huangyhg

wood floor loading
i have a wood floor with wood beam support (floor is 13'w x 31'-6"l). the beams are 10-1/2" x 2-1/2", span 13' and are 25-1/2" apart. on one end the beams are supported by the main building wall and on the other they're supported by an s12 x 35.0 i-beam running the length of the floor (and resting on columns 11' apart).
i would like to reinforce part of this floor to accomodate a new press (63"l x 42"w x 4,500lbs), with the load being pretty much static. i do not have much experience with structural design nor do i have any research material available to give me some data on the wood beams. this is a very old building so i don't know if today's wood beam data would apply to this structure (building is approx. 100 years old).
can anyone help me on this one?
check out our whitepaper library.
at a glance you would likely need to triple each the two joists supporting the press.
but the engineered values for lumber vary quite a bit. considering the volume of timber to support this and the junk values for shear strength for wood.....
i would consider lvl material or even a pair of steel beams.
i would consider getting a structural engineer to deal with this. considerations that would be required:
1. material properties of the existing wood.
2. condition of the existing wood.
3. connection of the wood to the wall and to the supporting steel beam.
4. stability of the steel beam relative to lateral torsional buckling (is the wood framing sufficiently tied to the steel to avoid translational buckling?
5. stability of the steel beam at the columns (if the beam goes over the columns, are their proper stiffeners; if it connects to the sides of the columns are the connections sufficient?)
6. capacity of the steel columns under the new load.
7. any eccentricity of the new load that would initiate moment into the columns and decrease their capacity?
8. footing capacity (probably not a big issue but should be looked at.
take jae's advice and hire a structural engineer. addtionally be sure to provide infomation on the load. i assume that the press has moving parts that "do something". even if the press itself does not move on the floor, other forces may be present while it is in operation (e.g. vibration, impact, etc.)
can you provide a support directly under the press that can rest on a footing? in this case you do not have to reinforce the floor.
unfortunately this is the third floor of a four floor building. the only way to reinforce the floor is to redirect the load to the existing footings through the wall and columns.

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