[Shop-talk] looking for wooden beam suggestions

Fri Jun 15 09:14:29 MDT 2012

Pat, 

It is not exactly the same situation, but we recently bought a home (built in 1958) which had an issue with the dining room floor and ceiling sagging. (Yes, we had an engineer check it before buying.) To fix the floor, our contractor removed a beam very much like the one you described (but using 2x10s) and replaced it with a new beam made of two 2x10s sandwiched between 3/8 steel. So we have a 4-layer beam that is steel-2x10-2x10-steel. It is very solid and completely solved the sagging problem. Of course, it is in the basement and not exposed to weather so you may have issues we do not need to worry about. I think he went with two layers of 3/8 steel rather than one of 3/4 for both cost and because the 3/8 was easier to carry down stairs. I'm not an engineer or a contractor, but I don't see why a single layer of 3/4 steel would not work just as well. 

Tom 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat Horne" <pat at hornesystemstx.com> 
To: shop-talk at autox.team.net 
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2012 11:01:02 AM 
Subject: [Shop-talk] looking for wooden beam suggestions 

List, 

I have an 8' roof overhang on my shop building that is starting to bow 
from the load. It is supported by a 5-1/2"x3-1/2" wood beam across two 
posts, 14' apart. The roof is standard 7/16 ply with one layer of 
shingles on it; the framing is 2x4. The beam that is in there now is a 
double 2x6 with a plywood filler to bring it out to 3-1/2". I can grab 
the center of the beam and move it up and down over one inch. The 
existing beam is standard yellow pine and is less than a year old. I 
know the rule of thumb is 1/2" if beam height for every foot of span, so 
this beam is too small for the 14' span. 

The problem is that I can't put in a taller beam because of other 
clearances, so I will have to go to a different type of beam that will 
still be 5-1/2" tall by 3-1/12" thick. I am considering an LVL 
(laminated beam) - $100, steel Channel (8.5 lbs/ft.) - $230, but I 
would like to keep the price down. 

We are located in central Texas, so snow load is not a consideration. We 
do get fairly high winds here, but nothing that has caused the overhang 
to lift off or collapse. 

I have not been able to find any information on sandwiching a thin piece 
of steel between the 2x4's to stiffen it. Anyone have any experience 
with this kind of beam? I figure that if the steel plate is kept flat it 
should have pretty good resistance to bending. 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance. 

Peace, 
Pat 

-- 
Pat Horne, Owner, Horne Systems 
(512) 797-7501 Voice 5026 FM 2001 
Pat at HorneSystemsTx.com Lockhart, TX 78644-4443 
www.hornesystemstx.com 
-- We support Habitat for Humanity - a hand UP, not a hand OUT -- 
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