Installing House Beam Tips

House Beams

Introduction: In most houses beams are used to span large areas to support the heavy loads that are above it. For example, in most houses there is a least one center beam that runs the length of the house right through the middle. If you take a look in the basement you can easily see this beam. The floor joist travels across the top of the beam and the beam sits on lally columns that transfer the load to the basement floor.

There are all kinds of beams that can be used in residential construction. Wooden beams are the most common but often steel beams are used when there are wide spans to deal with. A beam that is better yet is the engineered wood beam that has taken the place of both regular wood and steel beams.

Installing beams in a house can be a difficult task, especially if it’s a long steel i- beam. Usually there are pockets made in the foundation wall to accommodate the beam but often the beam sets on top of the foundation wall to provide more head room in the basement.

Wood beams are usually built in place using 2x6 up to 2x12 depending on the span of the floor above it. He beam can be assembled on the basement floor and lifted into place or it can be built in place. Steel is often used in combination with wood. The steel is sandwiched between wood pieces of 2x ? using steel plates.

Often the entire beam is hidden in the ceiling structure rather than having a tell-tail bump in the finished ceiling. This can be done with joist hangers to hang the floor joists from the beam. In this case the beam isn’t under the floor joist but the joists are still attached to the beam.

When wood beams are built the crowns or humps in the beams should be positioned upward. Insure all of the beam wood pieces have a similar crown. It is easy to tell which edge has the crown by looking down the length of the wood for the curvature.

Beams are sized by engineers. There are standard construction tables available that provide information of beam sizes depending on span, number of floors in the home and material used. Don’t second guess what you need for a beam. Your local building inspector can also provide information of beam sizes.

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