12' span for loft

Started by new land owner, December 06, 2016, 03:44:43 PM

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new land owner

This spring I will be building a 12 x 16 building and will have the first half, or first 8 feet set up as a loft.  My plan is to use rough cut 2 x 8 , most likely pine at 16" centers. This loft will be used for storage and possibly for a blow up mattress when we have over flow guests. Will a 2 x 8 span 12' with out issues?

Don_P

Yes, for most woods in #2 or better a 2x8 maxes out around 12' @ 16" oc.


ChugiakTinkerer

The info Don_P is referring to is in the International Residential Code, available at http://codes.iccsafe.org/app/book/toc/2015/I-Codes/2015%20IRC%20HTML/index.html

If you go to Chapter 5 and scroll down to the first table, it shows you various span limitations based on joist dimensions, species, and spacing.  The biggest wildcard is the grade of the 2x lumber, so if you're using ungraded lumber you want to be sure pick the best wood for this structural purpose.  Note that the first table is for sleeping areas, which assume a live load of 30 pounds per square foot.  If you end up storing heavy stuff up there you ought to look at the 40 psf table that follows, the one for residential living areas.
My cabin build thread: Alaskan remote 16x28 1.5 story