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Your Favorite Building Calculators

Your Favorite Building Calculators (post #182081)

MBerger on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 09:34

General Discussion

Hey All:

I'm assembling a list of links to useful online building calculators. Do you all have any recommendations or favorites that you use, or would use if you had the need?

If so, post a link to this thread.

Thanks in advance,
Matt Berger

my head & experience (post #182081, reply #1 of 16)

by junkhound in reply to

MBerger [original] on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 17:59

my head & experience

Various energy (post #182081, reply #6 of 16)

by rjw in reply to junkhound [original] on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 07:38

Various energy calulators/software are avaialable at http://www.energycodes.gov/

======================================== "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary." Reinhold Niebuhr: 'The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness' http://rjw-progressive.blogspot.com/ ========================================

Lots of them in the internet. (post #182081, reply #2 of 16)

by AaronRosenthal in reply to

MBerger [original] on Sun, 01/10/2010 - 14:50

Lots of them in the internet. Personally, I carry a Construction Master Pro with me ...

Quality repairs for your home.

AaronR Construction
Vancouver, Canada

I haven't been around for (post #182081, reply #8 of 16)

by cliffy in reply to AaronRosenthal [original] on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 19:07

I haven't been around for awhile but I've been meaning to ask you, is that guy in the oldbreaktime in your posts the same guy from one of Luogo's masks?
Have a good day
Maybe see you on the other side
Cliffy

Crown moulding angle (post #182081, reply #3 of 16)

by mmoogie in reply to

MBerger [original] on Sun, 01/10/2010 - 20:40

Crown moulding angle calculator:

http://www.issi1.com/corwin/crown.html

joist/rafter span calculator:

http://www.awc.org/calculators/span/calc/timbercalcstyle.asp

Whole wall R-value calculator:

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/AWT/InteractiveCalculators/rvalueinf...

Heat loss calculator:

http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculators/HeatLoss/HeatLoss.htm

a site with many other misc. calculators:

http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators1A_5_Co_AE.html

Thanks a lot! I'll add these (post #182081, reply #4 of 16)

MBerger in reply to mmoogie [original] on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 06:30

Thanks a lot! I'll add these first thing today. Our new calculator will be featured in the eLetter later today. I'll post a link when it's up.

- Matt

I don't know if it's any good (post #182081, reply #5 of 16)

by rjw in reply to

MBerger [original] on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 06:56

I don't know if it's any good - but Home Depot/superbuild has/have an estimater for contractors: http://www.superbuild.com/productoverview.aspx?partner=homedepot

A long time BT poster (well, (post #182081, reply #7 of 16)

by Snort in reply to

MBerger [original] on Mon, 01/11/2010 - 11:11

A long time BT poster (well, maybe not any more LOL) has a Site with a plethora of calculating features:

http://www.josephfusco.org/Calculators/Calculators.html

www.tvwsolar.com

The Village Woodworks, Inc

Chapel Hill, NC

We'll have a kid Or maybe we'll rent one He's got to be straight We don't want a bent one He'll drink his baby brew From a big brass cup Someday he may be president If things loosen up

I don't use building (post #182081, reply #9 of 16)

by ringo100 in reply to

MBerger [original] on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:17

I don't use building calculators. I use my experience from past jobs to estimate materials...

Calculator of sort- The Corbel Wizard (post #182081, reply #10 of 16)

by tmorris in reply to

MBerger [original] on Tue, 05/11/2010 - 16:47

My 4-person shop designs and manufactures wood countertop corbels and brackets. We have a high school whiz kid, Tyler Johnson, come in on the weekends. He created this "Wizard' to help my customers answer the question, "Will I bump my knees on your countertop corbels?" This tool has received rave reviews from countertop installers and cabinetmakers. Perhaps you may want to use it.

Tyler Morris

http://www.tylermorriswoodworking.com/pages/corbel-wizard

Latest, Greatest (post #182081, reply #11 of 16)

by TheTimberTailor in reply to

MBerger [original] on Thu, 05/13/2010 - 22:13

A great list of online calculators is being created on this thread!

I'll add that it's really hard to beat the versatility of Google's SketchUp for all sorts of calculations. Have you read the SketchUp article in the May 2010 issue #210 of FHB? There's a detailed explanation of why I think so. To me it is a universal building calculator that I can "program" for any application necessary. I'd be glad to help out if you encounter a particular calculation problem and can't find a solution.

Matt Jackson

DOE's ResCheck for heat loss (post #182081, reply #12 of 16)

by Jeff_Clarke in reply to

MBerger [original] on Fri, 05/14/2010 - 04:14

DOE's ResCheck for heat loss calculations vs. code -http://www.energycodes.gov/rescheck/ free download. Or, you can just use it on the web without download - http://energycode.pnl.gov/REScheckWeb/

Ya might wanna try over at (post #182081, reply #13 of 16)

by andybuildz in reply to

MBerger [original] on Fri, 05/14/2010 - 19:57

Ya might wanna try over at JLC or Contractor Talk...lol

http://www.cliffordrenovations.com

Try these online (post #182081, reply #14 of 16)

by Blocklayer in reply to

MBerger [original] on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 17:26

Try these online calculators:

http://www.blocklayer.com

http://www.visualtrig.com

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Building-Cost.net (post #182081, reply #15 of 16)

by Great2bNate in reply to

MBerger [original] on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 22:35

Build Your Dream Home Calc

Uh, Nate, I think you're (post #182081, reply #16 of 16)

by DanH in reply to Great2bNate [original] on Wed, 03/07/2012 - 05:23

Uh, Nate, I think you're making a commercial post. These aren't appreciated hereabouts.

We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature's inexhaustible sources of energy -- sun, wind and tide. ... I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that. --Thomas Edison