laminated beams

[SwingOak]

I have four laminated beams, if memory is correct, that are roughly 6" x 8" x 28'. Actually, they have metric dimensions.

They are not microlams, they are made of laminated 2 x 6's. They were the foundation of a skid that contained machinery sent over from Europe, so there a quite a few nail holes, but all the nails are pulled.

Are they any good for anything?

[Left Coast Chris]

Hard to say without more information.  It sounds like their original intended use was not as a beam (meant to carry a load over some span) but as skids.

Glue-lams designed as beams will have a grade stamp such as 24F-V4.   The 24F is the allowable bending stress of 2400psi.  The V4 means it is for simple spans only where only the bottom of the beam is in tension.  Beams to be used as continuous over two or more spans will be designated as V8 where both the top and bottom can alternate in tension.  There are other grading conventions also.

Any grading marks on the skids?  Any indication of what type of glue was used and what type of wood they are?

[SwingOak]

I'll have to look for a stamp. All the lumber the skids were built from was pine, maybe fir in there, but mostly pine. I brought home a trailer full of wood today, and left the laminated stuff at the shop.

They are milled/finished to a dimensional stock size. All the other lumber was unfinished, and was all cut on a circle mill of some sort.

I'll look tomorrow and see if I can find any stampings. It would likely be in German though.

[SwingOak]

Well, no stamps, and no markings, so I gave the order to scrap them. Seems a shame though...

[Left Coast Chris]

One possibility when there are no marks is to load the beams to test them.  If you know the load and the vertical deflection, the bending stress can be computed.  If you have a planned span, say 12' they could be cut into simple span beams, loaded then design for 50% of that max load to be safe.   They can also be used for columns for lighter load situations.

[underdog]

Why is it that now we have all these rules - regulations - grading systems - experts - inspectors - etc. And the stuff does not last. But back before all this stuff, a man used his common sense and whatever materials he could find; and 100 yrs later it is still a viable structure.
Anyway i would have used them to build something........

[SwingOak]

Why is it that now we have all these rules - regulations - grading systems - experts - inspectors - etc. And the stuff does not last. But back before all this stuff, a man used his common sense and whatever materials he could find; and 100 yrs later it is still a viable structure.
Anyway i would have used them to build something........

It's because the old adage "When in doubt, build it stout" doesn't hold up in court.

I was looking at some floor joists in an old mill over the weekend, and they were cut with a horizontal 2" tenon 2" from the top - on a 4 x 6 joist. Every one was split from shear at the underside of the tenon. The mill floor was solid, with massive 14" timbers with fully housed double 2" tenons. Except for those joists, everything else looked very solid.

[underdog]

I think common sense has more to do with it than stout. But stout does have its merrits.
Anyway.... Take my families home place. started as a one room cabin using native timber well over one hundred years old and still the best part of the house.
The rest of the house (stick built) was added to accomidate larger poor family. Still atleast 100 years old.
They added 3 rooms around two sides of the cabin with a loft.  Kitchen - dinning room - main room.
Now these are poor people (dad said they never had new nails) they used whatever they could find with basic tools. The house has had poor maintenance and has seen some periods of abandenment.
Still functioning and sheltering people to this day.
I think i remember reading about old growth trees strength versus this stuff we have now.
Like a true 2x4 was fine for rafters and now you need a 2x8 or larger.
Seems they are racing to keep up with the declining quality of the lumber.

[Don P]

This is a pair of those old 2x4 rafters, oak too.


The old growth oak was slow grown and has low density. Its a good bit weaker than modern faster grown oak. That varies by species. Modern codes would have called for a 2x6 in this case, I won't argue with that.

The modern fast grown plantation pine can be full of reaction wood and shouldn't be allowed as framing lumber IMO. Generally though, when people say "They don't build 'em like they used to" I say "Thank goodness", I've fixed more junk than good. They have done studies that show that strong codes do produce houses that survive natural disaster better than their old pre-code neighbors. Common sense builders are as often as not just lucky that there's alot of redundancy in a house. I don't want to drive across a bridge or go up in a large building built by someone using "common sense".

I was having lunch with our building official this past weekend. I asked about a barn that I saw had stopped. Ag buildings are exempt here. He said he finally had to step in and shut it down, they had gone up 3 stories on junk for foundations. It wouldn't survive being loaded. He's now the bad guy. I had debated stopping, their ideas about roof framing were kind of unique. Some people need to be saved from themselves.

[swampfox]

saw in half (6" to 3"), biscuit or those funky bowtie dovetails, and you could have some cool countertops.