23 foot span

I have a set of architect drawn plans for a house. There's an A-Frame section in the middle with vaulted ceiling (i.e. no 2nd floor) in the front and a 2nd floor loft in the back. The plans specify the use of 3x10s on 12" centers. These would be 23ft long with no support other than at the ends. Seems to me that's pushing it a bit too far and the floor for the loft will be very spongy. Any thoughts?

Also, there is a bathroom in that loft and I really prefer to put down ceramic tile. I'm concerned that a flor that has much deflection will cause grout joints to constantly crack.

Thanks

Reply to
Ken Korona
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What did the architect say?

Reply to
Oscar_Lives

These are a set of ready made plans. I did not work with the architect, nor do I know how to contact him.

Even if I was able to, I'm not sure I would. My past experience tells me that jst because an architect has a degree means nothing about his competence. Just like any other profession there are lots of degreed idiots.

I'd rather not start a long discussion debating the value of the architectural profession. I'd rather get first hand feedback from others with a similar situation.

Reply to
Ken Korona

That span, even with 12" spacing, is long enough so that choosing merely typical lumber for the joists will make it fail to meet a

30PSF live load specification. You're right, it's too bouncy. Boise-Cascade's AJS-25, 9 3/4" I-joist is good for 22'11", assuming L/360 and 12" spacing, and the solid lumber tables vary from 22'9" to 15'9", depending on what you're using.

For your purposes, you want spans of no more than 18' for 2x10s, or 22' for 2x12s. Are the floor-to-ceiling distances small enough so that you're clawing for vertical space? If not, you should probably switch to 12" I-joists, like Boise-Cascades (AJS-25, 11 7/8")

Reply to
Goedjn

In this situation, the maximum deflection of a beam (joist) will grow with the cube of the span, increase linearly with increased spacing, decrease linearly with increased beam width, and decrease as the cube of the beam depth. Knowing this, you can extrapolate from standard span tables to your non-standard situation.

For example, according to my Code Check Building book, the 1997 UBC allows 2x10s 12" o.c. carrying a 40 lbs/ft^2 live load to span 18'0". The 3x10s are (2.5"/1.5" = 5/3) times as wide, so they can span (cube root of 5/3 = 1.186) times as far, or 21'4".

By contrast, the 1997 UBC allows 2x12s 12" o.c. to span 21'11". To get up to a 23' span, you need something ((23'/21'11")^3 = 1.156) times as stiff, e.g. 2x12s at (12"/1.156 = 10.38") o.c. Or you could use 3x12s and increase the spacing by a factor of 2.5/1.5 = 5/3 to

17.30".

At least, that's the theory as I understand it.

Cheers, Wayne

Reply to
Wayne Whitney

3x10"s?????? Is this engineered lumber or a typo?

Just because you have a set of plans does not mean they will meet the local building code if there is one, everywhere in the world. I had a friend that bought a set of engineered drawings "guaranteed to pass permit inspection any where". Took 7 months of changes before he got his permit. The plans company FINALLY made all the necessary changes. Only cost my buddy an extra $7k for the foundation and extra review fees. The foundation drawn did not allow for frost in the ground.

Reply to
SQLit

Reply to
Satman Crothers

Some others had good advice. I'm spanning 28' with 14" I-joists on 2' centers in my garage. Of course this is a roof, not in snow country, not a floor so deflection isn't as big an issue.

If I were you, I'd use I-joists, with glued and screwed decking and perhaps some blocking at midspan. Also, the underside treatment (ceiling?), depending on what it is, can add considerable stiffness.

Reply to
Wes Stewart

Where are you going to find 3x10's? If anything you'd end up using engineered wood I-beams. Even then that's an awfully wide span on which to put a second floor.

You could potentially beef up the subfloor underneath the bathroom to increase it's rigidity. Or you could add support columns underneath. But otherwise, yeah, it's likely to end up with cracked grout.

Reply to
wkearney99

Ken,

That seems vastly undersized to me, especially if you plan on tiling up there (which your post seemed to indicate).

I built a garage a few years back that is 24' wide, giving a 23' free span. I used 2x12's at 16" OC for the attic floor. The attic is only for light storage, and I never plan on putting anything really heavy up there. It works nice for the purpose, and gives me a completely open garage.

Still, if I stand in the middle and bounce up and down slightly, I can easily feel the flex in the floor. While it may be fine structurally, I definitely wouldn't accept that much flex for a living area.

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

I got these plans about a year ago (had to postpone our construction plans) and I was immediately concerned about that span. I remember I looked it up in the span tables and there is a grade of DF (not just No2 or better) that will just support the 23ft span. But I'd rather not push this to its limit. So I think I'm jgoing to do some redesign work, and break up the 23 foot span with a beam and a post.

Reply to
Ken Korona

"Ken Korona"> wrote

Sounds like another cheapskate that got suckered into buying a set of those stock plans. Well, you'll find out what its all about when you try to get a permit or find a contractor to build it. LOL

Reply to
Don

Thats why the intelligent person will require verifiable references. In your opinion, it seems, that just because someone has a degree he is incompetent. This is called immature jealousy.

Lemme get this straight. You won't do business with a local architect because he might not know what he's doing, yet you purchase a set of stockplans that probably won't work in your area and then you ask for solutions to errors on said plans from anonymous persons in usenet? Its apparent who's incompetent here. LOL

Reply to
Don

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