Hi, I posted some questions this week about mating 2x10s to existing beams to create extensions, and now I’m wondering how to attach the posts to those beam extensions. (3 existing beams, 3 extensions 8 ft long, 3 posts… 1 post per beam, 6ft from house, with 2 ft cantilever).

Anyway, since each old beam is 6″ wide (actual), and I’m mating a 2×10 to each side, the resulting 2-pronged extension will be 9 inches wide (1.5 + 6 + 1.5) with a 6 inch space between the 2x10s.

I’d really like to fill the 6 inch gap with the 5.5″ post body, slip in a 1/2 treated plywood piece to fill the remaining gap, and bolt the 2×10 extensions to the beam with 4 1/2×10″ carriage bolts, then slap on a piece of 2×6 on each side of the beam, under the 2x10s, to add extra support.. But it’s not too popular these days to have weight sitting on the bolts.

The only other idea I had was to make a ‘mini beam’ that’s 9 inches long, to rest on top of the post and under the beam extensions. But that seems pretty weird. I really don’t want to build a new 24′ beam that runs under all 3 beam extensions since there is 12′ between each beam and it’s a lot of extra material and time.

See attached image explaning those 2 options. Any suggestions? Is it really so bad to go with option #1 and bolt the beams to the posts?