Quick Links
- What Is Foundation
- How To Add Foundation
- How To Use The Foundation Tool
- What Are Foundation Swatches
- How To Have Different Foundation Swatches
- How To Connect Stairs
- How To Add A Second Floor
The Sims 4 gives you access to more tools than ever to customize your virtual life experience. With the foundation and the highly intuitive tools that come with it, you can build the house of your dreams with much less headache than previous games in the series.
Related: The Sims 4: Level Up Your Building Skills With These Tips
The foundation is a section of build mode that some players find intimidating, but if you understand the tools at your disposal, you will be creating everything to your heart’s content with little effort. From cottages and mansions to wrap-around porches and balconies, the foundation will be the starting point for all of your creations, no matter how spectacular.
What Is Foundation
Foundation is your way of changing the size and shape of your house and the rooms within. Rooms, balconies, terraces, and decks can be created upon a foundation while existing spaces can be changed using the foundation tool.
How To Add Foundation
Foundation can be added to your lot by entering build mode, selecting Walls and Empty Rooms, and placing a Platform or a Flat. Click once to place your first foundation shape. Once placed, the foundation tool will appear as a group of arrows pointing in all directions.
If you extend the new foundation into a pre-existing foundation, the two will merge, creating a combined space. You can get creative room shapes by combining different foundational pieces!
How To Use The Foundation Tool
The arrows that appear when you click a room are a part of the foundation tool. By clicking and dragging one of the arrows, you can change the size of a room. By clicking and dragging the arrows facing up and down, you can raise and lower the room.
Keep in mind that raising or lowering the foundation will also raise or lower the foundation on all rooms it is touching.
This also includes foundations placed above and below.
What Are Foundation Swatches
Like most furniture in the game, the foundation can be designed in a multitude of ways. Open the Foundations menu to see the designs available. Hover over a particular design to see the different swatches available to you.
Click one of the foundation swatches and click the foundation you would like to edit in your world. This will change the design of all connected foundations. There are even stilt foundations that will depict your house as being raised up off the ground.
How To Have Different Foundation Swatches
If you would like to have two spaces on one floor that have different foundation designs, you simply need to make sure you are creating the new space separately before attaching it to your existing foundation. One example that you may use this technique for is a deck design.
Create your deck off to the side, give it a foundation swatch, and then drag the room to the rest of your house to attach it.
How To Connect Stairs
If your foundation is raised, your sim will need stairs to access the room. Choose a stair design in build mode and move it to the edge of your foundation. The stairs will automatically match the height of the foundation and connect to it. If you are not placing the stairs near a pre-established foundation, they will automatically appear to be at the height of a second floor.
Click to choose a spot to place the stairs. Once placed, the move tool will appear, allowing you to change the length and rotation of the stairs.
How To Add A Second Floor
Foundation can also be used to create a second floor for your house. In the top right corner of your screen, you will notice two triangle arrows. Click the upper arrow to move to the second floor of the house. You might have noticed that the grid on the ground has moved up. This is the new height for the floor of this level.
Be sure to pay close attention to anything your room is attached to. You do not want to accidentally change the height or color of everything around you. Remember, attached rooms include rooms above or below you. If you raise the height of a second-floor foundation, the first-floor foundation will also rise.
Using the grid will help you avoid errors in your building processes. It can be difficult to tell which level of the lot you are building on, so pay close attention to the grid visualization.
In the screenshots above, you can see where the foundation was being placed on either floor based on the grid.
Next: The Sims 4: How to Unlock All Items In Build Mode
