Beams
)
(click any image to popup it's large version)
Beam Design
- Type: Built up beams resting on top of posts.
- Size: Each beam made of 3 2X10's spanning 24'
- Distance Apart: The 2 beams were about 9 feet apart
The beams were pretty quick and painless which was a nice break after getting all the posts set. I built each beam in place. Since the beams needed to be 24 feet in length I needed to use 2 boards for each 24 foot span. I built the beams such that each of the 24 foot sections would break over a different post and that the breaks occured directly over the center of a post.
Nothing with pressure treated wood is ever perfect:
My posts were all plumb and level with each other but there were still some small imperfections such that there were some subtle low spots and high spots where the beams met the posts. I used a power planer to lower some of the higher spots before permanently securing beams in place and then used shims to fill in the small gaps when there were low spots after beams were in place. This made it so I always had solid contact between beam and post. As it turns out this really wasn't needed since the beams were anchored right to the post cleat which would also take care of distributing the weight to the posts but I still felt better having solid contact beacuse it just seemed right at the time.
The attachments:
Once the beam boards were in place I tacked them together using screws every 16" at the top and bottom of the boards and then I bolted the beams to the post cleats using 2 1/2" carriage bolts at each post cleat.
Some more beam pictures
You can probably tell by now that this deck isn't going anywhere anytime soon!!. This thing is here to stay!! I am very happy with the way the posts/beams turned out and proud of how strong this foundation is!!
)
)
)