Beam span Calculator

[Dstrnad]

I was wondering if someone would help me with the beam span calculator. I think I've got it down I just have a few questions with the load. I will try to walk through an example.

Center floor beam of a conventinally framed house. 20' total floor width 10' between support posts. 40 lb live load 10 lb dead load. So when figuring total dead load and live load I should figure half of the area because half is supported on the outer basement wall? correct . This would be an area of 100 sqft so 4000 lbs live load 1000 lbs dead load. Correct? So when imputing the info what would the total load be 4000 lbs or would it be 5000 lbs the total of live and dead load?

Thanks

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Dstrnad,

Jim is the master of this domain.  5000 lbs sounds correct, but I'm still not clear on the actual floor configuration?  Whenever I hear "10' between support posts," I think multiple posts.  You also said there is a basement wall?  So is the floor 20' by what?  I don't have a clear pic.  Could you post a pic of the plan, even just a pencil sketch on a piece of paper would do wonders to understand this.  Also remember, design plans should be approved/checked by a PE to really get a good answer.

Regards,

jay

[Dstrnad]

I don't have a specific plan, just making sure I understand the inputs. Any links out there of example problems? The main thing that I am trying to understand is what the loads actually are. In the above lets asume a 20' wide x 40' long house. Joists running @20' with a center beam at the half way point of 10' beam support posts spaced @ 10 o/c. The center beam should be suporting 1/2 of the load from the beam to the outer wall on each side. Just not sure if total load should be live + Dead or just live load.

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Quick answer, is live + dead, and I think I need to see a diagram, there are too many configurations to really give you strong advice.  I don't know links for this, but I can recommend books.  Lets see what others say.

Regards,

jay