Help - Need advice on what beam to get

[bateman]

Hi all - first time poster here, had a quick look around and you all seem to be a helpful bunch so thought i'd sign up and ask away as I had a search and couldnt really find the answer to my question.

I am taking down a wall and need to install a "hardwood beam" as suggested by the structural engineer however, matching the beams that are already in place is proving to be a headache.

I've popped some pictures below of what beams are there already that i am trying to match in with (note the colour of them once sanded back).

The length i need is 3600x220x90 and this seems to be the problem.

If someone knows what kind of wood this is too would be useful!

Do i actually need a hardwood beam like oak or can I choose another wood that will do the same job? The wall that is coming down is not an exterior wall (it is the wall with the already out door frame) and it will be running through the middle of the small bedroom upstairs supporting the joists)

Any help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[bateman]

Sorry - I tried to post the pictures via a link but it wouldnt allow me to do it so just uploaded them separately.

 

[Mark A]

Looks like pitch pine to me

 

[bateman]

Looks like pitch pine to me

Thats a softwood though right?
Is the structural engineer just being over cautions with the recommendation of a hardwood beam? Would a pitch pine beam be ok to use in my situation?

 

[Glynne]

You've quoted some dimensions. Are these ones suggested by your structural engineer or ones to match in with existing beams? I would have thought your engineer would have given you an idea of what was required as just a hardwood beam is a bit vague, especially if it is to support floor joists?

 

[Beau]

Looks like pitch pine to me

And me.

I would look for a suitable piece of Douglas fir if the structural engineer was agreeable.

 

[bateman]

You've quoted some dimensions. Are these ones suggested by your structural engineer or ones to match in with existing beams? I would have thought your engineer would have given you an idea of what was required as just a hardwood beam is a bit vague, especially if it is to support floor joists?

Those are the measurements of the existing beams so i am guessing he just copied when suggesting the size for the new beam.
He just said to match in existing beams and said a builder would be able to tell what would work :roll:

Here's a picture of the drawings that I got...

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Has he told you the dimensions of the required padstones? If not, it would give you an excuse to ask him for those and at the same time to ask him what species he had in mind, but it'd be worth asking him the second question anyway. Did you scrape off the black paint after he saw the beam and he perhaps assumed the existing was hardwood (it appears to be a good quality softwood)? Technically balsa is a hardwood - there's potentially a significant variation in structural properties between species!

It's interesting to see the existing beam to close to the top of the window frame - I wonder what it's bearing on?

New timbers most likely to be suitable and easily avilable at sensible cost would perhaps oak or maybe douglas fir as aleady mentioned. You might be able to find reclaimed timber that would suit - to match what looks like some kind of slow-grown pine but that may be time consuming. I'm guessing that, in this instance, a nine inch deep beam made of almost anything (including a couple of C16 softwood 9X2's bolted together) spanning 12ft at the spacings shown - if it's just supporting an ordinary bedroom floor - isn't going to be overburdened - the key thing in this situation is really the amount of deflection under live loads and the human perception of "solidity".