Tag Archives: LVL

Do it yourself

Best wood to avoid warping, for a patio cover.

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By garya505

I’m going to be building a patio cover. This will be attached to the house on one side, but the other side will have a beam, probably 6″x8″x14′. Rafters will be 4″x6″x11′. Posts will be 8″ round. I’m wondering what the best wood to use is, that would result in the least amount of warping. It will probably be Ponderosa Pine or Douglas Fir. Green or dry? I might be able to get KD Doug-Fir locally but I haven’t checked. I’d rather not use a glulam or LVL. Suggestions?

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Source: DoItYourself.com

Do it yourself

Replace sagging Beam over garage door span

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By iH8usrnames

The beam over the garage door opening has a sag (2 car garage). As you can see in the drawing the sag is affecting the all the structure above it.

My plan at this time, which is still in development, is to lift the joists off the beam using proper structural support equipment until the floors are level and the beam is no longer under tension.

Once I release the beam I would replace any load load bearing studs as required and replace the existing 2×12 beam(s) with LVL joists.

I am leaning toward LVL because, as I understand it, they are stronger than traditional dimensional lumber and the traditional dimensional lumber is failing. Granted it has taken 59 years to get to this point.

Please, somebody shoot holes in my plans.

I hope it is obvious I have exaggerated the effects of the sag.

Source: DoItYourself.com

Do it yourself

Beam size correct?

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By krauthwood

Hello forum,
I just had a contractor do some work for me this past weekend and I wanted to run something by the forum since there seems to be a lot of smart people on here.

I had the wall between my kitchen and dining room removed over the weekend and the contractor that I hired didn’t seem to agree with the beam size specified by the structural engineer. He said he would have gone with a larger beam and that the one he installed will sag in the future.

Several weeks ago I hired a structural engineer to come out and take a look at my home and tell him what I wanted to do. I did not get a final stamped design from him but he didn’t think it was necessary to do so.
Here are the basics :
Home was built in 1957
Home is in Ohio
It is a single story with an attic space over the affected area
There is a crawl space under the affected area with a steel I beam directly below the removed wall with a 30 in x 30 in concrete pier in the center, the other 2 ends rest on the poured foundation.
Ceiling joists are 2×6’s
Floor joinsts are 2×10’s
Remove wall between kitching and dinding room
Total length of removed wall is 22 feet, clear span is 18 feet

Structural engineer specified to use 2 ply 1 3/4 x 11 7/8 LVL beams with no center support needed.
My contractor said he would have used at least a 14 inch tall LVL for that distance, or put a center support in.
The contractor has me worried now, but thats why I paid a structual engineer in the first place.
Anybody agree either way?

From: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/framing-sub-flooring/493764-beam-size-correct.html