Is there a clip, hanger, bracket, strap, etc. to connect a steel I beam to 4″ beam?
The home is an existing pan abode cedar house with a steel I beam in the basement. Looks like the steel beam was a replacement for an original wood beam. Running perpendicular on top of the steel I beam are 4″ floor joist beams 4’oc. There is no attachment between the I beam and the 4″ floor joist beams. The I beam is just resting in place. The owner is concerned about earthquake damage. What to do to attach this securely and properly?
Replies
I've never seen such an animal. I would have it made from 1/4 plate steel with arc welds.
An easy solution given the small number of connections is to use short sections of steel angle. Personally I'd use 3"x3" x 3/16" angle about 4" long with three 1/4" holes on one side and two 1/2" bolts. Through bolt one side to the beam with 1/2" bolts, and a couple of Simpson 1/4" structural screws to the wood joists.
One engineer we've used would be ok with the dimensions above while another who enjoys overbuilding would say to use 4"x4"x1/4" angle through bolted to each side with 1/2" bolts.
It seems Simpson makes a connection that does the same thing, but by the time we looked it up, ordered it, picked it up it would have been cheaper to simply cut and drill the angle.
Good drilling.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
For a connection like that, I would first want an engineer to decide if it should be connected or not, and to specify the conector.
I have done one like that with angle iron cut abd drilled and bolted to the web. It has been a long time so I don't recall the specifics, but there was something unique in that steel has a lot of thermal expansion/contraction that needed to be accounted for in the joint.
The actaul load of that beam was supported on steel columns on concrete piers, but it connected laterally to other wood beams doing the samew on wood posts. Reason for replacing with an 18" tall steel Ibeam was to open up clear space and eliminate three posts with three stories of house up over it.
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If the 4X beam is on top of the steel beam, how about drilling a hole in the beam flange, and running a couple of lag bolts up into it?
That would definitely be the easiest solution,,,,,but is it the correct and best solution? Don't think the customer will want to hire an engineer, as this beam has been in place for many years prior to this sudden interest in affixing it to the rest of the house.
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We almost always order our steel beams with holes punched in the flanges. It doesn't affect the strength in any significant way. We use the holes to bolt 2x plates to the steel, but I don't see what harm could come from lagging directly to the joists.
If you bolt her in tight and then have thermal movement, you could see SR cracks or other joints opening up. Be sure this needs to be done before embarking on a plan to fix what may not be broke.
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SR = sheetrock??? I assume. The home is all cedar, no drywall anywhere to be found!! Kind of a dark place inside, though.
Washington coast, so lot's of moisture most of the year, couple of dry months in the summer. Man, I can't wait for summer!!
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correct and best solution?
There is no such thing. Decide how much money you and your client feel like spending on this and call it good. If an earthquake shakes hard enough for an interior beam to somehow fail it doesn't seem that there would be much house left, but that's just me.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
I did a design for a job in the city of Bellvue,just east of Seattle in the early 90's, they did not rate buildings for much earthquake loads, than 5.5 changed everyones perception. If they did not want to call out the engineer, mount solid wood on the web with 5/8" thru bolts 2" o.c. and twist strap the joists on both sides to the new. The center of a beam has much less load than the flanges. It would most likely be cheaper to engineer the beam a drill the flanges and use the lags.
Just my .02, Don
PS I am in Los Angeles,Ca and I here we will have to call out the engineer, plan checker, and risk accessor to change out WC next year, follow year we add flow clacs!