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Furniture & Furnishing & Decorations
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How to Make a Wood Beam
Wood I Beams
Introduction:
Wood beans were in existence
long before steel, concrete, or engineered wood
beams. If you ever had the opportunity to visit a
real chateau in France, Italy or a castle in
England you would be amazed at the wood beams used
in those structures. They are absolutely massive as
well as breathtaking to see. And just think, they
didn’t have today’s modern lifting equipment to set
them in place either.
In modern construction solid wood beams are still
used by skilled carpenters and most of them are
built on site using standard material and hardware.
In addition to structural carry wood beams, faux
wood beams (decorative beams) are used in dens to
give the appearance of old time construction. Faux
wood beams can be made to look like a variety of
different styles.
Most of the wood beams used in house construction
are load bearing beams which means they are
carrying a heavy structural load. Calculating the
load for a structural wood beam is the business of
a structural engineer based on the laws of physics
and the type of wood used to fabricate the beam.
The calculations for fabricating standard wood
beams for residential construction exist is in beam
span tables that builders and carpenter use to
determine what size beam is required for various
spans based on the type of wood used to make the
beam.
The table takes in consideration the width of the
span the beam can travel with and without supports
and the type of support that is required.
For example; a 24 foot wide structure would require
a center carrying beam fabricated with 2 X 8’s of
Douglas fir. The width of the beam would be 3
inches wide after the two pieces are sandwiched
together. The two pieces of stock 2 X 8 lumber are
nailed together using #16 steel nails. If the width
increases to 26 feet wide the beam would be
fabricated using an additional 2 X 8 or just two 2
X 10s. In both examples the beam is required to be
supported with columns every eight feet.
If you are a DIY project builder and you are not
sure what is required for a structural carrying
beam just ask the material supplier. Most building
material suppliers have structural engineers on
staff that can advise you, or a technician can
consult the standard engineering table for the
information.
It is relatively easy to fabricate a carrying beam
at the building site. There is really no need to
purchase pre-made wood beams for standard
applications. Window and door headers are wood
beams which are built on site by carpenters using
the same building tables that major carrying beams
are fabricated from.
Don’t guess at the size of beam that is required
for your DIY project. Use your material supplier
for advice of the material to use and how it must
be fabricated. In addition, determine the span the
beam can travel without support columns.
Faux wood beams are usually made from foam that’s
made to look like rough timbers. However, faux can
also be made with regular lumber. Faux beams are
not load bearing beams, they are strictly
decorative.
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A Great DIY Guide 
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