This is my first time on Breaktime and FHB’s website. I have been framing houses for a little over a year. About 4 months ago the owner of our framing company put me in charge of my own crew. The house we are currently working on is a large two-story home that has a radius balcony on the second floor. My boss has never framed a floor like this and the little experience I have isn’t helping much either. We’ve thrown some ideas around but I want to know from some seasoned veterans what the best way to frame this is. The area we need to frame in has a parallam beam on each side of it, so the two beams(perpendicular to each other)are there and the radius starts on each side of the beam on the ends, looking somewhat like this–>LC. The radius is overlooking the first floor. We used 18″ 2×4 floor trusses on the second floor. Any help would be appreciated.
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Hello and welcome to BreakTime! There are still some unanswered questions, but here's a sketch of how I would do it with standard 2-by floor joists, based on the little info you gave. However, since you have floor trusses to tie into, you will have to consult the truss manufacturer about sistering onto their trusses - I don't really know how they'll recommend handling that. The standard rule of thumb we always went by was that the joist needed to be 3 times the length of the cantilever. I'm surprised the truss maker didn't include a deck detail in their truss spec's.
I have done a similar project before. ( WHY oh WHY did I not take any photos?????????)
I basically framed it like what Huck sketched out. I used 3 layers of 1/2" plywood (NOT osb) for the rim board.
I started by installing the joists and running them wild, then I found the focal point for the radius and used the old pencil and jig trick to mark the ends. This also gave me the angle of the cut so I could cut them off with a circ. saw. Then I applied the plywood band, using screws, gluing the layers as I buiilt them up. After that, it was just framing as usual! Hope this helps.
I also don't know how you're going to tie this idea together with the existing floor trusses... sorry.
Oh man! I almost forgot. Welcome to Breaktime Kyle !!
Glad to have you on board!
Welcome to Breaktime.
I honestly don't understand you description of the beam situation.
But if the beam is BELOW the floor truss ends, scabbing onto the floor trusses is most likely your best bet. You could use some pieces of 18" LVL if you want to use something the same depth. Or use conventional lumber if you don't want to spend the bucks on LVLs.
If there's a flush beam it's much more difficult.
Whatever you do, check it out with your building inspector first. You don't want to get something framed and find out he's not gonna like it.