Wall Support

[peterjcb]

I'm building a 3 car garage. It has a standard 16X8 double door and a 9X8 Single garage door on the front. My plans call for Three - 1 3/4 X 16' lamimated beams across the double door span and Three - 1 3/4 X 9 1/2 laminated beams across the single door span.
A friend of mine, who is really into using steel & concrete told me that I won't be happy with the laminated beams ( he said that they will "sag" with time) and he suggested that I use a piece of steel right across the front of my wall. I really didn't want to go through the additional work & expense of using steel and would like some other opinions. Will the standard wood laminated beams hold up or should I use steel?
Here is a more detailed look at my project with MY PLAN (http://webdocta.net/modules.php?set_albumName=My-Garage-Project&op=modload&name=gallery1.4.1&file=index&include=view_album.php)
Thanks,
Peter

[Rich]

Unless you went with all steel (king studs and headers) you're probably not going to gain much. I personally think wood is fine for this application. The only thing I would change is maybe go from what is specified to a solid built-up beam such as a glu-lam beam 5-1/8" wide. Homes have used built-up beams since the beginning of time and some of them are still standing. I wouldn't be concerned about the beams sagging. Additionally if you go with a glu-lam beam you can get them with camber built in - so there is even less chance of sagging (that is if you're concerned about it that much).

[peterjcb]

Hi CR
So them I'm better off using one 5 1/8 " beam rather than Three- 1 3/4" Laminated beams. I'm just wondering how heavy a 18' 5 1/8 beam would weigh? Hopefully a couple of guys can hoist it up there. :D

Thanks for your insight.

[Rich]

We've set one like that with 3 guys. 2 on each end and one in the middle keeping it from overturning. Make sure there are double king studs under it to hold it up - in the final configuration. A glu-lam weighs about 20% less than a comparable steel beam.
The reason I say go with a glu-lam is it's less pieces to handle and you're not relying on nails to get all pieces to act as one piece. There are many other benefits such as energy to produce a glu-lam beam compared to a steel beam, renewable resource, etc.

[mreynolds]

I just installed one of these this summer, I am not sure what your experience level is, but make absolutely sure that you check the needed dimensions of your garage doors. What I found was the rough opening specs on my blueprints, didn't match the clearances the garage door tracks needed in my garage. I had 2 choices to fix it, cut block or frame the opening back. I wound up framing the opening back. The header we used was built up from 2x12's, we placed it with 2 people, It went pretty well, but we needed a couple of super human acts to get it in, three would of been much easier.
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[peterjcb]

I'm just curious mr...what was your rough opening and what size door were you using?
I'm using a standard 16' X 8' double door and I've allowed 16' 3 1/4" for the rough opening. I'll slap a couople of 2 X 12 boards to the sides of the rough opening with 1/4" for some play. I should be OK with that.

I'm a novice at actually building a building and I ASSUMED that all double garage doors would be as wide as the 18 foot double door on my Main house. After I poured my footings, and got the foundation put in I just realized that a standard 16' door is NOT what I have on my house! I was a little disappointed because I really like the 18' wide door but it's really a little too late to go back & change everything now.... I'll live with it.

[mreynolds]

My door needed 3 1/2 inches on either side of it to clear the tracks, my plans said I only needed 1.5 so my opening was 16' 3'. That was a good lesson, about rough openings, don't look at the blue prints for the opening size, check the manufactures specs of the door or window. I didn't feel as bad after I talked with a friend who runs a contracting business in our area. He said when they started out and used to install their own doors, they messed the opening up 2 times in a row before they got it right. Now they know the make sure the block masons know what size opening they need from the very begining :P

[mreynolds]

By the way, I added a picture of our header during the framing process to the album so you can check it out. Been looking for an excuse to upload some pics 8)