Tool
Valheim build planner
Work out the footprint of a base before you cut a single tree. The grid is a real two-metre scale, because that is the largest standard piece Valheim builds from — so each tile is one full-size floor or wall, and 25 tiles is a 10 by 10 metre hall.
Click or drag to draw. Each tile is 2 × 2 m, so the board covers 48 × 32 m. Right-click or pick Erase to remove.
Pieces
| Floor | 0 | 0 m² |
|---|---|---|
| Wall | 0 | 0 m² |
| Roof | 0 | 0 m² |
| Beam | 0 | 0 m² |
Material estimate
Total: 0 units
Default is one unit per piece. Enter the real cost from your crafting menu — it is the only number that matches your save.
Why the grid is two metres
Valheim has no build grid, which is exactly why planning is worth doing on one. What it does have is a fixed set of piece sizes: pieces come in 1×1, 1×2 and 2×2 metres. Wooden beams are either one metre or two metres long, and wooden walls come in 1×1, 1×2 and 2×2 sizes. Every larger structure is made by snapping those pieces together.
So a two-metre tile maps cleanly onto the game. A tile is one full-size piece, half a tile is a one-metre subdivision, and the arithmetic stops being guesswork. A 10 by 10 metre hall is five tiles across and five down — 25 pieces. A 6 by 4 metre outbuilding is three tiles by two, or six pieces. That is the whole reason this planner counts tiles rather than drawing freehand walls.
About the material estimate
The piece count and the floor area are exact — they are just arithmetic on what you drew. The material total is deliberately yours to set, because the real cost depends on which piece you use, which material tier it is made from, and the version of the game you are on. Iron and grausten pieces cost very differently from a basic wooden floor.
Claiming a fixed number per tile would mean printing a figure that silently goes stale. Enter the cost from your own crafting menu before you start gathering, and the total underneath becomes a genuine shopping list rather than a rough guess.
A workflow that actually saves time
- Sketch the ground floor footprint and get the piece count.
- Set the per-piece cost and read the material total.
- Download the image and keep it open on a second screen while building.
- Clear the grid and repeat for the floor above.
Common footprints, already worked out
The arithmetic is the boring part of planning, so here are the sizes that come up most often. Draw the one you want into the grid and the planner will confirm the count for you — these are here so you know roughly what to aim for before you start.
| Footprint | Tiles across × down | Pieces | What it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 × 4 m | 2 × 2 | 4 | A portal hut or a one-purpose outbuilding. |
| 6 × 4 m | 3 × 2 | 6 | One person, a bed and a workbench. |
| 8 × 6 m | 4 × 3 | 12 | A small longhouse with room for a forge. |
| 10 × 10 m | 5 × 5 | 25 | The standard great hall — the size most players settle on. |
| 16 × 10 m | 8 × 5 | 40 | A clan hall with separate crafting and sleeping areas. |
Three things people forget until it is too late
- Openings are not walls. Every doorway and window is a piece of wall you cannot build, and a door is its own part. Decide where they go while the footprint is still on screen rather than after you have built a sealed box.
- The portal wall. Most players end up with more portals than they planned for, and each one needs somewhere to stand. Give them a dedicated wall or a small annex now and you avoid carving one out of a finished room later.
- Things want to lean on a wall. Chests, workbenches and cooking stations are all happier against a wall, so a room with an opening in the middle of every side leaves you with nowhere obvious to put any of them. Leave at least one long, unbroken wall in your plan.
One thing this planner cannot do
It will not tell you whether the build stands up. Valheim computes stability from the support value of each piece, its material, and its distance from the ground, and it recalculates as you build. Stack too high without bracing and the top of your tower simply falls off. Those support numbers are per-piece data — community piece databases list a maximum support and a per-metre loss for each entry if you want to model it properly.
Use the planner for the shape and the shopping list. Solve the physics with bracing, the same way everyone else does.
Build planning questions
How big is a Valheim building piece?
Valheim builds from 1×1, 1×2 and 2×2 metre pieces. Wooden beams come as either one or two metres, and walls in 1×1, 1×2 and 2×2 sizes. That is why the planner uses a two-metre grid: one tile is one full-size floor or wall piece, and every other piece is a subdivision of it.
How many floor tiles do I need for a 10×10 metre house?
Twenty-five. A 10 by 10 metre footprint is five 2×2 pieces across and five down, so 5 × 5 = 25 pieces. Sketch it in the planner and it counts them for you, which is worth doing on anything larger than a single room.
Does the planner know the material cost of each piece?
The piece count and floor area are calculated for you exactly. Material totals start at one unit per tile and you set the real number yourself, because build costs differ per piece, per material tier and can change between game versions. Read the recipe off your own crafting menu and type it in — that is the only figure guaranteed to match your save.
Can I plan a multi-storey base?
Yes, one floor at a time. Work the ground floor out first, export the image, then clear the grid and plan the level above. Vertical planning runs into Valheim's structural system, where maximum support and the per-metre stability loss decide how high you can stack before you have to add bracing — the piece database sites list those numbers per piece.
Does the planner say whether my build will stand up?
No, and you should be suspicious of anything that claims to. Stability depends on structural support values, the material of every connected piece, and how far each piece is from the ground — Valheim recalculates it as you build. The planner is for the footprint, not the physics.
Is my plan saved if I close the tab?
Yes. The grid is written to your browser's local storage as you draw, so it comes back when you return on the same device and browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and clearing your browser data clears the plan.