is poplar a strong enough wood to support a large granite countertop (poplar corbels)?

[denise.c.adam]

is poplar a strong enough wood to support a large granite countertop? there would be 3 corbels ...each 8x145/32x3

[Sonny]

I don't understand, comprehend, those corbel measurements. 145/32 = 4.53. With that, your figures are 8X4.5X3. That size corbel won't support much at all, no matter what wood it's made of.

Try this for some measuring assistance.

Sonny

[denise.c.adam]

8"across top 14 5/32 down the side 3" thick

[Sonny]

An average countertop is usually about 25" deep. I wouldn't trust 10, of that size corbel, to support a countertop of 6' length or more.

What's the size and thickness of the countertop?

Sonny

[woodchucker]

That all depends on the design, and which way the grain is oriented. But yes, vertically it will support it, horizontally, it will depend on the thickness, frequency of support.

Engineering is everything in supporting mass.

[krw]

The difference being compression vs. shear strength. Wood is very good in compression but quite variable in shear. Grain direction matters a lot.

[Leon]

Yes, it is. The question you should be asking is how to properly assemble the support.

[Sonny]

We don't know anything about the counter/countertop, other than the granite top is large. The way Denise asked the question, seems only the corbels are supporting the granite.

Is one long edge, of the countertop, butted against a wall and only the corbels supporting the whole top?

Is the countertop supported in its middle, by a "half-wall", with corbels under each extending/overhanging lip/outer edge? This configuration may/would imply 3 corbels on each side of the wall.

Is one long edge, of the countertop, supported by a half-wall, with corbels supporting the remainer of the width of the granite?

Re: A half wall, if applicable, how wide is the wall?

Some other configuration?

Sonny

[DerbyDad03]

re: the less-than-specific description of a "large" counter top.

I used to work for a (former) Fortune 500 company and attend a lot meetings with the head of our Global IT Department. If she asked you what something would cost or how long it would take and you answered "Oh, it won't cost much" or "That is going to take a long time", the rest of us would cringe, sit back and watch the show.

"I can not plan a budget around "It won't cost much". I can not assign resources based on an estimate of "a long time". I need actual numbers. Either refine your answers at this time or tell me when I can expect an answer that I can actually use."

Assuming you hadn't pissed her off before, you usually had one more chance to provide a detailed estimate, although I have seen project managers be replaced even after one non-nonchalant utterance of "Oh, not too much".

[Swingman]

Corbels are most often used to support the cantilevered (overhang) portion of counter tops.

IMPORTANT: The cantilevered/overhang portion of a counter top is generally 1/3rd of the total depth of the material ... IOW 24" of granite supported by a cabinet or island, with a 12" cantilevered overhang, and depending upon the thickness of the material, is acceptable for most counter top material.

Granite in particular, and depending upon the thickness and type, can generally have a overhang (cantilevered part) of 12" without any support, on average.

So, as long as you are within the 2/3rd's supported - 1/3rd overhang rule, most any corbel will be basically decorative, and not structural.

So yes, poplar should do just fine in that situation.

Wooden corbels are most often made of poplar these days, so you should be fine ... I use poplar to make my own corbels for granite counter tops all the time:

[Swingman]

Some information is missing for a definitive answer ... is this for an overhang?

If so, see my other post.

If not, post the dimensions of the granite to be TOTALLY supported by the corbels.

IOW, in a situation like this:

[Sonny]

Another option for the corbels, if she was thinking solid one-piece of wood, is to make the corbels using a ply technique. The outer plies with the grain running vertical and the inner ply with the grain running lateral.

Three ply corbel makeup:

and

Sonny

[Mike Marlow]

Your link requires a login Karl.

[Leon]

Yup something is wrong there.

[Swingman]

Thanks, Google is being evil...