Large paralam beam

[Guilliaume woodworks]

I installed today the largest psl beam I've ever done. It was 7" x 14" x 17 feet long and weighed 450 pounds! The hardest part was making sure I had proper shoring because there was a great deal of load on this portion of load bearing wall. This beam carries load of 2nd story exterior wall with tile roof ridge beam load. The beam replaces a wall with small doorway into kitchen,now the kitchen has open spacious feel.I take on framing jobs on occasion ,just to remember what it's like to put on bags again. Now I'm ready to get back to cabinetry.

 

[Kev]

I made a mess of a floor once installing something similar - I wasn't very clever about it and had to use a couple of jacks ... that really damaged floorboards and bearers  [embarassed]

Looks like you've really opened up that space nicely.

 

[Rob-GB]

Liking your work sir but that is some weird house, low level windows, huge door thresholds a what looks like a pretty brittle floor finish....... [eek]

;D ;D ;D [oops]

Rob.

 

[rrmccabe]

I agree with Rob.  Those high threshold doors are tough when carrying groceries.

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

Are the pics upside down ? Sorry not sure why they came out like that and don't know how to fix

 

[Rob-GB]

It's an easy oop's to make, buddy, sometimes it's the fault of the phone app or something.

All you need to do is rotate the picture in the file that is linked to in your post and save the change to that file.
I use Picassa and it is easy to do in there.

Rob.

 

[biomedfred]

Is there any deflection in the center of the beam?  Seventeen feet is quite a span.  As a general question, and hopefully I don't cross a line on a woodworking forum, but at what point do you use a metal beam as opposed to wood?

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

Is there any deflection in the center of the beam?  Seventeen feet is quite a span.  As a general question, and hopefully I don't cross a line on a woodworking forum, but at what point do you use a metal beam as opposed to wood?

no deflection  as far as I can tell....at what point do you use metal opposed to wood? That's for an engineer to figure out, I'm not that smart. They do the calculations and drawings, and I build it per plan. Good question though!

 

[JoggleStick]

Yes, I'm with you- leave the number crunching; well... to the number crunchers...

FWIW, in my experience at longer spans a simple steel 'I' beam can and does develop a great deal more 'spring' in the floor above it... Compared to a deep LVL or some such....

 

[dicktill]

Is there any deflection in the center of the beam?

Of course, there is ALWAYS some deflection of ANY structure when you put a load on it. You can measure the strain (distortion if you will) of a railroad track when you put thumb pressure on it by using a strain gauge or other sensitive instrumentation; but it's in the order of millionths of an inch-per-inch (or less) so you don't see or feel it. If the load is small enough and the structure stiff enough, then it is "OK". I-beams used on bridges (and perhaps other large structures) are pre-cambered ("bowed") upward so that they do not appear to be sway-backed when loaded. But the amount of bend (downward deflection) the load causes is exactly the same as if you started with a perfectly straight beam; it's just a "sleight of hand" that the engineers play to make you think it didn't bend at all. The eye and brain don't like to see downward bent stuff, while upward bent stuff in moderation is "OK". Oh, some GluLams are pre-cambered too.

Seventeen feet is quite a span.

Yes, but not enormous. See: http://arch.umd.edu/Tech/Structural_Resources/Wood/Glulam/Glulam_Beam_Tables.pdf for charts. They go up to 24 feet, but you could make a large(r) GluLam for longer distances. I have a 14 footer newly installed in my living room-dining room. It is only 5" wide and 8-1/4" tall, but it is only supporting the ceiling (total span of 23 feet, perpendicular to the beam), not the roof.  Many large churches use GluLams, sometimes very nicely arched.

As a general question, and hopefully I don't cross a line on a woodworking forum, but at what point do you use a metal beam as opposed to wood?

Same document shows comparisons to I-beams on pages 8-9.

Oh, would someone please fix the photos? I'm tired of standing on my head looking at them. [scratch chin]

 

[JoggleStick]

Funny re Photos.... I'm using Tapatalk on iPad and whilst the thumbnails appear inverted when I click on them they open right way up... Go figure....
And no, I'm not turning the iPad 180 degrees... That doesn't work either... Lol

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

I've tried to fix photos and can't figure it out. Is it my ipad or something in fog I have to change? I'm just grabbing photo out of ipad gallery and posting.

 

[peter halle]

Here are the images reduced in size and rotated.

[attachimg=#]

[attachimg=#]

[attachimg=#]

[attachimg=#]

Peter

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

Peter, where do I go to resize & rotate? And thank you for doing it .      David

 

[jmbfestool]

Better full size!!  [thumbs up]

 

[peter halle]

Peter, where do I go to resize & rotate? And thank you for doing it .      David

[attachimg=#]

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

Peter, where do I go to resize & rotate? And thank you for doing it .      David

[attachimg=#]

funny

 

[peter halle]

  [poke] Just having fun at 3:20 AM.  Send me a PM telling me what you have computer wise and I will try to help.

Peter

 

[Deansocial]

Wish we got to use more timber beams in the uk, but no, everything seems to be bloody steel

 

[joiner1970]

I've used them a few times we ordered them through jewsons or Travis if I remember rightly. We were working on a huge timber frame on the banks of the Thames near me. All I know is those things weigh a ton . We didn't have a crane and had to man handle them up 2 floors to the roof.