How do I know what size wood beam to use?

The sizing steps are:

  1. determine the total load and live load per foot of beam.
  2. identify the type of load you are supporting (roof snow, non snow or floor)
  3. pick the span you need.
  4. match the total load and live load values to the values listed in the tables. The thickness and depth of the required member will be listed.

What size beam do I need to span 24 feet?

What size beam to span 24 ft:- as per general thumb rule and guidelines, a 4 nailed 2×18 or 4-2×18 or 8×18 size of wood beam can allow to span 24 feet. Thus, for a 24 foot span, you will need atleast 4-2×18 or 8×18 size of wood beam.

How big of a beam do I need to span 25 feet?

LVL beam size for a 25 foot span:- as per general thumb rule, for a 25 foot span, size of LVL beam or GLULAM should be 12-14 inches deep and 4 inches wide, thus you need something like a 12-14″ GLULAM or LVL to span upto 25 feet used for residential building or projects.

How big of a beam do I need for a 20 foot span?

For a 20-foot spans, the wood beam has to be at least 16 inches in depth and 8″ in width (4-2×16) used for residential building or projects.

How big of a beam do I need to span 16 feet?

For a 16 foot span, you will need atleast 3-2×14 or 6×14 size of wood beam. Thus, a 3 nailed 2×14 or 3-2×14 or 6×14 wood beam can allow to span 16 feet. For a 16-foot spans, the wood beam has to be at least 14 inches in depth and 6″ in width (3-2×14) used for residential building, wood frame structure or projects.

How far can a 2X12 beam span without support?

A 2×12 (2-by-12) floor joists can span up to 23 feet 3 inches, 2×10 (2-by-10) up to 19 feet 1 inches, 2×8 (2-by-8) up to 15 feet & 2×6 (2-by-6) up to 11 feet 4 inches at 16″ spaced by using southern yellow pine graded as #1 when live load of 30 lbs/ft^2 & dead load of 10 lbs/ ft^2.

What lumber will span 16 feet?

What size floor joist to span 16 feet:- as per general rules and guideline, a 2×8 (2-by-8) size of floor joists made of southern yellow pine, graded as #1 can allows joist spans up to 16 feet for a live load of 30 pounds per square foot and dead load of 10 pounds per square foot when spaced 16 inches apart.