[Shop-talk] looking for wooden beam suggestions
Tom & Marge FitzGibbon
fitzgibbon3 at comcast.net
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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