Sizing framing members is made easy when using Boise Cascade®’s free BC Calc® software. Everyone in the supply chain — builders, architects, engineers, dealers, and distributors can use it to analyze and size joists, beams, columns, studs, and tall walls.

How BC Calc Works

The single member sizing software works for Boise Cascade’s full line of engineered wood products (BCI® & AJS® joists, Versa-Lam® LVL, BOISE GLULAM® beams) as well as complementary dimension lumber. The Best Analysis tool helps determine the most efficient or economical product solutions.

Upon completion, the tool prints an easy-to-read design report that displays spans, loads, and calculation results. Reports can be customized with required project details for building inspectors.

Robust yet designed for simplicity, BC Calc works via the web or a desktop application for easy access from the office or the job site, with or without the internet. File sharing via links or the cloud allows for collaboration with other members of the design team.

BC Calc’s Array of Helpful Features

BC Calc is highly customizable to each user’s unique needs and preferences, and defaults allow users to customize settings by project or customer to increase efficiency. The defaults become part of the saved file so anyone viewing the file sees it as the original designer intended.

Other key special features:

• BC Calc offers an exclusive I-joist top flange notch and hole repair evaluation tool. If an I-joist is damaged during construction — such as from a flange being accidentally cut or a plumber making an unplanned hole in the web — dealers or builders no longer have to relay information up the chain to their Boise Cascade support team. Anyone with the load and geometry information, usually the designer, can input the member and the damage condition into BC Calc and then evaluate the repair potential. There are numerous minor damage conditions that can be resolved without ever having to engage the distributor, sales, or engineering support, which significantly shortens the timeline for getting the issue resolved on the job site.
• With BC Calc’s integrated BC FloorValue® tool, users can determine the vibration and deflection characteristics for single members (as opposed to a whole system evaluation found in BC Framer®), providing a simple means of identifying performance problems.
• The tall wall design feature allows users to draw a 2D elevation of a wall and add openings, vertical loads, and out-of-plane wind loads. The calculation reports and material list for all members within the wall simplify the process of takeoffs and building code official review.
• In addition, users can leverage a searchable library of product resources without leaving the BC Calc platform for quick access to product literature, installation information, and code evaluation reports.

Try BC Calc

Getting started with BC Calc is easy. Try it for yourself here.

You can also request support and training from Boise Cascade here or reach out to your Boise Cascade representative for full details.