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There is a lot of steel in this house. At one point early in design development with the architects, Daren and Lisa, Daren made the comment that the design only called for one steel beam – in the overhang at the southwest corner of the house – which kept costs down. Once we made the change to cantilever the decks, necessary to appease the City's concerns about drainage and the excavator and piling guys concerns about how to get equipment to reach down the slope and an all around cleaner design, all bets were off. There is a lot of steel in this house!
The second floor beams were delivered on a trailer about two weeks after the first floor beams. And, while there are some similarities between these and the first beams, they are very different. You can see these beams are resting on a raised support. There is a flange of sorts sticking out about 8 inches from the bottom of each beam that will fit into a slot cut into the wood support beams and be secured by huge bolts.
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| Click photo to see the detail of the beam slots |
Scott wants you, our reader, to know that the slots were cut using Oregon saw chain.
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| Large bolts secure the flange attached to the base of the beam |
Placing the I-beams was no small feat, either. These beams had to be lifted over the first floor framing and placed on top of wood beams, while reaching out nine feet past the north side of the house to form the base for the second story deck. Oh, and not catching the cables strung in front of the house.
Probably my biggest concern placing the first I-beam was making sure the beam did not graze the house next door. There is only about eight feet total between the buildings.
First I-beam successfully placed, I could breathe again. The I-beams on the east and west sides of the balcony are approximately eight inches wide. The center beam is over ten inches wide. They each have the angled bracket at the north end of the beam made to hold wood rim beams in place.
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| Center and west second floor balcony I-beams |
The center I-beam is being placed in the photo below. You can see another feature of these beams on the left end (south end) of the beam. There is a piece of metal welded to the end to raise and extend the top side of the beam to lay over and be secured to a perpendicular LVL wood beam. You can see the placement and joint construction in the second photo below.
And finally, the three beams in place, but before they are secured with the flange bolts. Astoria looking lovely in the background.
