I-beam size 30' span

[ovrszd]

I spanned 24' on my garage without a center beam. Went to a truss manufacturer, they sized and sold me some 16" deep Ibeam type manufactured floor joists.

Yeah, I think that's what's being called "glulam" in this thread. I helped a buddy install some of those in a shop project. They are pretty cool and very easy to work with.

 

[dfkrug]

I would concider the use of lambeams if it comes down to buying new, I'm thinking
I'll be able to find a steel beam cheap enough. And as some of you know, working with metal doesn't scare me, be
it handling the beam, or attachment of the wood framing. Nothing a torch and welder and some bolts won't fix.

It has now been about 15 years since I installed the I-beams in my house. The longest was a girder with a 33'
span that supports a wood I-joist floor. Back then, an equivalent strength LVL or other engineered wood beam was
not only more money, it was heavier and deeper. Steel prices are down, so I think that will be the case for you, too.
Also steel is straight and you can get it wet.

As for fastening wood to steel, a #4 PAT cartridge will penetrate 1/4" steel no problem. All my beams have these
nailers on top. Drilling and bolting is not required, usually. If you go with a flange that is thicker, you may need
a stronger load, and #4 is the max from a box store, last I checked.

Whatever you do, get a quotation for both steel and wood for comparison. L/360 floor deflection does not
make a very stiff floor...I prefer L/960 myself. Code minimum is L/240, if I recall.

Oh yeah, cuz my steel beam weighed less, I was able to lift it in place using 2 GenieLift hand-crank forklifts,
but they were both near their limits.

 

[crazyal]

There are four different wood products being talked about. Glue lams (at least every time I've dealt with them) are a finish product of dimensional wood glued together. Then there are wood i-beams, they are just what they sound like, usually they are made of two 2x4 with a particle board spacing them apart. Then there are wood floor trusses. They are like an i-beam but use 2x4 lumber diagonally braced instead of the particle board that an I-beam would use. Finally there are laminated veneer lumber, or LVLs,. This is basically plywood but much thicker. They are made from thin veneers of lumber and aren't all that pretty to look at. They are usually used in garages, unfinished basements, where hidden by a wall or ceiling.

Looking at your plans I would be concerned with your I-beam possibly interfering with your garage doors. I might have missed how high your doors are going to be. I'm assuming you would center the beam and if it's 24' deep that should leave you plenty of room for a 10' high door.

I have a 32' W21 x 44 running down the center of my 28' x 32' garage. I put the beam in between the two garage doors (9'x10' and 12'x10'). I used a 4"x4" steel post on each corner to support it. The top of the floor joists are even with the top of the I-beam. When it came to figuring out how much load the beam could see things like the rooms use, any internal walls, and are any of those walls load bearing all played a part in the calculations. Since it was storage you actually have to plan for more weight than something like a bedroom where there needs to be room to easily move about. I also have a beam trolly on the I-beam so I can lift things out of a pickup bed (1000 lbs or less). The specs worked out that I had a choice between a W21, a W18, and I think a W16. The W21 was the lightest but was taller. Since the bottom of it is 10' off the floor it wasn't a problem for me. But it was still a job getting it up that high safely. I removed the bucket on my full size back hoe and was just barely able to get it that high.

Because your beam is going the opposite way you could not finish the front wall and drive in with a tractor and use a loader. It's a lot of weight and it'll be balanced on your bucket or forks so be real careful. If it starts to go not much will stop it. If you decide to go with something like LVLs call your lumber yard. Around here they are stocked in 50' lengths so a 28' beam would make for lousy cutting. The lumber yards will cut them for you but they usually don't like short pieces so they may charge you for the whole beam. But LVLs, wood I-Beams, and floor trusses are lighter/ easier to work with. With steel you need to screw some wood to it or, like I did weld joist hangers to the I-beams web.

 

[dieselcrawler]

I never specified the hight of the garage doors, likely be 9' tall. Garage floor to bottom of floor joist above likely be 11' or more, probably more like 12'. So there should be no issues with the beam or doors interfering.

Also, I work for an excavating company, and could likely borrow equipment of the proper size to handle setting the beam, should the tractors I have readily available not be up to the task. A crane truck we have comes to mind, both to haul the beam home, as well as install it. Hauling a 30' beam on my 20' deck-over trailer is possible, but not easy.

 

[CurlyDave]

If the beam must be 30' long just use the tables at the first link I gave, but substitute 14,400/30 = 480 pounds/linear foot for the beam requirements. You are still going to be able to find a suitable GluLam less than 24" deep.

A steel beam is not going to be this thick, but because it will be under the joists, it will protrude down just as far from the ceiling. If you use continuous joists, you will probably want to use BCIs (look like wooden I beams with an OSB web) instead of dimensional lumber due to the length of the span. While I prefer old-fashioned dimensional lumber for floor joists, there really is nothing wrong with BCIs, especially if you keep them continuous, which adds to the strength.

I never specified the hight of the garage doors, likely be 9' tall. Garage floor to bottom of floor joist above likely be 11' or more, probably more like 12'. So there should be no issues with the beam or doors interfering.

Also, I work for an excavating company, and could likely borrow equipment of the proper size to handle setting the beam, should the tractors I have readily available not be up to the task. A crane truck we have comes to mind, both to haul the beam home, as well as install it. Hauling a 30' beam on my 20' deck-over trailer is possible, but not easy.

You have the option of making the garage doors higher than 9'. When i designed my garage, I looked at the specification of height of the largest backhoe I though I would ever put in the garage and added a few inches for safety. This ended up being 10'. The extra cost is very minimal at this time.

 

[CurlyDave]

If the beam must be 30' long just use the tables at the first link I gave, but substitute 14,400/30 = 480 pounds/linear foot for the beam requirements. You are still going to be able to find a suitable GluLam less than 24" deep.

A steel beam is not going to be this thick, but because it will be under the joists, it will protrude down just as far from the ceiling. If you use continuous joists, you will probably want to use BCIs (look like wooden I beams with an OSB web) instead of dimensional lumber due to the length of the span. While I prefer old-fashioned dimensional lumber for floor joists, there really is nothing wrong with BCIs, especially if you keep them continuous, which adds to the strength.

I never specified the hight of the garage doors, likely be 9' tall. Garage floor to bottom of floor joist above likely be 11' or more, probably more like 12'. So there should be no issues with the beam or doors interfering.

Also, I work for an excavating company, and could likely borrow equipment of the proper size to handle setting the beam, should the tractors I have readily available not be up to the task. A crane truck we have comes to mind, both to haul the beam home, as well as install it. Hauling a 30' beam on my 20' deck-over trailer is possible, but not easy.

You have the option of making the garage doors higher than 9'. When i designed my garage, I looked at the specification of height of the largest backhoe I though I would ever put in the garage and added a few inches for safety. This ended up being 10'. The extra cost is very minimal at this time.

 

[GLyford]

There are a number of ways to put steel beams inline with the joists too, so that's not a limitation:

 

[schmism]

If it was my garage, Id run my steel below the floor joists (no hangers involved) and then run full 24' length TJI (wood I beams) check out the span tables in the PDF
http://www.woodbywy.com/document/tj-4500/

FYI both TJI and LVL beams use OSB (oriented strand board) style glue up. This is NOT plywood nor is it "partical board"

 

[GPintheMitten]

Can't you span 24 feet without a beam, using I-joists?

Not sure how much deflection you get but you may want to look into them to eliminate a beam altogether.

5/8" drywall garage ceiling should help with stiffness along with 3/4" flooring on the second story.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Yeah, I think that's what's being called "glulam" in this thread. I helped a buddy install some of those in a shop project. They are pretty cool and very easy to work with.

No, glulams are dimension lumber laminated into larger pieces. These are floor trusses that can easily span his 24' from an LVL header across his doors.