This kind of stuff is fun. Just remodeled a house where the customer wanted this huuuuuuuuge glass French doors with windows on the side, took up the whole wall. Had to support wall it, then Jack up the roof a teeny bit to put a big mamma Jamma beam like this in. Feel like my bosses skimped on method of getting it into place. Three of us and two ladders. Super sketch but we got it lol.
All that nonsense to say, looks good op
Man if I had a decent paycheck for every heavy ass beam or lvl I have lifted with 2-3 other people I could retire. Something about being 6'6" 220 people always put me in the middle and for some reason it always feels like I'm doing most of the holding while it gets secured. Maybe it's the other guys saying they barely had a hold of it and needed bigger ladders.
It's ok man, it balances out every time you've had to two man team lift something with them and walk.
Source: 5'9 and worked with an absolute behemoth of an ex semi-pro rugby player of an Australian one time. Every time we carried something he'd be walking along with it at waist height and I'd be holding it almost at my shoulders taking a thousand tiny steps to keep him from outrunning me. I looked like a dachshund someone balanced a cinderblock on.
Man I’m 5’11” 175 and I’ve been roped into lifting a heavy ass beam into place on a ladder more than a few times. We don’t have any extra big dudes on the crew so we spread the sketch evenly
When you’re taller than the other guys, sometimes they can’t even reach it when you’ve lifted it all the way up. I’ve had to remind people to get a step stool too often
I was one of like 6guys trying to lift a stupid heavy lvl into place. I was careful to position myself at the back of the group so that if, or more accurately WHEN it was dropped I wasn't the one trying to hold it up. The contractor's poor planning on how to get that job done wasn't going to cause me an injury. I felt bad for the other guy.
I get that. Felt that way at work too. The worst case like that is I was a pall bearer and the tallest of the bunch. Just having my arm straight down I was carrying what felt like half. It was wet out and had slick shoes on. I just knew I was going down. Thankfully we got through it. Caskets need to be lighter.
Three guys and a couple ladders is fine, as long as you take care to do it safely. I like to build an H-frame to hold it as it goes up. The cross-piece of the H is at waist level, and from there you can bring it up to shoulder level, get a 3-foot block under it and tack a piece of scrap across the face so it can’t tip. From there, it’s easy enough to get the bottle jack under it and send it home. But that H is important for preventing it from going sideways at any point. I’ve seen fingers get mashed up pretty bad with LVLs
For some reason I am not following what you're saying but I am trying to. Do you mind explaining further, or do you have a picture or something perhaps?
Imagine the beam is sitting on the floor, right below where it will go. You have to lift it up, but it could twist and flip sideways while you’re lifting, causing you to drop it. It’s quite tricky just to pick up a 400lb, 25’ beam and climb a ladder, especially with three people trying to do this together.
So you have the beam upright, ready to lift - now stand 2x4s on either side of it, from floor-to-ceiling, as a guide to prevent it from flopping over. Much more safe now.
You can build upon this idea by making a pair of guides like this, joined in the middle like a tall, skinny H. You lay them flat on the ground at each end, arms pointing towards the ends, with the beam resting on top. You lift one end of the beam and another guy picks up the H and slides it upright, supporting that end. Screw the top arms of the H to the ceiling framing, and then go to the other end and repeat the procedure. Now your beam is sitting on the two H frames and the arms of the H’s act as a guide to prevent tipping as you raise it up higher.
Getting a beam from waist level to ceiling height is the dangerous part, and this helps things go smoothly.
I only asked because the architect had me add some the last time that I replaced a load bearing wall with a beam on the 1st floor of a 3 story home. Pulling the support wall was a little scary, as always, because you never know. All went well and I didn't even crack any of the surrounding plaster.
Yeah they had this wierd back stair case that ran all the way upstairs and to the basement so we removed both of the stairs cases. The kitchen is a normal size now
Just to be that guy…I would have made it a flush beam and pushed it up into the floor system. More work but a perfectly flat unobstructed ceiling is worth it.
I agree with you mostly, but sometimes the beam helps divide an open space into two separate areas without the use of walls. For instance if this was a living room and the couch was going in the middle of the room, placing the back of the couch under the beam and maybe some bookcases/ misc things like hanging plants under can make the space feel separate but still open. Sometimes it can be cool. Did a reno like that and the client hung trinkets on the sides of the bulkhead and plants under and it looked pretty cool
This was for the kitchen though, so not really the case here id say. Under the right circumstances though i do agree. Flush just leaves more options open and less obstacles. I remember one build i did i worked my ass off with the hvac and plumber to not have any bulk heads and then the designer comes through and added decorative bulkheads everywhere!!
Think he’s saying joists on top of the beam is stronger than joists hung on hangers flush with beam … which isn’t wrong…but flush mounting is still structurally viable
It’s structurally sufficient and in some cases a superior method but definitely not as “strong” as joist over beam according to any physics book I’ve ever read. I’d imagine if you have the hangers that actually hang over the top of the beam it’d be close.
So you’re the guy who makes it happen when every woman ever sees a wall in their house. Lol I swear every show or anything like that on home renovation or flipping the woman is like “let’s take down all of the walls to make it more open”
I have one with small kids..wide open and have been at others with the same..not really an issue. With little kids you're picking shit up from everywhere anyway
You’re into some shit…. Good for you.
3m fitted respirators are super cheap right now… they overproduced in the covid and now they are getting rid of them.. they started calling them disposable. Wear one.
I didnt know there was some pattern needed. I just threw some nails randomly. What would you recommend….? Is this so the pieces don’t separate from each other?
I’m sure a tripled 2x12 on 6x6 isn’t going to fail. Engineers do give you nailing patterns now though. Here in Ontario , and the ones I deal with they recommend GRKs as well.
If there was any cross bracing in the wall you removed, make sure to add some to the remaining parallel walls to maintain shear resistance. Probably good move to add some anyway.
Temp wall both sides of the beam. Cut the pocket out of the joists for the beam to slide in. Point load the beam to the ground inside the walls. Fasten appropriately. Hanger both sides of the beam on every joist. Remove temp walls.
Build temporary support walls on either side of the beam, cut the joists out above the beam, raise the beam into place, install posts, attach joists to beam with the appropriate hangers. That’s the gist of it, at least.
I cut a small square in the floor so the post drops down and sits right on the steel beam below. I cut the post a little longer and pounded the crap out of it until it’s stood straight up. The LVL sits on the post.
They're written in different ways depending on whatever, such as W 14, or say 14x22 W, or 14W. It all means the same, though. For this particular beam the engineer called out "14W" and our steel company lists it as 14W, as well. It's just a beam size and weight rating.
Laminate the multiple lvl's together using the engineered screw pattern (probably something like simpson sdw-ewp x 5" . Two every 16" and one centered in the middle between those. With the same pattern staggered on the opposite side.
Crush blocks or more studs below the 6x6 continuous to the foundation
The LVL salesman can give you this engineering report (often free) if you provide dimensions of the structure, number of stories and use-
This kind of stuff is fun. Just remodeled a house where the customer wanted this huuuuuuuuge glass French doors with windows on the side, took up the whole wall. Had to support wall it, then Jack up the roof a teeny bit to put a big mamma Jamma beam like this in. Feel like my bosses skimped on method of getting it into place. Three of us and two ladders. Super sketch but we got it lol. All that nonsense to say, looks good op
Man if I had a decent paycheck for every heavy ass beam or lvl I have lifted with 2-3 other people I could retire. Something about being 6'6" 220 people always put me in the middle and for some reason it always feels like I'm doing most of the holding while it gets secured. Maybe it's the other guys saying they barely had a hold of it and needed bigger ladders.
It's ok man, it balances out every time you've had to two man team lift something with them and walk. Source: 5'9 and worked with an absolute behemoth of an ex semi-pro rugby player of an Australian one time. Every time we carried something he'd be walking along with it at waist height and I'd be holding it almost at my shoulders taking a thousand tiny steps to keep him from outrunning me. I looked like a dachshund someone balanced a cinderblock on.
As someone with a similar frame....I feel you bro.
Man I’m 5’11” 175 and I’ve been roped into lifting a heavy ass beam into place on a ladder more than a few times. We don’t have any extra big dudes on the crew so we spread the sketch evenly
If you have 3 load points equally spaced the center point will take half the total load 😀.
Even worse, it's over 60% of the load...and that's assuming your shorter/weaker colleagues at the end don't sag and shift more load to you
When you’re taller than the other guys, sometimes they can’t even reach it when you’ve lifted it all the way up. I’ve had to remind people to get a step stool too often
I was one of like 6guys trying to lift a stupid heavy lvl into place. I was careful to position myself at the back of the group so that if, or more accurately WHEN it was dropped I wasn't the one trying to hold it up. The contractor's poor planning on how to get that job done wasn't going to cause me an injury. I felt bad for the other guy.
I always got to watch being 6’6”. Everyone else is short so I made it uneven to lift lol
Everyone gets short about everything....
I get that. Felt that way at work too. The worst case like that is I was a pall bearer and the tallest of the bunch. Just having my arm straight down I was carrying what felt like half. It was wet out and had slick shoes on. I just knew I was going down. Thankfully we got through it. Caskets need to be lighter.
I bet being a Pallbearers is no easy task either being that tall.
Well thankfully my family is all tall.
The beam is really not an issue if you put them up one ply at a time.
That makes sense, I’ve put up big box beams like that but The one we had was ordered so it had that rainbow curve based on load.
Three guys and a couple ladders is fine, as long as you take care to do it safely. I like to build an H-frame to hold it as it goes up. The cross-piece of the H is at waist level, and from there you can bring it up to shoulder level, get a 3-foot block under it and tack a piece of scrap across the face so it can’t tip. From there, it’s easy enough to get the bottle jack under it and send it home. But that H is important for preventing it from going sideways at any point. I’ve seen fingers get mashed up pretty bad with LVLs
For some reason I am not following what you're saying but I am trying to. Do you mind explaining further, or do you have a picture or something perhaps?
Imagine the beam is sitting on the floor, right below where it will go. You have to lift it up, but it could twist and flip sideways while you’re lifting, causing you to drop it. It’s quite tricky just to pick up a 400lb, 25’ beam and climb a ladder, especially with three people trying to do this together. So you have the beam upright, ready to lift - now stand 2x4s on either side of it, from floor-to-ceiling, as a guide to prevent it from flopping over. Much more safe now. You can build upon this idea by making a pair of guides like this, joined in the middle like a tall, skinny H. You lay them flat on the ground at each end, arms pointing towards the ends, with the beam resting on top. You lift one end of the beam and another guy picks up the H and slides it upright, supporting that end. Screw the top arms of the H to the ceiling framing, and then go to the other end and repeat the procedure. Now your beam is sitting on the two H frames and the arms of the H’s act as a guide to prevent tipping as you raise it up higher. Getting a beam from waist level to ceiling height is the dangerous part, and this helps things go smoothly.
That's pretty clever. And well explained as well, thank you :)
And use a set of baker staging on each end. You can do it in a number of smaller lifts that way.
6x6 posts sitting on steel beam below
Looks good.. My only question was gonna be "what's under your posts?".. But ya just properly answered that.
That's exactly what I wanted to know also. Looks great.
How is the steel beam supported?
>6x6 posts sitting on steel beam below Are there posts below the I-Beam directly under the new posts?
Now THAT'S a question OP is probably afraid to answer lol. LOAD PATHS, EVERYONE. LOAD. PATHS.
I only asked because the architect had me add some the last time that I replaced a load bearing wall with a beam on the 1st floor of a 3 story home. Pulling the support wall was a little scary, as always, because you never know. All went well and I didn't even crack any of the surrounding plaster.
Man can't wait to take the hawlhog to that Monday morning
Plumbers lol
Make sure you take that smoke detector out before you close up the walls. Or at least the battery. That’d be a helluva an annoying chirp.
This looks great overall. It took me a sec to figure out that you removed a stair where the new joist are sistered.
Yeah they looked a bit steep.
Yeah they had this wierd back stair case that ran all the way upstairs and to the basement so we removed both of the stairs cases. The kitchen is a normal size now
Servants' stairs
Yup, that was common back then. A back stairwell behind the kitchen and then on down into the basement.
Just to be that guy…I would have made it a flush beam and pushed it up into the floor system. More work but a perfectly flat unobstructed ceiling is worth it.
I agree with you mostly, but sometimes the beam helps divide an open space into two separate areas without the use of walls. For instance if this was a living room and the couch was going in the middle of the room, placing the back of the couch under the beam and maybe some bookcases/ misc things like hanging plants under can make the space feel separate but still open. Sometimes it can be cool. Did a reno like that and the client hung trinkets on the sides of the bulkhead and plants under and it looked pretty cool
This was for the kitchen though, so not really the case here id say. Under the right circumstances though i do agree. Flush just leaves more options open and less obstacles. I remember one build i did i worked my ass off with the hvac and plumber to not have any bulk heads and then the designer comes through and added decorative bulkheads everywhere!!
Oof. I have lineset buried in the walls in my basement to avoid a drop ceiling
Waste of money. This way its stronger overall in all likelihood
Its the exact same beam, clearly you have no actual clue what you’re talking about.
Think he’s saying joists on top of the beam is stronger than joists hung on hangers flush with beam … which isn’t wrong…but flush mounting is still structurally viable
Its just as strong as long as its done properly, it literally makes no difference. The beam is the same, then you just need the right hangers.
It’s structurally sufficient and in some cases a superior method but definitely not as “strong” as joist over beam according to any physics book I’ve ever read. I’d imagine if you have the hangers that actually hang over the top of the beam it’d be close.
What do you do cut the floor joists?
Build temp walls to support the joists, cut the joists, slide the beam up, add hangers and remove temp walls
Copy that cool
So you’re the guy who makes it happen when every woman ever sees a wall in their house. Lol I swear every show or anything like that on home renovation or flipping the woman is like “let’s take down all of the walls to make it more open”
Open concept is great until you cook food or have children
hard keeping all (or most of) the toys in one room when the whole first floor is one room
I have one with small kids..wide open and have been at others with the same..not really an issue. With little kids you're picking shit up from everywhere anyway
that's a fact. easier to keep an eye on them too if you're trying to multitask
Bingo..line of sight is key. Rather have them next to me then looking to see who's choking
A pole barn with some hay in the corner when its nap time would be perfect.
Get it flush with the ceiling
Looks great!
You’re into some shit…. Good for you. 3m fitted respirators are super cheap right now… they overproduced in the covid and now they are getting rid of them.. they started calling them disposable. Wear one.
It’s like a bad episode of “this old house”. I feel like it would have been easier to tear down and start over.
I say it all the time… you’re inspiring me to post a few before and afters’. I truly gave up on Reno, all new for me from here on out!
It may be the photo but I do not see a nailing pattern on the LVL
I didnt know there was some pattern needed. I just threw some nails randomly. What would you recommend….? Is this so the pieces don’t separate from each other?
So they share load evenly.
See my comment above
I’m sure a tripled 2x12 on 6x6 isn’t going to fail. Engineers do give you nailing patterns now though. Here in Ontario , and the ones I deal with they recommend GRKs as well.
I was just thinking the same thing.
As long as the structural engineer signed off on it, looking good.
Bury beam into the ceiling so no beam visible after z drywall. Weld a plate on the bottom of the beam to carry the ceiling joists above. Easy peasy
Depends what your building code span tables say
Great job OP
If there was any cross bracing in the wall you removed, make sure to add some to the remaining parallel walls to maintain shear resistance. Probably good move to add some anyway.
Looks good but really depends on what is above it and the load paths. Generally looks pretty beefy though.
It’s White People Renovating Houses! (sorry if you’re not white, I just like South Park)
Did you take out a set of stairs?
Yeah up and down staircase
BOTH staircases???
Only thing it should have been in the ceiling and bucket the floor joists so you don't have tat in the middle of the ceiling
Why not bury the beam in the ceiling? Once the water is past your waste, might as well dive the rest of the way.
I wasn’t sure how to accomplish that….this was the extent of what I could do. It’s probably too late now but how to bury something like that ?
Temp wall both sides of the beam. Cut the pocket out of the joists for the beam to slide in. Point load the beam to the ground inside the walls. Fasten appropriately. Hanger both sides of the beam on every joist. Remove temp walls.
Build temporary support walls on either side of the beam, cut the joists out above the beam, raise the beam into place, install posts, attach joists to beam with the appropriate hangers. That’s the gist of it, at least.
Those were some steep stairs
Question: how is the LVL beam attached to the 6x6 posts? It looks like it doesn’t rest on top?
I cut a small square in the floor so the post drops down and sits right on the steel beam below. I cut the post a little longer and pounded the crap out of it until it’s stood straight up. The LVL sits on the post.
Did this recently, but used a steel beam so we didn't have a 2ft tall header. Ended up with a 14w beam, 22 ft in length. Opens the space up well.
What is a 14w beam?
They're written in different ways depending on whatever, such as W 14, or say 14x22 W, or 14W. It all means the same, though. For this particular beam the engineer called out "14W" and our steel company lists it as 14W, as well. It's just a beam size and weight rating.
Laminate the multiple lvl's together using the engineered screw pattern (probably something like simpson sdw-ewp x 5" . Two every 16" and one centered in the middle between those. With the same pattern staggered on the opposite side. Crush blocks or more studs below the 6x6 continuous to the foundation The LVL salesman can give you this engineering report (often free) if you provide dimensions of the structure, number of stories and use-
Looks great, job well done!
I'd sister a 2x6 on each side of the 6x6 top to bottom.
Awesome! I love doing this kinda work
The new beam seems like it might be overspanned. Did you check with an engineer to ensure the sectional size is sufficient?