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Garage opening___beam span

maxmojo

Active member
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
26
Location
Western Michigan
In a new house design, I have a garage opening of 28'. My builder (not an engineer) seems to think we'll need an I beam 18" high to hold the roof load. Anybody here span that kind of distance? What did you use?
 
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Chris705

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Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Messages
834
Location
The Finger Lakes of NY
Maxmojo will need much more info to answer your question. If only supporting the roof above we'd need to know the depth of the garage, assuming half the roof load would be coming down on this 28' long header. I will say 28' is a very long opening for a residential garage and would think a steel beam would most likely be required. Any way to get a sketch of this portion of your garage posted?
 

p_mori7

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Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
3,340
Location
Montreal, QC., Canada
"garage opening" ?

does that mean you are going to have a 28' door ?

I can tell you that spanning 28' is a heck of a long way and it will need a large beam.

Asphalt shingles and snow loads are very heavy.
 
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maxmojo

Active member
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
26
Location
Western Michigan
"garage opening" ?

does that mean you are going to have a 28' door ?

I can tell you that spanning 28' is a heck of a long way and it will need a large beam.

Asphalt shingles and snow loads are very heavy.

I said 'opening' because there is no door, more like a 3 sided carport. The beam will be supporting half of a 32' steel/truss purlin 4/12 pitch roof.
 
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maxmojo

Active member
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
26
Location
Western Michigan
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28' opening 36 eave to eave
 

KELLHAMMER

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Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
222
Location
south eastern pennsylvania
Definitely need more info. Building dimensions for one Does it snow in your area?
Steel is sometimes more economical than an engineered wood beam for the same span. Possibly even lighter
 

Chris705

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Messages
834
Location
The Finger Lakes of NY
Quickly calculating a 40lbs/sf snow load and a 10lbs dead load for the spans given looks to be in the neighborhood of something in the magnitude of a W16 or W14x26......I don't know exactly what snow loading is where you are but probably close to 40psf??? Would need more info on the dead loads also. Not sure that span could be done with LVL lumber or not? Sure they (GP or LP) could engineer it for you.
 
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