How to rest a beam?

[AndyDavis]

I've got to rest two beams on an existing wall, after encasing them in fire shield board. They'll be resting on some padstones. Do I need to use some mortar between the beams and the padstones, or is it OK just to rest them on the padstones?

 

[murraysnudge]

You need to get maximum area in contact as Pressure=Load/Area so you need a stiff bedding mortar of 1:3

 

[legs-akimbo]

You need to get maximum area in contact as Pressure=Load/Area so you need a stiff bedding mortar of 1:3

absolutely not.... never rest a beam on to a mortar bed, straight onto the padstone preferably an engineering brick, if then you need to adjust for level pack between the beam and pad with slate.

 

[murraysnudge]

Absolute rubbish!

 

[legs-akimbo]

Absolute rubbish!

So glad you agree with me..... you are a builder of course I take it

 

[murraysnudge]

...of over 35 years. It's in the family, dad was a sparky and uncle a bricky.

 

[legs-akimbo]

So hears the scene a 15 foot rsj onto padstones on adjacent piers ... not level ... how forgiving will a gobbo mix be when 300 pounds of rolled steel joist is humped on it , like hitting a cream sponge with a cricket bat for gods sake, and no way will you get it level.
The right way onto adjacent level padstones of blues...... sit on the r.s.j. .....acro up the out of level side and slip under a slither, two or three or four for that matter of natural slate ... no give there in the slightest,... when level compo in the r.s.j. and bobs your uncle bricky, fannys your aunt and the family should have taught you one of the most basic and bloody blindingly obvious principles of construction with regard to siteing an r.s.j. as insisted upon by any building inspector I have ever encountered, specified in any blues I have ever read and practiced & witnessed on countlees occassions through the past twenty five years.... Think I have made my point now think about it and tell me I am wrong. Murraysnudge you learn something new every day

 

[murraysnudge]

Legs-akimbo said:

how forgiving will a gobbo mix be when 300 pounds of rolled steel joist is humped on it , like hitting a cream sponge with a cricket bat for gods sake,

This statement is absolute nonsense and shows that you have never installed a steel beam, wheras I have installed many. The mortar mix must be just wet enough to hold together and it will support the weight of the beam. Let’s consider your 300lb beam, so that will be 150lbs each end then. Try this: mix some mortar 3:1 that is just damp enough to hold together and place a thin bed of it on a paving slab. Lay a blue brick on it and get someone to step onto it who weighs about 11st to represent the beam weight of 150lbs. That’s step onto it and not jump onto it. The mortar wil support their weight and it will not squeeze out just as it will not squeeze out when the beam is lowered onto it, but will give maximum area supported.
You took a long time to reply to my previous post, so I assume you were frantically searching the loft for your 1960’s Reader’s Digest Book of DIY?

Legs-akimbo also said:

Murraysnudge you learn something new every day

I hope to legs-akimbo, but on this occasion not from yourself.

 

[legs-akimbo]

I am a busy man murraysnudge ...when you are sat in front of your computer at 6pm I am still on site building my house, hence I post late at night if I have the time. Believe me I have installed miles of steel over the years invariably straight onto blue stock, and never a bed.
Picked the brains of the engineer on site today who stated the exact same as I have and furthermore showed me a padstone in situ on document.Satisfies me!
Unfortunatley I do not own or quote from the big book of how to do bloody everything, I talk from experience, if I get it wrong no worries and am happy to be corrected and learn from others I dont profess to know everything.... only almost everything but on this I am dead right and can honestly say I have never witnessed a steel going in by any other method.

 

[chappers]

i'm with legs on this one bed in your padstone then pack with slate or stainless plates directly under your beam no way you can keep it level if sat on mortar(never ever seen it done that way)

 

[legs-akimbo]

i'm with legs on this one bed in your padstone then pack with slate or stainless plates directly under your beam no way you can keep it level if sat on mortar(never ever seen it done that way)

precisely chappers. raised this question on another forum and the consensus of opinion matched both mine and chappers..... could paraphrase you murray snudge and state "that it is obvious you have never installed a steel beam, where as I have installed many", bla bla bla, though I am sure you have.... only wrongly. While this is not conclusive it does put you in a minority of one murraysnudge. hey and I didnt even need to find the readers digest in the loft!!!!!!!!!