Floor Support Beam Span. Our floor joist beam can span a maximum of 13. Before adding a beam to support your floor joists its important to ensure that its strong enough to act as structural support.
Table R50231 1 shall be used to determine the maximum allowable span of floor joists that support sleeping areas and attics that are accessed by means of a fixed stairway in accordance with Section R3117 provided that the design live load does not exceed 30 pounds per square foot 144 kPa and the design dead load does not exceed 20 pounds per square foot 096 kPa. 2 Stress grade and wet service conditions. When it comes to residential projects like houses and smaller buildings you can expect a steel beam to be eight inches wide.
2 Stress grade and wet service conditions.
You can avoid lots of columns by installing a taller beam. Glulam beams are commonly available in stock sizes that are manufactured for a variety of residential applications. In the table above the widest floor beam span for 12 of supported floor joists is 147 if using a 5-ply 2 X 12. Heavier beams can sometimes span greater distances between posts.
