How To Make A Floor Beam

Floor joists or beams provide the below surface support for the wood subfloor of a room.

How to make a floor beam. The extra two inches of vertical distance when a floor is framed with 2 x 10 joists rather than 2 x 12s can be quite important for example. Learning how to design with them becomes straight forward with a few pointers. Common sense tells you that large floor joists can carry more load and spacing joists closer together also increases the load bearing capacity of a floor. Ceiling joists are usually 2 by 6s or sometimes 2 by 4s if it is an older home.

Make another notch every 16 inches 41 cm to confirm the distance between each next joist. Make sure to use construction adhesive in the seat of the hanger to prevent floor squeaks. Use a triangular measuring square to make a straight square cut. Begin at one end of the beam and nail the boards together using the 12 penny nails and hammer.

Wood framing tables can contain a lot of information in one table. This problem can be solved by installing a beam in the floor joist system and hanging the floor joists on the beam. Learn how with this residential structural design tutorial. Measure the length of the beam on one of the boards.

The simplest type of built up beam can be constructed by following three easy steps. Though joists may be any size that you desire using typical floor joist and beam specifications ensures that you can find hardware to fit the joists and that the floor provides adequate support for furniture and other items in a room. Making a 20 foot wood beam to support your floor or ceiling is pretty easy and basic but remember to wear your personal protective equipment before you get started. Step 1 cut the individual boards.

Floor joists should be spaced no more than 16 inches 41 cm apart from center to center to provide adequate stability. Use a tape measure to measure 16 inches 41 cm in from the edge of the rim joist and draw a small notch. A steel or wooden beam runs the length of the house and the ends of floor joists rest on it. Make sure that the ends and sides of the boards are flush the plywood should not protrude from within the center of the boards for the beam.

Flip the beam over. A load bearing beam carries the weight of the structure above it. Choose high strength quality lumber for building beams. Sometimes you may want to have a beam holding the floor but you don t want the beam to be below the floor joists.

Select straight boards that are neither twisted crowned or bowed for the beam components. The nails should be driven into the wood in an alternating v pattern. Make a wood beam with 2 8 boards. I hope you found this article helpful.

A good example of a load bearing beam is often seen in many basements. Some newer homes have manufactured i beam shaped joists. A wood beam has many advantages over steel beams due to the properties that make it lightweight. But larger is not always better when builders are constructing a home or adding a room addition.