First look at the bearing check:



I also need to update my disclaimer, the disclaimer shown is for my previous online calculator, it needs some changes.

I don't have a lot of advice for you, but try to think about having everything do multiple jobs.  Fold down table, table turns into bed, vertical custom cabinets, loft for storage or bed, building supplies under cabin, build a shed.  

Good luck

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about building a small cabin or micro-cottage, and I'm wondering how you organize the space to make it really practical.
I'm mainly thinking about storage and managing supplies, so that I have enough to last a few days without having to run around everywhere. Even a small stock of long-life meals can quickly become cumbersome if you don't think about it from the outset.

If you have any tips for optimizing space and keeping the place functional while maintaining a minimum of autonomy, I'm all ears!

Working on assembling the actual engineering part of the report now, adjustment factors, shear, moments, deflection and bearing checks.

Version 0.8.2 - 09.09.2025
- Enabled loads and reactions (values) within the load diagram.
- Fixed a bug with end supports that are not centered on the start or end of the beam.
- Improved the formatting logic (SVG and HTML) for the load diagram.

Thank you both very much for the replies. I do electrical work by trade, but I have very little building experience. I'm going to contract some of the work, but I'll do as much as I can. These are some good points I hadn't considered before. 

Version 0.8.1 - 09.07.2025
- Developed the matrix analysis engine for the beam calculator using the stiffness method.
- Added a load diagram to the beam report.
- Added shear and moment graph to the beam report.
- Added a deflection graph to the beam report.

The engineering report is still not complete however by rolling this beta release I can allow potential users of this plugin the ability to test it out and assist in the debugging.  The plugin can be directly downloaded from this link:

http://design.medeek.com/calculator/sketchup/medeek_engineering_ext.rbz

First look at partial UDLs with overhangs:







So with that I think the basic nuts and bolts of the matrix analysis engine is in place and functioning pretty much as expected.  Of course it will probably be a few more days or even weeks before I am able to put out every little fire that may be burning undetected thus far, but we will see.

Now I will turn my attention to the following items on the todo list:

1.) Try to fix the truncation in the shear graph so that vertical jumps actually are vertical.
2.)  Add in the standard engineering checks for wood beams (glulam, lumber, timber, LVL, SCL and PSL)
3.)  Finish the formatting and layout of the HTML report.  I may also include an option between a condensed report and a detailed report (or that may come later).

Things that are not specifically on the todo list but are interesting:

- Add in fixed and partially fixed supports, currently every support is assumed pinned.
- Engineering for steel beams
- Trapezoidal distributed loads
- Moment loads

Overhanging beams with point loads now check out.  Once again ChatGPT to the rescue to help debug my syntax and even debug my actual algorithms.  This AI stuff is getting crazy good, sometimes it makes mistakes but then it is able to reason and catch itself, it's uncanny.

Now I just need to debug for uniform distributed loads on overhanging beams.  Then it is on to the actual engineering portion (AWC stuff for wood) and some final formatting of the PDF/HTML report.

I'm also not entirely satisfied with the clunkiness of the tools used to move and create the supports, some improvements on this end are needed.  A load/support copy tool would be really nice, rather than having to create completely new loads and supports from scratch.

I built the single story, you will have no problem extending it longways.

I used 16" floor joist increments since the 2x12 SS was the sturdiest dimensional lumber I could get ahold of at 20' span, might be able to use 2' increments with engineered lumber.

If you're not married to 20' width and you're just a single guy, I did find obtaining and hauling 16' lumber to be way more accessible from both a logistics and accessibility standpoint, but given this house was used for more than one person the 20' suited us perfectly.