Odd size for main beam?

For me, all its about is knowing for sure it's *right* and i have the papers to prove.

Last thing i want is papers saying somethings fitted wrong. So i just wanted to question it. I dont agree with just going with what ever was left from the last job and sticking it in. Fully agree with you woody.
 
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I've no doubt you're right Woody, so I suppose the ideal is to find a designer who has the future builder's (and ultimately client's) best interests in mind, in a practical sense, and we as clients have very little chance of knowing who is going to be good at doing that. And if they're that good I don't suppose I could afford them anyway on my budget. Sometimes seems like a battle of wits between people who don't really like acknowledging the other's profession, and that's without even going near the LA!
 
As Frutbunn stated, you can overhang up to 1/3 the thickness of each skin.
A 203 x 203 is a good spec for that span and loading. Two slender beams side-by-side would be easier for the builder, but not as structurally efficient.
 
AS-Kent said:
I've no doubt you're right Woody, so I suppose the ideal is to find a designer who has the future builder's (and ultimately client's) best interests in mind, in a practical sense, and we as clients have very little chance of knowing who is going to be good at doing that. And if they're that good I don't suppose I could afford them anyway on my budget. Sometimes seems like a battle of wits between people who don't really like acknowledging the other's profession, and that's without even going near the LA!
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Who drew up the plans?

The idea would be for the plan drawer to specify what he is looking to achieve in his design - ie a beam to hide in the floor void, or two beams for ease of installation, or a deep beam, or a timber/flitch beam or whatever. Its not something the client should be deciding or be involved in.
 
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^woody^ said:
Who drew up the plans?

The idea would be for the plan drawer to specify what he is looking to achieve in his design - ie a beam to hide in the floor void, or two beams for ease of installation, or a deep beam, or a timber/flitch beam or whatever. Its not something the client should be deciding or be involved in.
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Oh if only it were that simple. can I have some of your clients?
That depends on the client, I'm presently preparing plans for a small industrial type building the client/owner is also a very experienced builder, so some of the decisions are being guided by him and his own personal preferences,. The other plans I'm preparing are a design and build, I'm actually doing the practical work on site so its what I'm happiest with. The previous one though was a loft conversion and wrap round extension for a family member who had his own ideas however stupid I told him they were. so I had to go along with that!
 
frutbunn said:
Oh if only it were that simple. can I have some of your clients?
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You may. However, I always seem to get the non-standard, difficult, time consuming jobs and clients that no-one else wants. Or I'm too cheap. :cautious:

Anyway the way I work it out is that I have experience of sitting in a room looking at ceilings, and also of building stuff, and I don't have much money, so I just think "What would I like to look at", "How would I like to build it", and "What's cheapest?".

But I see plans drawn by edjits who would not know what to do with a beam if I came running towards them waving one in an angry fashion.
 
^woody^ said:
You may. However, I always seem to get the non-standard, difficult, time consuming jobs and clients that no-one else wants. Or I'm too cheap. :cautious:

Anyway the way I work it out is that I have experience of sitting in a room looking at ceilings, and also of building stuff, and I don't have much money, so I just think "What would I like to look at", "How would I like to build it", and "What's cheapest?".

But I see plans drawn by edjits who would not know what to do with a beam if I came running towards them waving one in an angry fashion.
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You don't even get plans these days, at least half the domestic jobs I deal with are on Building notices, usually received the day the job starts. A large number of plan drawers are now saying they don't do B regs.
By the way I work in b control but also draw plans and do a little building work as well, in case you're wondering why it looks like I keep changing trade.
 
Sorry if this has ended up hijacking martysmarty's original question but it's very enlightening! :)
I don't want to sound like I'm rubbishing my plan man but I'm sure he'd admit he's no architect, however has many years of building experience and hopefully uses that practical knowledge when providing plans. SE is probably a mate/working relationship who does the steels for him as he sees fit and when I try to tease out such details of actual construction it's generally met by a blast of fog that will apparently become crystal clear when the builder rocks up.
As a (failed) mechanical engineer and control freak I'd much rather have everything drawn to within a mm of its life, but I can see that's not going to happen in this industry. My problem is that I have a simple but fairly large extension to build with a laughable budget, and I need to take on as much of the build as is possible myself (or at least get separate trades in at an agreed price) rather than handing over £80+k to a builder who will have enough fat in his quote to mull over these things for several months.
 
AS-Kent said:
I'm in a similar situ myself - have plans for a single storey flat roof extension with approx 7m external opening for sliding doors; SE has spec'd the same UC 203*203*46 as OP which is obviously way short of the approx 300mm cavity
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I just thought Id point out, beam loading is not the only consideration of structural engineering on extensions.

The large openings popular now for bifold scan also create lateral stability issues if there isn't enough brickwork either side to act as a buttress.

Structural engineers also have to consider twisting distortion when designing beams.
 
The on-line calculators are fine as far as they go, but the user has to know how to work out the loads. Also, they don't see the whole picture of the structure - a load-bearing wall supporting walls/floors above, might also be serving a lateral-support function to a main wall.
 
SE has confirmed its 13.5mm each side with no additional welded flanges. Its as-is with a padstone either side.

Dont sound too bad, just gotta hope my walls are somewhat straight but hes given me a safe zone.
 
D

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