Wooden floor beams provide not only the strength of the horizontal structure. The purpose of the ceiling is to provide rigidity to the entire building. It is for this reason that special attention should be paid to the selection of load-bearing elements and their installation.

Pros and cons of wooden floors

To install the ceiling yourself, you need to prepare. The floor in the house must rest on a strong and rigid structure. Before starting work, you will have to study the requirements for the elements, the features of their calculation and the types of sections.

The following advantages can be highlighted wooden floor:

• attractive appearance, the opportunity to do wooden floor without additional activities;
• light weight, reduced load on walls and foundations, savings on construction;
• possibility of carrying out repairs during operation;
• speed of installation, execution of work without additional machines and mechanisms.

Wooden beams do not weigh down the structure and are quickly installed

But it is also worth highlighting the disadvantages:

• flammability of wood, the need for special impregnation with fire retardants;
• smaller compared to reinforced concrete or metal elements strength;
• shrinkage and deformation due to changes in temperature and humidity;
• susceptibility to rot, mildew and mold when high humidity, it is necessary to carry out treatment with antiseptics at the construction stage and periodically during the service life.

Requirements for wooden floors

Wooden floor beams must meet the following requirements:

• correspondence of section dimensions to load, span and pitch, this requires calculation of beams;
• good strength and rigidity;
• fire safety;
• no serious wood defects or damage.

To work you need to prepare quality material

There are also certain requirements for the material from which the beams are made. It is recommended to choose wood coniferous species. It contains a lot of resin, so it resists better various microorganisms. The best material those trees that grew in harsh conditions are considered. Their trunk density is higher. For this reason, it is worth purchasing pine or spruce that grew in the northern regions of the country.

You also need to pay attention to the preparation time. The best period is considered to be at the end of winter. At this time, the tree is in a dormant state, there is less juice in it, and therefore the moisture content of the material will be less.

What types of wooden floors are there?

Wooden floor beams are used for almost all levels of the house. The beam frame must be provided for the following types of construction:

• basement or basement floor (first floor floor);
• interfloor covering;
• attic floor.

The thickness of the supporting beam for the attic is from 10 to 20 cm

The normalized payload, which is taken into account in the calculation of wooden floor beams, depends on the type. There will also be a difference in the thickness of the insulation and its necessity.

Between 5 and 15 cm of mineral wool, polystyrene foam or extruded polystyrene foam is usually laid between the beams above the basement. In interfloor structures, it will be enough to provide a couple of centimeters for sound insulation. A cold attic requires the most material. Here the thickness can be from 10 to 20 cm. The exact values ​​depend on climatic region construction.

Mineral wool is laid between the basement beams

Sometimes they prefer to make the basement floor not from wood, but from metal and reinforced concrete. In this case, an I-beam or channel is used as load-bearing beams, and concrete is poured into formwork made of corrugated sheets. This option will be more reliable if there is a risk of flooding. It will also better resist moisture from the basement.

What types of beams are there?

There are several criteria by which wooden floor beams are classified: by size, material, type of section. The length of the floor beams depends on the distance between the walls. To this value you need to add a margin for support on both sides. Optimally, you need to provide 200-250 mm.

Based on material, elements are divided into the following types:

• from solid timber or boards;
• from laminated veneer lumber.

Made from laminated veneer lumber bent beams

The latter are significantly more expensive. But such the material is suitable for covering large spans. A regular beam can work at distances of 4-6 m, while a laminated beam copes well with distances of 6-9 m. Glued laminated timber practically does not shrink, is fireproof and resistant to moisture. It is possible to produce not only linear elements, but also bent ones. A significant disadvantage of such a material will be the presence of non-natural components (glue).

The cross-section of beams can be of the following types:

• square;
• rectangular;
• I-beam

The latter has widened elements at the top and bottom. In the middle of the section it is reduced to the maximum possible size. This option allows you to rationally use wood and reduce its consumption. But making such an element is not easy. For this reason, I-beams are not often used in construction.

The most commonly used timber is rectangular in shape.

The best option will become a rectangle. In this case, the long side is located vertically, and the short side is horizontal. This is due to the fact that increasing height has a better effect on strength than increasing width. Installing a beam from a board flat is practically useless.

The most unprofitable of the presented ones can be considered square section. It is least adjusted to the diagram of forces in the element.

You can also use logs for roofing. But this option did not gain popularity. The section from the board is much more profitable and easier to install, therefore it is used much more often.

Calculations

Calculation of the cross-section will allow you to have no doubt about the strength and rigidity of the structure. In this case it is determined maximum length, which is allowed for any section. To perform the calculation, you need the following data:

• the length of the wooden floor beam (more precisely, the distance between load-bearing walls);
• the distance between the beams (their pitch);

To calculate, you need to know the distance between the beams, the width of the span and the load on the structure

The load consists of two values: permanent and temporary. The permanent includes the mass of the beams themselves (preliminary for now), insulation, ceiling lining, rough and finished floor. The temporary load is the mass of people and furniture. According to regulatory documents for residential premises, it is taken to be 150 kg/m2. For the attic you can take less, but it is recommended to use the same one. This will not only provide a certain margin of safety, but will also make it possible in the future to convert your attic into an attic without reconstructing the load-bearing elements.

The beam frame should be calculated using the following formulas:

• Mmax = (q*l2)/8;
• Wreq = Mmax/130.

In these formulas, q is the load per square meter. m of flooring, which includes the mass of structures and 150 kg of useful value. In this case, these values ​​must be multiplied by the distance between the beams. This is due to the fact that calculations require a load on linear meter, and initially the value was calculated to be square. l2 - the distance between the load-bearing walls on which the purlin rests, taken in a square.

Knowing Wrequirement, you can select the section of the floor. W = b*h2/6. Knowing W, you can easily create an equation with one unknown. Here it is enough just to set one geometric characteristic b (section width) or h (its height).

Most often, the wooden beam already has a known width. It is more convenient to make it from a board 50 or 100 mm wide. You can also consider the option with a composite section. It is made from several boards 50 mm thick.

By calculation in this case, the required height of the element is found. But there are cases when you need to fit into a certain ceiling pie so as not to reduce the height of the premises. In this case, the height of the section is added to the equation as a known quantity, and the width is found. But the lower the height, the more uneconomical the floor frame will be.

To tighten two or three boards together, it is convenient to use metal pins. In this case, when tightening the nuts, be sure to use wider washers. They prevent the metal from being pressed into more soft wood. It is imperative to provide insulation between wood and steel fasteners. For this, you can use a material such as TECHNOELAST brand EPP.

Wooden blocks must be waterproofed before installation

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Beams in a house usually belong to rafter system or overlap, and to get reliable design, the operation of which can be carried out without any fear, must be used beam calculator.

What is the beam calculator based on?

When the walls have already been brought under the second floor or under the roof, it is necessary to make, in the second case smoothly turning into rafter legs. In this case, the materials must be selected so that the load on the brick or log walls did not exceed the permissible limit, and the strength of the structure was at the proper level. Therefore, if you are going to use wood, you need to choose the right beams from it and make calculations to determine the required thickness and sufficient length.

The subsidence or partial destruction of the ceiling can be due to various reasons, for example, too large a step between the lags, deflection of the cross members, too small of their cross-sectional area or defects in the structure. To eliminate possible excesses, you should find out the expected load on the floor, be it basement or interfloor, and then use a beam calculator, taking into account their own weight. The latter can change in concrete lintels, the weight of which depends on the density of the reinforcement; for wood and metal, with a certain geometry, the weight is constant. The exception is damp wood, which is not used in construction work without pre-drying.

Beam systems in floors and rafter structures are loaded by forces acting on section bending, torsion, and lengthwise deflection. For rafters, it is also necessary to provide for snow and wind loads, which also create certain forces applied to the beams. You also need to accurately determine the required step between the jumpers, since too many crossbars will lead to excess weight of the floor (or roof), and too little, as mentioned above, will weaken the structure.

You may also be interested in the article about calculating the amount of unedged and edged boards in cube:

How to calculate the load on a floor beam

The distance between the walls is called a span, and there are two of them in the room, and one span will necessarily be smaller than the other if the shape of the room is not square. Interfloor lintels or attic floor should be laid along a shorter span, the optimal length of which is from 3 to 4 meters. Longer distances may require beams non-standard sizes, which will lead to some instability of the flooring. The best solution in this case would be to use metal crossbars.

Regarding the section wooden beam, there is a certain standard that requires the sides of the beam to be in a ratio of 7:5, that is, the height is divided into 7 parts, and 5 of them must make up the width of the profile. In this case, deformation of the section is excluded, but if you deviate from the above indicators, then if the width exceeds the height, you will get a deflection, or, if the opposite discrepancy occurs, a bend to the side. To prevent this from happening due to the excessive length of the beam, you need to know how to calculate the load on the beam. In particular, the permissible deflection is calculated from the ratio to the length of the lintel as 1:200, that is, it should be 2 centimeters per 4 meters.

To prevent the beam from sagging under the weight of logs and flooring, as well as interior items, you can grind it from below a few centimeters, giving it the shape of an arch; in this case, its height should have an appropriate margin.

Now let's turn to the formulas. The same deflection mentioned earlier is calculated as follows: f nor = L/200, where L is the span length, and 200 is the permissible distance in centimeters for each unit of beam subsidence. For reinforced concrete beam, distributed load q which is usually equated to 400 kg/m 2, the calculation of the limiting bending moment is performed using the formula M max = (q · L 2)/8. In this case, the amount of reinforcement and its weight is determined according to the following table:

Cross-sectional areas and mass of reinforcing bars

Diameter, mm	Cross-sectional area, cm 2, with the number of rods									Weight 1 linear meter, kg	Diameter, mm
Wire and rod reinforcement
Seven-wire ropes class K-7

The load on any beam made of a sufficiently homogeneous material is calculated using a number of formulas. To begin with, the moment of resistance W ≥ M/R is calculated. Here M is the maximum bending moment of the applied load, and R– calculated resistance, which is taken from reference books depending on the material used. Since most often beams have rectangular shape, the moment of resistance can be calculated differently: W z = b h 2 /6, where b is the width of the beam, and h– height.

What else should you know about beam loads?

The ceiling, as a rule, is at the same time the floor of the next floor and the ceiling of the previous one. This means that it needs to be made in such a way that there is no risk of combining the upper and lower rooms by simply overloading the furniture. This probability especially arises when the step between the beams is too large and logs are abandoned (plank floors are laid directly on the timber laid in the spans). In this case, the distance between the crossbars directly depends on the thickness of the boards, for example, if it is 28 millimeters, then the length of the board should not be more than 50 centimeters. If there are lags, the minimum gap between the beams can reach 1 meter.

It is also necessary to take into account the mass used for the floor. For example, if mineral wool mats are laid, then square meter the basement floor will weigh from 90 to 120 kilograms, depending on the thickness of the thermal insulation. Sawdust concrete will double the mass of the same area. The use of expanded clay will make the flooring even heavier, since the load per square meter will be 3 times greater than when laying mineral wool. Next, we should not forget about the payload, which for interfloor ceilings is 150 kilograms per square meter minimum. In the attic, it is enough to accept a permissible load of 75 kilograms per square.

Installation of wooden beams in the floors of houses is not uncommon. Their main purpose is to evenly distribute the load on the walls and foundation of the building. In order for a beam structure to fulfill its functions, it is necessary to select the correct material for it and calculate the length and cross-section.

All wooden beams are divided among themselves according to their purpose and the type of material from which they are made. According to their purpose, they can be: interfloor, attic, basement and basement. Depending on the type of material, beams can be made of solid wood or laminated wood.

wooden floors in aerated concrete house

The interfloor span must be strong and reliable. Sound and vapor barrier fillers are placed in the internal volume between the ceiling and floor. The ceiling part is sewn up necessary material, the floor is laid on top.

The attic floor can be installed as an element of the roof, being part of it truss structure. Can be installed as a separate independent element. In order to preserve heat, it must be equipped with steam and thermal insulation.

Basement ceiling and ground floor must be of great strength and withstand high loads. These spans are equipped with heat and vapor barriers to prevent the penetration of cold from the basement.

Beams differ in types, which have their own advantages and disadvantages.Hardwood is used to make solid beams. A significant disadvantage of solid wooden beams is the length limitation, which cannot exceed 5 meters.

Beams made of laminated wood combine high strength and aesthetics. Their use significantly increases the maximum length, which can be up to 20 meters. Considering that glued floors look beautiful, they are often not covered with a ceiling and serve as a design element.

They have several more significant advantages, which include:

• ability to cover large spans;
• ease of installation;
• small weight;
• long period of operation;
• high level of fire safety;
• cannot be deformed.

The wooden parts of the floor beams can have a rectangular cross-section, which is typical for timber or boards, or round, made from logs.

Requirements for wooden floor beams

Installation of wooden beam floors entails a number of requirements that must be taken into account. They are as follows:

1. Beam products must be made from coniferous wood, which has a high margin of safety. At the same time, the moisture content of the wood should be no more than 14 percent, otherwise the joists will have a large deflection under load.
2. It is prohibited to use wood that is susceptible to fungal diseases or damaged by insects to make beams.
3. Before installation, beam elements must be treated with an antiseptic.
4. To ensure that the ceiling or floor does not sag even under load, it is necessary to perform a construction lift. The ceiling of the lower floor will receive a slight rise in the center, which will become even under load.
5. If the beams are planned to be laid with great frequency, then instead of them you can use boards that need to be installed on the ribs.

The procedure for calculating wooden beams

Before installing a wooden floor, it is necessary to carry out calculations in which to determine the number and dimensions of beams. To do this you need:

• determine the length of the span on which they will be installed;
• calculate the possible load they will bear after installation;
• Having the specified data, calculate the cross-section of the beams and the step with which they will be installed. For this, special tables and programs are used.

Beam length consists of the length of the span that needs to be covered and the stock of the beam that will be mounted into the wall. The span can be determined using any measuring device. The supply of beams that will be mounted in the wall depends on the material from which the wall is made.

Important!

If the building is built of brick, then the margin for beams made from boards should be at least 10 cm and at least 15 cm for beams made from timber. IN wooden buildings special grooves are made, with a depth of 7 cm or more, for laying beams. If the beams serve as the basis for the roof rafters, then they are made 4-6 cm longer than the span.

The most used span, which is covered with beams, ranges from 2.5 to 4 meters. The maximum length of beams made of timber or boards cannot exceed 6 meters. If the span length exceeds this size, then it is recommended to install beams made of laminated veneer lumber. In addition, to cover spans longer than 6 meters, you can install a wooden truss.

Load carried by a wooden beam consists of a mass of span parts (beams, internal filling, ceiling and floor coverings) and a mass of temporary elements (furniture, household appliances, people present in the room).

Accurate calculations of the load-bearing capacity of beams are usually carried out by specialized organizations. When performing the calculation independently, the following system is used:

• attic floor with lining, in which the insulation is mineral wool, carries a constant dead load of 50 kg per square meter. With such a load, according to SNiP standards, the standard load will be 70 kg per square meter with a safety factor of 1.3. Finding out the total load is not difficult: 1.3x70+50=130 kilograms per square meter;
• if a heavier material than cotton wool is used as insulation, or thick boards were used as lining, then the standard load will be 150 kg per square meter. And the total load will have a different value: 150x1.3+50=245 kg per square meter;
• if the calculation is carried out for attic room, then the weight of the material from which the floor is laid and the objects located in the attic is taken into account. The load in this case will be 350 kg per square meter;
• in the case where the beams serve as interfloor spans, the calculated load is 400 kg per square meter.

Calculation of wooden floor beams

Determination of the section and pitch of wooden beams

By calculating the load and length of the beams, you can determine their pitch and cross-sectional dimensions or diameter.

These indicators are interrelated and are calculated according to established rules:

1. The width and height of the beams should be in proportion 1:1.,4. In this case, the width of the beams should be in the range from 4 to 20 cm, and the height from 10 to 30 cm, taking into account the thickness insulation material. Logs for floors should have a diameter in the range from 11 to 30 cm.
2. The installation step should be in the range from 30 to 120 cm, taking into account the insulation and lining materials that will be in the space between the beams. If the structure is frame, then the step should correspond to the distance between the frames.
3. The cross-section of wooden beams is determined using developed tables or using certain programs. When calculating sections, it is necessary to take into account that the maximum bending of attic beams should not exceed 1/200, and that of interfloor beams should not exceed 1/350.

Application of wooden trusses, advantages and disadvantages

Floor trusses made of wood look like two parallel logs or bars located above each other, which are connected to each other by supports located at an angle or vertically in relation to these logs or bars. The main task that trusses solve is covering long spans if the installation of additional support posts is impossible.

For the manufacture of trusses, developed tables and programs are used, which take into account the type of connections, installation pitch, cross-section of structural parts and its overall dimensions. Often, trusses are manufactured industrially using high-precision equipment. Along with this, you can make a farm with your own hands.

Comparing wooden beams and floor trusses, you can determine the advantages and disadvantages that the trusses have. The advantages include:

• the ability to cover a span of significant size without additional support posts;
• insignificant mass, which entails a small load on load-bearing elements buildings;
• high strength and resistance to deflection, which entails long-term operation hemming and flooring materials;
• ease of installation on any load-bearing elements of the building, regardless of the material from which they are made;
• the ability to change the width of the truss laying step;
• possibility of installing internal communication lines;
• excellent sound insulation;
• beautifully made trusses can be left unsewn and used as a decorative element.

In addition to advantages, farms have some disadvantages, which include the following:

• due to design features, the thickness of interfloor ceilings increases significantly;
• significant labor costs when making a farm with your own hands, the need for special equipment;
• high price for a finished structure.

Wood truss design

Table of floor spans

Table of floor spans frame house helps to choose the correct section of floor joists, which means avoiding problems with sagging floors, creaking and vibration when walking. Our homegrown approach - taking larger beams - is not economically justified. The board is cheaper than timber, especially large sections. Most often, the length of floor spans is within 3.5-4.5 meters and, by observing the correct section and pitch, a reliable floor can be installed.

Let me remind you that floor joists are installed with a certain step, a multiple of long side rough sheathing boards, namely 305 mm, 407 mm, 488 mm and 610 mm for OSB board / plywood measuring 2240 x 1220 mm.

For pitch 305 mm (12" OC)

For pitch 407 mm (16" OC)

For pitch 488 mm (19.2" OC)

For pitch 610 mm (24" OC)

Where did the data in these tables come from?

How to work with tables correctly and what is residential and non-residential load?

Living space is everything that is located and moves around the floor space: people, objects. Non-residential load is weight building elements. For example, the weight of floor joists and subfloor slabs.

Depends on what will be located on top: a double bed or a regular chair. Finish coating The floor could be a light laminate, or it could be a heated floor screed with tiles.

Typically for residential premises the total load is in the range of 200-250 kg per sq.m. If you plan to install cast iron bath, then look at its weight and add a lot of water and your loved one in it.

What type of wood are these values ​​taken for?

Since our markets do not have a quality system and precise definition grades of lumber, the tables indicate the values ​​for ordinary spruce and grade II pine according to the North American classification.

The actual cross-sectional dimensions of the boards in American tables are smaller than European ones, what should I do?

This is true. If Americans say that the board is 2" x 6", then it is not 50.8 mm x 152.4 mm. In fact it is 38.1 mm x 139.7 mm. The cross-section of the board is reduced as a result of drying and planing. At our sawmills, lumberyards and markets, it’s also not furniture store. Sellers claim that the board has a cross-section of 50 mm x 150 mm, but in fact it can be 40-50 mm x 135-150 mm.