Selectable/ not Selectable? help

[scandiainn2000]

Not sure if I am going at this in the right direction. On a house drawing I have created
different elements (ie. foundation, basement floor, windows & doors,walls, etc.) on
different layers. I want to show several layeres at a time but prevent editing on layers
other than the active one.
I can see how filters, sets, groups, etc. could be utilized but which function was designed
for this or is easiest to use?