How to use Framing Plan

Getting started

Framing Plan runs entirely in your browser. Open the studio, and you start with a blank rectangular footprint already framed with joists — edit it directly, or pick a template.

• New project — start from an empty canvas or a pre-built template.
• Templates — rooms and a full house layout you can adapt.
• Your work is autosaved locally as you go.

Shaping the footprint

Set the overall size, then refine the shape on the canvas.

• Pick Rectangle or L-shape under Bay shape.
• Type exact width & depth (mm), or drag any vertex on the canvas.
• Click an edge to type its exact length.

Joist span & spacing

Control how joists run and how close together they sit.

• Span direction — Horizontal, Vertical, or Auto. Joists bear on the red walls.
• On-centre spacing — choose from your profile's standard spacings.
• Joist and beam span status updates live as you change the layout.

Load-bearing walls

Toggle which walls are load-bearing under Load-bearing walls. Defaults follow the joist span direction; override them as the design requires. Bearing walls are drawn in red.

Openings & header beams

Add doors and windows by choosing a wall, type, offset, and width, then Add opening. Openings appear as gaps in the wall and export on their own CAD layer.

Grid & columns

Turn on the structural grid to show setting-out lines and columns at their intersections. Set the grid spacing in millimetres.

Symbols & elements

The left palette holds structural symbols, openings, loads, annotations, and furniture.

• Search the palette or use your Recents.
• Drag a symbol onto the plan, or click to drop it at the centre.
• Select an element to move, rotate, scale, duplicate, or delete it.
• Nudge a selected element with the arrow keys (hold Shift for a bigger step).

Exporting your drawing

Open the Export tab. Downloads save the plan to your account first.

• Preview CAD layers — see exactly what the DXF contains, by layer, before downloading. No sign-in needed.
• DXF — CAD-ready geometry on named layers (Walls, Bearing, Joists, Beams, Grid, Columns, Openings, Elements), in millimetres.
• PNG / PDF — clean drawings with a title block. They always fit the whole plan to the page, whatever your current zoom.

Keyboard & command palette

Work faster with the keyboard:

• ⌘K / Ctrl+K — command palette (run any action).
• ? — full keyboard-shortcut reference.
• V / H / M — Select, Pan, Dimension tools.
• ⌘Z undo · ⌘⇧Z redo · ⌘C/⌘V/⌘D copy / paste / duplicate.

Saving & accounts

Sign in with a one-time email link to save multiple projects to your account and download drawings. Without an account, your current plan is still autosaved in this browser.