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How to DIY glue-lam

2K views 7 replies 8 participants last post by  kramkieone 
#1 ·
I have a loft in my shop that is 24' wide and 10' deep. It is one third of the size of my shop.(24x30). The shop used to have two vertical post in the middle and i removed one of them when i put up a scissor truss and left the other cause i tied my loft into it the beam is in the middle of the outer edge of the loft, 12' from either side 10' from the other wall. Now the beam is in my way and i want to just put a horizontal beam under the front edge of the loft and cut out the vertical beam. I really dont want to buy a solid beam(6x10 i figure) cause i think it will cost about 500-1000 dollars( wholesale sawmill price) but i have a bunch of lumber sitting around and i was thinking about just building a glue lam and hanging that under their. I just dont know how to properly make one. I also thought about running cable from beam to beam(6" beams) under the edge of the loft and putting a king pin above the cable and tensioning with some turnbuckles( i got some monster 1.5" turnbuckles and some 5/8 cable).
Any help would be appreciated.
 
#2 ·
i am a carpenter,(altho only been doing it for year and a half) but we do make beams to cover spans by taking 2x10 or 2x12 and stacking them ontop of each other and nailing them together, usually about 5 or 6 nails every foot or so. seems to work fine, and can be easily made to any length.

i would have to see a pic of what you have and what you want though to get a good idea of what you may possibly be able to do.
 
#3 ·
I'm a structural designer (not a structural engineer), just so you know this isn't BS.

The only way to build a glulam beam is to have a structural engineer design it. He can tell you the appropriate glu to use, the nailing pattern & the splicing pattern. By the time you do this I bet it cost $300- $500. you'd be better off buying a beam & installing it. IMO.
 
#4 ·
making a glue lam is not something you want to risk doing. it takes a tremendous amount of clamping force. you would be much better off useing a sandwitch board of 2x12's or get some damaged bci/tjm's from the yard. bci/tjms are available in any length, often 40'+ and usally get busted when deliverd.
 
#5 ·
I bought 24' LVL beams to build garage door headers out of and they were only about $60.00 each. Go to a lumber yard where they have people that actually know something,tell them what you're doing and they can look it up in their spec books and give you a pretty good idea what you'll need.
 
#7 ·
trkklr77 said:
making a glue lam is not something you want to risk doing. it takes a tremendous amount of clamping force. you would be much better off useing a sandwitch board of 2x12's or get some damaged bci/tjm's from the yard. bci/tjms are available in any length, often 40'+ and usally get busted when deliverd.
That's my take on it as a structural engineer, at least. For an application like what you're trying to do, get yourself a beam somewhere that you can just look up in a table to select -- it'll save you having to pay someone like me to design it so it's not on your head the first time you put anything up there. :D
 
#8 ·
if I recall correctly they use resorcanol(spelling) glue and about 20 000 kg preasure
 
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