Here are some important measurements to keep in mind while you're building.

The height of 2 plates and one brick is equal to the height of a brick standing on end.

3 plates are equal to the height of one brick.

Use a beam and two pins to support a wall

Finding out which size beam to use is a matter of following a few simple rules.

When a vertical beam crosses a horizontal beam like the image to the left we say that these beams are perpendicular to one another. Keeping this in mind we know that for every 5 plates the holes of perpendicular beams line up enabling us to insert a pin.

This can be expressed a different way by saying every 6th hole from the first pin, the holes in a stack of beams will line up with a hole on a perpendicular beam.

If crossing beams are perpendicular what are beams called that are going in the same direction?