i am working on a 110 year old house, and the owner and structural.engineer are talking about the porch and roof up above which has sagged over the 100 years and was “shored up” by the previous homeowner in let’s say, a very poor and unprofessional way. This is a separate project, and has nothing to do with my work at hand.
i mentioned to the homeowner, when asked for my opinion, what to do, I said we would establish a level line, jack up the support posts 2 at a time, site-build a 3 or 4 2×12 beam w staggered ends, install the posts, lower the ceiling and move on. After all, I mentioned, the doubled 2x10s up above have carried the load for 100 years, and are still looking great.
Now he engages an engineer, who says that site built beams have no place on his project. He will spec pressure treated LVLs or glulams, maybe 5 1/2″x 12″ but will have to figure the loads before he specifies. I don’t trust the glue in those things. But I know I built a bridge for my backhoe on one job, the hoe weighs 11,640 lbs, another 2 tons for wet mud, and I ran over the 3 bridge beams 1000 times during the job. They spanned about 15 feet as I recall. So I trust them and know they will hold a dozen parked cars virtually forever. The glulams and lols not so sure.
Can anyone give me any input on this scenario? thanks!
Replies
Since the homeowner has going over your head your opinion means nothing. Both glulams and LVLs work very well and having been holding houses and commercial buildings up for a long time. Let the engineer do the engineering and you do the construction. We all face this type issue frequently and have to bite our lips.