How to create a floor in Revit and how to create a ceiling are learned together, because the two elements share one method: a closed outline, a layered build-up, and a host level.
They differ in two ways that cause most of the confusion: a floor hangs below its level while a ceiling sits above it, and floors are drawn in floor plans while ceilings are drawn in ceiling plans.
This article works through Chapter 6 of the Institute's textbook Autodesk Revit 2027 for Architectural Documentation, ordered the way you actually work. Screenshots come from Revit 2027, English interface. To learn the documentation stage in full, see the Revit Architecture course.
Five steps to build the floor and ceiling of a level
The next four sections set out how to create a floor in Revit, then the ceiling, in the order you click. The command is on the Architecture tab, Build panel, Floor button; architectural work uses only the first item.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Floor: Architectural | An architectural floor taking a finish build-up. The one for architectural sets |
| Floor: Structural | The same geometry with structural parameters on. Usually modelled by the structural team |
| Floor by Face | A floor taking the face of a mass |
Autodesk documents the command on its Create a Floor page.
Step 1 — duplicate the floor type and set its layers
The Metric template holds one floor type, Generic 300mm, with no real material — a type for trying things out. Click Edit Type.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Family and Type | System Family: Floor. Floors are system families, present in every project |
| 2 | Duplicate and Rename | Click Duplicate before changing anything, or every floor of that type changes too |
| 3 | Construction | Structure opens the layer dialog. Default Thickness is greyed out because it sums the layers |
Click Edit on the Structure row.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Summary row | Total thickness 300. The thermal figures read zero because no material is set |
| 2 | Layer table | Core Boundary, Structure 300 thick, Core Boundary. The two Core Boundary rows are always 0 thick |
| 3 | Buttons | Insert, Duplicate, Delete, Up, Down. The last three light up once a row is selected |
The floor table has seven columns, and Variable matters most: ticking it lets that layer vary in thickness, which is what allows falls. A typical local floor build-up runs to four layers — tiles, screed, reinforced concrete slab, soffit plaster — so keep a few such types in the office template.
Steps 2 and 3 — sketch with Pick Walls, then check the level
Click OK twice. Revit enters sketch mode and the ribbon switches to its own commands.
| Panel | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mode | The green tick finishes, the red cross cancels. Esc does not leave this mode |
| Draw | Boundary Line, Slope Arrow, Span Direction, the geometry gallery and Pick Lines, Pick Walls |
| Set Offset | Extend Into Wall and the Offset field, to push the edge into the wall |
| Work Plane | Rarely needed for a flat floor |
Click Pick Walls and click the perimeter walls until the outline closes. The real advantage is not speed: each edge remembers the wall it was picked from, so when the wall moves the floor edge follows. Lines drawn by hand stay put and drift away from the walls after a few design changes.
The outline must close. Finish with a gap and Revit reports an error — click Show in that dialog to jump to the gap.
To abandon the sketch, click the red cross and read the question carefully.
It says quitting cannot be undone: once you click Yes, Undo will not bring the outline back.
Click the green tick, then select the floor and check its level — the step beginners get wrong most often.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Constraints | Level L1 and Height Offset From Level 0, so the top of the floor sits on the level |
| 2 | Dimensions | Seven greyed-out fields Revit derives: Perimeter 44000, Area 118.750 m², Volume 35.625 m³, Elevation at Top 0, Elevation at Bottom minus 300 |
The three figures must agree: 118.750 times 0.3 is exactly 35.625 — a quick check on thickness. To lower or raise a floor, change Height Offset From Level, not the level itself: negative lowers, positive raises.
Sloped floors, dropped wet areas and floor openings
Balconies, terraces, bathrooms and flat roofs all need drainage falls. Revit offers two ways to make falls and two ways to drop a wet area.
The first is a slope arrow. In sketch mode, click Slope Arrow and draw an arrow from the high edge to the low edge.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Specify | Height at Tail sets the slope by two heights; switch to Slope to enter the slope directly |
| 2 | Four height fields | Tail is the start of the arrow, the high edge; Head is its tip, the low edge |
| 3 | Slope and Length | Greyed out while heights are used. Revit derives 18.43 degrees and 3225 |
If the drawings give a two per cent fall, use Slope; if they give levels at both ends of a balcony, use heights.
The second is shape editing, for outlets and ridges. Select a floor and the Shape Editing panel appears.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Modify Sub Elements | Editing mode: click a vertex or edge and type a new height |
| Add Point | Adds a control point, used as a drainage outlet |
| Add Split Line | Adds a fold line, used as a ridge |
| Pick Supports | Uses beams as supports, so the floor follows their tops |
| Reset Shape | Returns the floor to flat |
An outlet in the middle of a bathroom takes four steps:
- Select the floor.
- Click Add Point and click at the outlet.
- Click Modify Sub Elements and select that point.
- Type minus 30 and press Enter.
The top surface dips 30 there and falls evenly in every direction, while the underside stays flat.
A dropped wet area of 20 to 50 mm is either a separate floor with Height Offset From Level at minus 30, or one continuous floor with an Add Split Line zone whose vertices are lowered.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Height Offset From Level | Reads 200 — this finish floor is raised 200 above 1F. Level still says 1F, so schedules place it correctly |
| 2 | Three check fields | Elevation at Top 200, at Bottom 150, Thickness 50. When all three agree the offset is right |
Floor openings come two ways. For a hole in one floor only, select the floor, click Edit Boundary, draw an extra closed loop inside and finish — the inner loop becomes a hole. For stair wells and service risers through several levels, use Shaft on the Opening panel:
- Run Shaft and draw the Boundary Line. Symbolic Line only draws the cross symbol and cuts nothing.
- Finish, then select the new opening.
- Set Base Constraint, Base Offset and Top Constraint, as for a wall.
- Set Base Offset a few tens of millimetres below zero, because an opening flush with the level can leave a thin skin behind.
The rule in one sentence: through several levels use Shaft; in one element use Vertical or edit the outline; square to a sloped roof or floor use By Face.
Steps 4 and 5 — place ceilings in a ceiling plan and centre the grid
Open a ceiling plan under Ceiling Plans. Run Ceiling from a floor plan and it still draws, but you see nothing. A ceiling plan looks up, so left and right are mirrored against the floor plan.
Run Architecture › Ceiling.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Automatic Ceiling | On by default. Hover inside a closed room and click once. A gap of a few millimetres at a wall corner defeats it |
| Sketch Ceiling | Sketch an outline as for a floor. For dropped ceilings or ceilings covering part of a room |
The Type Selector offers two families: Basic Ceiling, one layer, for plastered soffits; and Compound Ceiling, layered. The Metric template includes two plasterboard types, 16mm GWB on Metal Stud and 16mm GWB on Wood Furring, plus two suspended grids at 600 x 600 and 600 x 1200.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Summary row | Total thickness 56, with real thermal figures because the face layer has a material |
| 2 | Four layers | Structure 40 thick and Finish 2 16 thick in acoustic tile |
The ceiling table has only five columns — no Structural Material, no Variable. A ceiling carries no load and cannot take falls from shape editing.
A ceiling sits above its level: Height Offset From Level is the ceiling height, for example 2600. The space between the ceiling and the slab above is the service void.
| No. | Part | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | First dropped zone | Hatching marks a ceiling lower than its surroundings, with a level marker for its height |
| 2 | Second dropped zone | Same type, same symbol |
| 3 | Bathroom ceiling | The small grid is a different ceiling type used only in bathrooms |
A suspended grid is generated automatically but almost always sits off-centre: a full tile at one wall, a sliver at the other. Centring it takes four steps:
- Hover over a grid line, press Tab until the status bar reads Ceilings, and click.
- Use Move to shift the whole grid — it moves as one.
- Use Rotate if the room is not square to the grid.
- Check the opposite walls: the leftover strips should match and be no narrower than a third of a tile.
The professional habit is to work from the room centre line: put a grid line on it and both edges balance. And place the ceiling before the lights — a light placed with no ceiling drops onto the floor.
Try it: the floors of the sample house
Exercise 9 of the textbook: floors on two levels and one dropped wet area.
- Open the 1F floor plan. Run Architecture › Floor › Floor: Architectural.
- Edit Type › Duplicate, name it
S-100-BTCT. In Edit Assembly set the Structure layer to 100, then OK twice. - Click Pick Walls and click the perimeter walls until the outline closes.
- Finish. If Revit asks whether to attach walls to the floor, choose No and note the question.
- Select the floor and note Perimeter, Area and Volume. Check that Area times 0.1 equals Volume.
- Duplicate a
S-100-VStype for the bathroom and tick Variable on its Structure layer. - Draw an
S-100-VSfloor over the bathroom with Height Offset From Level at minus 30, and edit the main floor outline to leave that zone out. - Open a section through the bathroom, zoom to the junction and check the step.
- Select the main floor, Ctrl+C, then Paste › Aligned to Selected Levels onto 2F. Check it on 2F.
- Run Shaft, sketch the stair well, set Base Constraint 1F, Base Offset minus 200 and Top Constraint the roof. Check in 3D that it cuts both floors.
Try it: ceilings and a ceiling grid
Exercise 10 of the textbook: ceilings both ways, and a centred grid in the living room.
- Open the 1F ceiling plan under Ceiling Plans.
- Run Ceiling, choose Basic Ceiling: Generic, keep Automatic Ceiling and click each bedroom. Note any room that fails and find the gap in its walls.
- Set Height Offset From Level to 2600 for those ceilings.
- For the living room, choose 600mm x 600mm ACT System, click Sketch Ceiling and draw the outline 200 in from the walls for a cove.
- Select the living room grid and Move it until the strips at opposite walls match.
- Duplicate the ceiling type as
CT-THACH-CAO-2600and change the face layer to plasterboard. Note the new total thickness. - Open a section and measure from the underside of the ceiling to the slab above.
- Save the project.
Four common problems
Before looking anything up, read Level and Height Offset From Level on the element — they answer most questions.
| Problem | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Floor outline not closed | Two segments nearly touch but do not meet. Click Show in the error dialog to find the gap |
| Floor overlapping walls | Answering no when Revit asks about cutting walls counts the volume twice. Pick Walls avoids it |
| Ceiling will not place | Automatic Ceiling highlights nothing because the room is open. Close the wall corner or use Sketch Ceiling |
| Floor missing from the plan | The floor exists but the view range cuts above it. This is a View Range matter |
Frequently asked questions
Why does a floor at level 0 have its bottom at minus 300?
Because Revit puts the top of the floor on the level and hangs the whole thickness below — matching drawings, where level zero is the finished floor surface.
Add Point does nothing to my floor. Why?
The floor type has no layer with Variable ticked. Duplicate the type, open Edit Assembly and tick Variable on the top layer.
Which command cuts a hole through several floors?
Shaft, with Base Offset a few tens of millimetres below zero. Edit it once and every level follows.
Why does the Ceiling command show nothing?
You are in a floor plan. Open the ceiling plan under Ceiling Plans and place it again.
Related articles
- How to create a roof in Revit — flat roof falls use the same shape editing
- How to draw stairs in Revit — the stair well for your Shaft
- How to create a Revit family — lights and ceiling-hosted fittings
- A Revit learning path for beginners — the order to learn elements in