![]() Use an LVL beam to eliminate twisting and splitting for quiet floors. LVL is a straight, enough strong wood that fights warping and shrinking, providing great stability for your projects. LVL is product of recent innovation they are result of new technology and economic pressure to make use of new wood species and smaller trees that cannot be used to make solid Lumber. Protect yourself, get the professional services, it's $ well-spent.The American wood Council National design specification for wood, lvl is type of structural composite lumber comparable to glued laminated timber (glulam). This is typical of what they may find: contractors substituting cheaper fasteners or structural materials which are not rated for the level of weather exposure or load can cause the entire load-bearing system to fail, possibly with tragic results. In the event of a failure of a structural component, the plaintiff attorneys supoena the design documents, including the plans review, the inspections, product approvals for the components right-down to the fasteners, and then a forensic engineering team reviews them with compliance to the building code at the time of construction. I am a plans examiner and a Life Safety Code inspector, and I've seen a lot of stupid, dangerous things done by amateurs and professionals. Considering what's at stake, you don't need a catastrophic failure so using the services of a structural engineer is a matter of safety for you and anyone around the structure. Yes, you may be able to use the free design skills of your local supply store, but here in Florida, you don't get a permit for structural work like that without having a professional engineer (P.E.) submitting sealed plans for the structural calcs. ![]() I adapted a 'cherry-picker.' I'll post that up in a new thread. I even went as-far as-to buy a short-web I-beam with the idea to bolt it to the underside of the box beam at the ridge, but I discovered that between the I-beam girder, the trolley, and the rigging, I would lose precious headroom, and be unable to lift much over 3' in height onto the loft deck. If it was an I-beam girder I could use an overhead trolley on the lower surface flange of the beam, but due to the box construction, that was out. One concession I made to getting heavy things up & down to/from the loft, I thought about what would make an easy load-lifter? The roof ridge beam is also a 1/2" wall thickness box beam with plates welded to it for the ceiling joists. For access, I use an A-frame ladder, but since it's used for storage, it's not an everyday trip I make. ![]() The structure has no stairs to access the loft, not-even an attic 'pull-down' stairs. The beam is sandwiched on both sides by a 2" x10" (ripped to 8" to match the box beam dimension) wood beam to allow easier attachment of the loft floor joists, which are 2" x 8" & 18" o.c. The engineer did the calcs and gave us a front-of-the loft steel box beam, 1/2" wall thickness, 4" x 8" welded into steel flitch plates cast into the masonry side walls. We used a structural engineer, and I asked for a capacity capable of supporting the weight of multiple motorcycles. The garage is a nominal 20' x 22' & the loft is a nominal 13' x 22'. That's all we could afford to do, we kept the same roof instead of bumping it higher. I had built a loft which isn't full height above my two-car garage.
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