Joist and Beam tools
DimSum ships two smart framing tools, the Joist Tool and the Beam Tool. Draw an area and the joists lay themselves out, with rim board and sheathing; click two points and a beam knows what length to order.
Steps
- Make your own copy. Both tools live in the Tools panel under DimSum Defaults → Defaults → Framing, and they're read-only there. Use Copy to a folder of my own… (or Copy into this job). Your copy keeps everything the tool does, and you can link its parts to your own material tables.
- Link the Joist part to your lumber. The Joist part is matched for each joist, so filter your lumber table on
{Joist Length}and{Joist Material}and each joist picks its own board. - Draw a joist area. Arm your Joist tool and draw the area like any Area, cutouts included for stairs and chases.
- Pick the direction. When the area closes, click the edge the joists run along. The first joist sits on that edge and the rest are laid out across the area at the O.C. Spacing. Or press
Jand draw the first joist yourself.Esckeeps the longest edge. - Set the layout. In Properties, set O.C. Spacing, Double (None, Every, Every other, Every third), Joist Material (2x10 to start) and Joist Length Rounding (Up to even foot to start, so a 9' joist orders as 10').
- Add rim and sheathing. Rim board goes on the edges the joists run into, and the joists stop at it. To change which edges get rim, right-click the area → Rim edges…, click the edges, and press
Enter. On your own copy, turn Rim Board on and link Rim Material to your rim stock. Sheathing is counted in sheets, one layer per part: use Add layer for each layer you need, or remove them all for none. - Work with single joists. Every joist is its own item, J1, J2 …, under its area in the tree. Right-click one to Remove joist, Double joist or open Joist settings…. Its own values stay put when the layout changes.
- Place beams. Arm your Beam tool, answer Beam or Header and Plies, and click Place. Click one end of the beam, then the other. That's B1; the next two clicks make B2, in the same tool. A beam is drawn at its real size: Beam Width (one ply) × Plies. Leave Beam Width and Beam Depth blank to take them from the Beam Material.
- Set the length rules. Select the tool and click Edit rules… on the Length Rules row. For example: a 2-ply beam up to 4' long uses one 8'. A beam longer than the Longest Length goes to the LF Material, in linear feet.
- Let joists meet beams. A beam whose bottom lines up with the joists' attaches on its own: the joists are cut at its faces and each end gets a Joist Hanger. Right-click it → Detach from joists to let them run through, or Attach to beam to cut them again. For a beam just under the joists, choose Joists at this beam ▸ Bypass, Butt, Lap, Sister or Cantilever. The joists break at the beam's dashed break line: its center, or set Break Line to a face.
- Set heights. Elevation Offset is how far the bottom of the member sits above its level. Pick another level from Level ▾ for ceiling joists drawn on the floor below.
TIP
Draw the beams before the joists that sit on them. The joists read the beams on their page and set hangers and joints for you.
Good to know
- Fixed parts can't be deleted, like the Joist, Beam Material and LF Material. Set a Qty to 0 if you don't need one.
- Copy and paste works on the plan.
Ctrl+CandCtrl+Vbring a joist area or beam along with its own values. - Each beam can have its own Plies, Beam or Header, Beam Width, Beam Depth, Break Line, Beam Ends and Elevation Offset. Change the tool and every beam still on the default follows.
- Hangers with no beam, such as joists hung from a ledger: right-click the area → Hanger edges…, click the edge and press
Enter. For one joist end, right-click the joist → Hanger at the … end. - Hide the area or the joists from the area's right-click menu to see what's under them. The counts don't change, and the print follows.
- Coming to the framing tools: rafters and blocking are Coming.
- The Wall tool is Coming.
Next
Next: Run a report
