I'm in the early design phase for an owner-builder single story, 5000+ sq. ft. ICF house with a crawl space. I've been researching what I will need for beams to support the floor trusses. When I checked the IRC I couldn't find anything pertaining to steel beams, only wood beams were addressed. Am I missing something? Where can this information be found? e.g. sizing, bearing surface/area, etc. I'm trying to figure out how many beams I'll need and how to support them. I understand the concept of live & dead loads and floor deflection. I'm not foolish enough to finalize the design without professional help, but I want to understand and do as many of the calculations as I can myself just to have a warm fussy before I go to the pros.

Posted By MSG79 on 28 Aug 2012 08:00 PM
I'm in the early design phase for an owner-builder single story, 5000+ sq. ft. ICF house with a crawl space. I've been researching what I will need for beams to support the floor trusses. When I checked the IRC I couldn't find anything pertaining to steel beams, only wood beams were addressed. Am I missing something? Where can this information be found? e.g. sizing, bearing surface/area, etc. I'm trying to figure out how many beams I'll need and how to support them. I understand the concept of live & dead loads and floor deflection. I'm not foolish enough to finalize the design without professional help, but I want to understand and do as many of the calculations as I can myself just to have a warm fussy before I go to the pros.

Take a course in basic engineering or the less painful method would be to hire a PE

Posted By MSG79 on 28 Aug 2012 08:00 PM
I'm in the early design phase for an owner-builder single story, 5000+ sq. ft. ICF house with a crawl space. I've been researching what I will need for beams to support the floor trusses. When I checked the IRC I couldn't find anything pertaining to steel beams, only wood beams were addressed. Am I missing something? Where can this information be found? e.g. sizing, bearing surface/area, etc. I'm trying to figure out how many beams I'll need and how to support them. I understand the concept of live & dead loads and floor deflection. I'm not foolish enough to finalize the design without professional help, but I want to understand and do as many of the calculations as I can myself just to have a warm fussy before I go to the pros.

IRC focuses on residential construction and steel beams are more geared towards commercial. That's my understanding on why.

My advice would be to hire a PE and they will give you the best input.

Are you building this home yourself?

Thanks for the responses.

I do plan to build it myself (be my own GC) but I'm still a few years away. I hinted that I would hire a PE in the end, but I want to make the calculations myself first. I just don't know what the code requirements are for steel beams. For example, for wood beams the code says something like the ends of the beam must have at least 1.5 inches resting on the supports. I'm wondering what that would be for a steel beam. I'm also wondering what would be the requirements for anchoring the beam to the supports. There is nothing in the IRC that talks about it. I'm an electrical engineer, so once I complete my current move (I'm in transit between assignments) and pull out my old ME college text "Statics and Strength of Materials", I figure I can come pretty close on the calculations. I was just hoping for some guidance/specs from the code to give me a little direction.

Posted By MSG79 on 29 Aug 2012 06:04 AM
Thanks for the responses.

I do plan to build it myself (be my own GC) but I'm still a few years away. I hinted that I would hire a PE in the end, but I want to make the calculations myself first. I just don't know what the code requirements are for steel beams. For example, for wood beams the code says something like the ends of the beam must have at least 1.5 inches resting on the supports. I'm wondering what that would be for a steel beam. I'm also wondering what would be the requirements for anchoring the beam to the supports. There is nothing in the IRC that talks about it. I'm an electrical engineer, so once I complete my current move (I'm in transit between assignments) and pull out my old ME college text "Statics and Strength of Materials", I figure I can come pretty close on the calculations. I was just hoping for some guidance/specs from the code to give me a little direction.

I would recommend that you join the Engineers Forum:

Engineer Tips Forum

The forum is for Engineers and one must prove they are an engineer to even join the forum. Since you are a EE, you are eligible and there are many PE on the forum that would answer your question much better than any of us here. I am not an engineer but do read their threads and they know what they are talking about and offer a lot of insight.

This forum is  more geared towards general practices and green energy stuff, your questions are more of a PE nature and would be better suited there.

What made you chose ICF?

Thanks for the tip on the Engineering Tips Forum. I just joined and took a quick look and so far I think it is great. Now, I need to find the time to explore it a bit more.

What made me chose ICF? A few things such as protection from severe weather, sound proofing, insulation properties, etc.

What made me chose ICF?

In many cases, you can do the same thing with a concrete and steel composite beam that you can do with steel. The difference is that the composite beam can be built up by on site labor while the steel beam has access, delivery and lifting considerations. Cost and size often end up quite similar, too.

The AISC steel manual has allowable load tables for wide flange steel beams. See attached PDF file for an example.