Wood I-Beam construction

[clake4341]

I am new to building with wood I-beam construction, but I was wondering is there anything wrong with using standard 2 x 12 perimeter walls with wood I-Beams joists. I am planning a 20ft x 24 ft small building and want to use I-beams joists for the floor system but I am used to having 2 x perimeter walls.   

[PEG688]

Do you mean solid wood RIM joist? If so the problem is all "I" joist are made "off sized" like a 9 1/8" , 11 7/8" etc . So you could buy the next bigger size 2x materials and rip it down to match your selected "I" joist. Well unless you need the 11 7/8" sized joist for your span.

One BIG thing to consider with "I" joist is they bounce IF you max span them , if you add a beam and cut the manf. span down by at least 1/4 what they say you can span you'll have a stiffer floor.   

[clake4341]

thank you PEG688

I plan to have these I-Beams on girders. At present I have 3 rows of concrete piers spaced 10ft each row has 6 piers spaced 5 ft apart for a total of 18 piers and you are right they are made  11 7/8 " but a 2 x 12 is probable less than the 11 7/8 I plan to use wood blocking to take out some of the bounce. The girders I am planning on using are 6 x 6 x 24 Fir beams. If you think I will run into problems with my plan I would change it's just that until I get into this project and start working with I-beams I am feeling a little uncomfortable working with something I'm not use to working with. 

[PEG688]

   #1: thank you PEG688

  #2: I plan to have these I-Beams on girders.

  #3: At present I have 3 rows of concrete piers spaced 10ft each row has 6 piers spaced 5 ft apart for a total of 18 piers

  #4: and you are right they are made  11 7/8 " but a 2 x 12 is probable less than the

  #5:11 7/8 I plan to use wood blocking to take out some of the bounce.

  #6: The girders I am planning on using are 6 x 6 x 24 Fir beams.

  #7:If you think I will run into problems with my plan I would change it's just that until I get into this project and start working with I-beams I am feeling a little uncomfortable working with something I'm not use to working with. 

#1 : Your welcome.

#2: They are joist , "I" joist or engineered joist right?  When you say beam it means something else. But you ARE talking about the  floor joist right?

#3: So your joist are spanning  10' from beam to beam , what the layout / spacing ? 16"OC you could go with a 9 1/2" BCI 5000 series the chart says they well span 15'7" on 16" OC layout.

One of the down side to thinner joist is less insulation space. There are more down sides I'm sure.

#4: Yes a standard 2x12 is a net 11 1/4" to 11 3/8" today.

#5: That will help but with your span bounce should not be a issue , and engineered joist "generally" do not require blocking over beams like regular lumber.

#6: That should be fine maybe a little small for the beams but post t post is 5' , so beam span is only 5' , that may be a little small , John might answer that , I don't have a beam span chart here , some one else may link one. But it sounds a tad small .

#7: The "I" joist are easy to get along with , but the building Depts. have "odd" codes / rules want this or that some times.

If your getting a permit just tell the inspector you haven't used them before and can he fill in any issues he may have.

G/L PEG       

[clake4341]

ok Thanks Peg.  I think I started out and confused even myself. When I started this project I was planning on using 3 girders on the 3 rows of piers with the spacing I mentioned and using standard 2 x 12 joists spanning the 20 ft with the middle piers for support than came the i-joists and now the the different wood sizes 2 x 12 perimeter wall and the i-joist 11 7/8 . The i-joist span is still 20 ft but with support in the middle at 10ft. My plan next week is to visit the local lumber yard and talk with the building contractor with my plans, but I appreciate the advice and suggestions. as this project is just getting started I fully plan to visit this site a lot for more advice.   Thank you again

 

[rwanders]

A problem cited by all the manufacturers of wood I beams is related to shrinkage of 2X lumber----the I beams do not shrink so the result is a differential in height between the rim joist and the I beams. How serious that would be is open to conjecture I think.

[John_M]

Can I ask why you wouldn't want to use the rim boards made for the engineered I-joists?  I used them and they work great. 

[John Raabe]

John_M's suggestion is the better route to go. Use one system or the other but don't mix them.

Use engineered joists with the manufactures engineered rims or use solid wood joists and solid would rims. If you are using the 20' wide Universal Cottage plans I have both system calculated (wood joists over centerline bearing beam and engineered floor system spanning full width). I use the high performance 1/480 deflection charts for the engineered floors that have less bounce than code allows. If you are even more deflection adverse you can put a centerline girder under this and cut the span in half. 

[PEG688]

 He has three beams planned already so his span is only 10 feet .

He's also planning 6x6 beams with post 5 foot OC , thats the one I don't have a span chart for , it sounds a bit small for the beam but it is a 6 by , not  a 4 by.

When "I" joist first came out we ripped down rim stock out of 2 by materials , it's highly unlikely you'd get enough shrinkage , IF the 2 by stock is KD , to make it a problem.

We use LSL for rim it's a net 1 1/8" and matches the heights of standard "I" joist. I'm not convinced it hold lags as well as lumber , but with the 2 each 1/2"x 4 1/2" per joist bay /  2 ea. 16" OC bolt requirements for decks called for in the IRC the lags pulling out should never be a issue , except in a large earthquake , then all bets are off depending on scale of said quake       

[clake4341]

Good Evening all

[clake4341]

Good Evening all
After all the great responses I had on this subject I downloaded the PDF files on the subject of I-Joists from this site and did some reading, so now I can report back that you people have convinced me to stick with the i-joist and to NOT mix and match. It certainly is nice to know there are forums out there were people
are helpful and try and lead you in the right direction  Thank you again

ps: oh and the reason why I was thinking of mixing and matching was 1st I am not a contractor or a builder, but I am handy with a hammer and saw and I have always use standard 2x's as perimeter walls I had never worked with I-joists before, so that was the only reason. But I am glad I decided to join this forum and asked other wise it would have been expensive and a lot of work in the long run