czechsonofagun
Elite Member
Nice job and an inspiration. Thanks for pictures.
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The beams are held in place with two bolts. That means that each bolt is carrying 50% of the load. I would add two more bolts and maybe even some Simpson Hangers. Spreading out the load and relying less on those two bolts would take allot of strain off of the wood..........
I thought about using hangers but couldn't find any that would work with the way I bolted the beams to the 6x6's. I guess I could attach some 2x stock below each beam to provide some additional support.The beams are held in place with two bolts. That means that each bolt is carrying 50% of the load. I would add two more bolts and maybe even some Simpson Hangers. Spreading out the load and relying less on those two bolts would take allot of strain off of the wood.
How did you install the posts? A 6x6 is pretty sturdy and plenty strong enough for your loads, but the height of them above grade, especially in the middle, gives me some concern for racking. Adding some cross "X" bracing in both directions would stiffen it up, which you might not even notice right now, but will add years to the overall integrity and strength of the structure.
Eddie
I thought about that but leveling and aligning the beams was easier by bolting them to the posts. This way I was also able to bolt the outside joists to the posts.This is what I was referring to in post #8, Another approach is to notch the top of the post so that each beam sits on a shoulder of the post.
Good eye, Nate. I used a copper based wood preservative on the lower half of the posts. I figured it was cheap insurance.What did you use to treat the posts below the soil line? I can see from pic #1 that they are "painted" or "dipped" in something...
I started to use field stones for rip rap on the creek bank and around the middle posts. The posts on either end of the bridge never see water.make shure you put some riprap upstream of the posts otherwise they will scour quickly.