ceiling build-ups (ground slabs, suspended floors, timber floors, raised access floors, composite decks, suspended ceilings); wall base, floor and eaves details; pitched roof details (eaves, ridge, verge, abutment); flat roof details (parapet, edge, outlet, door upstand, expansion joint, rooflight kerb); windows and doors in the wall (head, sill and jamb, thresholds); curtain wall and glazing (mullion, transom, corner post, slab edge, shopfront, silicone joint); material swatches; and detail markers.

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Using AutoCAD 2017 or an earlier version? Download the 2010 format

Copyright CADXChange. Use and modify the symbols freely in your own drawings and projects, including commercial ones; credit and a link are needed only when you publish them. Please do not redistribute or resell the library. Each ZIP holds one plain DWG file in AutoCAD 2018 format and a README; no add-in needed. Provided as is, without warranty. Library terms (CXL-1.0)

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Attributes for parts lists

Every block has a visible designation next to it (for example Cavity wall, brick and block). The invisible attributes are SIZE, MATERIAL, FIRE_RATING, U_VALUE_W_M2K, FINISH, DETAIL_NO, MANUFACTURER and REMARKS; the swatches carry SIZE, MATERIAL, DETAIL_NO and REMARKS.

Export the details of a drawing sheet to Excel with BlockSync to get a detail list with materials, U-values, fire ratings and detail numbers. Check it against the drawing and write corrections back in one run, with preview and backup.

How to use the library

  1. Unzip the file and open the DWG. Copy the details you need into your sheet, or drag the blocks in from DesignCenter (ADCENTER).
  2. The blocks are drawn at real size, 1 drawing unit = 1 mm. Insert them at scale 1 into a drawing in millimetres, or draw the detail at 1:1 and scale the viewport; on a metre drawing scale them by 0.001. The catalog sheet shrinks every block to fit its cell, the blocks themselves stay at real size.
  3. Layered build-ups have the outside (or the top of a roof or floor) at the top and the origin at the centre of the cut. In the junction details the outside is on the left and the inside on the right, with Y = 0 at the top of the finished floor or structure; use MIRROR for the other hand. Cut materials carry the usual hatches, drawn as plain lines so they print the same everywhere.
  4. The details are typical sections, not a particular design or product: take the exact layers, thicknesses, U-values, fire ratings and manufacturers' data from your project and the data sheets. The junctions show one sensible arrangement to start from; explode a block to change a layer.

About the sizes

There is no single standard drawing for these details, so the blocks use thicknesses that are common in practice: 100 to 215 mm masonry, 100 to 200 mm insulation, 12.5 mm plasterboard, 150 mm raised floor, 50 mm screed. Change them to suit your project; the blocks are meant to save drawing time, not to fix a size.

The blocks are our own drawings and the library is not certified. They show the principle and the layers of a detail, not a design: insulation thickness, U-value, fire resistance, vapour control, flashing and fixings come from the design and the building regulations that apply to your site, and have to be checked by the responsible designer.

Frequently asked questions

Which details are in the library?
Exterior wall, partition, roof, floor and ceiling build-ups, wall base, floor and eaves junctions, pitched and flat roof details, windows and doors in the wall, curtain wall and glazing, material swatches and detail markers. The architectural libraries have doors, stairs and furniture in plan; this library adds the sections through the envelope.
Can I get a detail list from the drawing?
Yes. Every detail carries SIZE, MATERIAL, FIRE_RATING, U_VALUE_W_M2K, FINISH and DETAIL_NO as invisible attributes. Fill them in the attribute editor, export the blocks with BlockSync and sort by detail number or sheet. The sample values are placeholders, not design values.
Can I use the symbols in commercial projects?
Yes. They are free to use and modify in your own projects, including commercial ones. They are provided as is, without warranty. Please do not redistribute or resell the library; see the library terms.
How is this different from the concrete wall section library?
The concrete wall section library goes deep into concrete walls, footings and basements with their bars. This library covers the whole envelope in layers: masonry, timber, steel stud and panel walls, roofs, floors, windows and curtain wall. The blocks use the same style, so you can mix them in one sheet.
Can I change a symbol or add attributes?
Yes. Open the DWG, edit a block with BEDIT to change it or add attributes, and save. To update drawings that already contain the block, run ATTSYNC or replace the block. Make a backup first: attribute values can be lost if ATTSYNC is used carelessly.
Where do I find a ready-made set of these symbols for AutoCAD?
AutoCAD itself ships only a small set of sample blocks, so a full symbol set has to come from a library. Download the ZIP on this page and open the DWG: every symbol is a block. Insert one with INSERT (Blocks palette, Libraries tab, then pick the DWG) or drag it from DesignCenter (ADCENTER). You can also download a single symbol on its own.