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Designing a structure requires meticulous attention to how loads transfer from one member to the next. Traditionally, this means manually calculating reactions and copying them over to the next component. At Calcs.com, load linking automates that path. By dynamically connecting your gravity members, you can iterate designs faster and skip copying reactions between calcs. These articles use a deck design as the running example; you can follow along with our Deck Design Series.

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Linking joists to beams

The first step in tracking gravity loads is linking deck joists to deck beams. After you have fully designed the joist, you can push those reactions into the beam calculation.
  • Create a new calculation for your deck beams.
  • Link the line load from a previous gravity member.
  • Pick your designed deck joist as the source.
  • Choose which reaction to link (for example which end of the beam) and where the load applies, such as across the full beam length.
  • For repeating joists, Calcs.com approximates point reactions as a distributed line load based on joist spacing.
Pro tip: once line loads are linked from the joist, remove any redundant manual deck loads on the beam so you do not double-count. Then open Member Selector from Size and grade to try sections quickly and pick a passing member.

Avoid double-counting loads

Linked reactions replace what you used to type by hand. Delete the extra manual deck surface loads after you confirm the link.

Member Selector deep dive

See utilization at a glance and filter the database to land on an efficient section faster.