The development of Canadian technology for modular assembly of houses expanded the ideas of domestic architects about frame construction. The similarity of climate allows you to almost completely copy this technique in Russian conditions, but its individual components are often used. In particular, I-beam wooden beams find their application in a wide variety of projects. It’s not difficult to make this structural element with your own hands, so many homebuilders refuse such materials of factory origin.
I-beam characteristics
Technical and operational qualities and dimensional parameters of a traditional double tee are calculated for inclusion in the design of the floor from OSB-plates. This is an interfloor overlapping of a house or an attic, which is durable and has high thermal insulation. Actually, the beams perform the function of stiffeners, providing a supporting function. The I-beam itself has a T-shaped profile, but modified elements with different sectional configurations are also used for floors. As a rule, do -it-yourself wooden beams for overlapping are made of monolithic bars up to 5 m long. The height of the beam depends on the design load on the structure and varies from 140 mm to 410 mm on average. The thickness of the intermediate strut of the I-beam is not more than 10 mm, and the bar has parameters 64x38 mm in accordance with the standard.
Material for the product
So, the design will consist of two types of elements - the supporting part (timber) and the intermediate rack (OSB-plate). To this it is worth adding the adhesive composition, which will fasten the parts of the beam. The most responsible choice concerns the beam, since almost the entire load of the overlap will fall on it. Experts recommend not saving on it and purchasing profiled rather than glued blanks. The difference lies in the quality of processing and the environmental friendliness of the material. Is it possible to assemble a wooden I-beam from boards? Doing it yourself is physically easier to do than with a solid bar. However, in principle, it is worth using a board for an I-beam only in cases where a minimum load on the beam is assumed. For example, when installing trusses of the roof truss system.
As for the OSB plate for the rack, in this case there are much more options for replacement, since the structural responsibility of this part is not so high. Moreover, in some cases, multilayer plywood is a more worthy solution both in terms of strength and ease of installation. The fact is that an I-beam wooden beam with your own hands is easier to assemble if a rigid central part is used. It does not bend by itself and does not require special emphasis for insurance purposes.
In the choice of glue, the situation is simpler, since the market offers a lot of high-quality building compounds specifically for the structural connection of wooden elements. The choice should take into account the presence of ECO labeling, which will indicate environmental safety and sufficient adhesive ability of the mixture.
Preparing items for assembly
Initially, the beam is marked with the exact definition of its parameters. Based on the layout scheme, final refinement of the structural parts on the carpentry tool should be performed. It is optimal to use a wood lathe for such purposes, but you can get by with a circular saw with a jigsaw and a grinding tool. When making wooden I-beams with their own hands, part of the beam can be sampled of an excess array. It is produced strictly along the axial line of the workpiece, maintaining the contour with a special marking device or a guide bar.
I-beam assembly
Two beams at the time of assembly should be finalized to the optimum parameters suitable for mounting the rack. The latter is recessed into the prepared grooves on both sides (top and bottom) and fixed to the adhesive base. Here it is important to answer the question of how to make an I-beam wooden beam with your own hands with a minimum number of gaps and protrusions? As for the first, in principle, the presence of voids in the interface depends on the quality of the primary processing of the material. The smoother the surface in the grooves, the higher the likelihood of a tight rack installation. With protrusions the situation is simpler. On the one hand, they can be knocked out with a mallet until the glue has dried, thereby adjusting the edges of the structure. If the presence of the protrusion is caused by errors in the calculations, then the situation is corrected only by abrasive coarse material with subsequent finishing grinding.
I-beam quality assessment
Initially, the material for the beam must pass through fault testing with rejection. Especially the beam should not have flaws like knots, cracks, signs of warping, cuts and chips. If even a defect does not affect the structural properties of the beam, the openness of the structure in the future can cause biological damage to the wood. But this is not all the conditions for manufacturing a high-quality I-beam. With your own hands, the wooden structure must be cleaned during the assembly process, removing small abrasive particles on the surface that can damage the surface of the element. Machining also causes damage, so after each operation you should check the appearance of the product. At the final stage, the beam is measured and its parameters are determined to meet the requirements.
General Tips for Making Wooden I-Beams
There is still no rigid framework in the creation of this design, since the spheres and directions of its use differ. Nevertheless, experienced builders give several universal recommendations to those who want to make a high-quality I-beam wooden beam with their own hands:
- It is advisable to perform marking operations with the help of modern laser levels - especially when it comes to designing large floors.
- The use of rigid and dense materials is not always appropriate, since they make the structures heavier, which limits the use of the beam both in ceilings and in truss trusses.
- Treatment with flame retardants or antiseptics is preferably performed after assembly. This will create a continuous protective coating.
- After successful manufacturing of the beam according to individual parameters, it is worth saving its characteristics in the templates in case it is necessary to manufacture a similar design.
Conclusion
The functions of an I-beam in different structural parts of a building frame can be performed by an ordinary solid bar, but its use is not always practical and beneficial. The fact is that at the same cost you can make an I-beam wooden beam with your own hands, but its use is technologically more justified. It is due to the combination with a thin OSB-sheet that the design is optimal in terms of characteristics, combining reliability, resistance to dynamic loads and low weight. By varying the dimensions of the individual parts of the I-beam and the configuration of the assembly, you can get the optimal power element of the frame for a variety of tasks.