Looking for structural timber strength data.

sagulator is good for horizontal timber, but not uprights.

NT

The trouble with the strength tables is they require a bit of experience on the part of the timber grader. Two pieces of the the same kind of wood may have very different strengths because of knots and other defects. Since you are building a verandah rather than a multistorey carpark just use a bit of common sence and err on the side of overkill. I built a verandah recently with 6 inch square oak posts. Plenty of overkill there but green oak only cost =A315 per cubic foot and big post look nice. I expect posts of a quarter the crossectional area (3 x 3 inch) would have been more than adequate. Pine is more likely to rot at the bottom end than oak. Larch, Douglas fir and cedar are the more durable softwoods.

Just do a Google search for "joist span tables" or just "span tables" wood. There's quite a few, mainly American based. Here's one URL below...

I think these sites provide that type of info'

Loads of info on all sorts of materials here:

(not a fan of the sagulator mentioned elsewhere since it seems to give answers that are significantly out!)