I'm building a cabin and have a peir/pole foundation. The floor is going to be supported by double 2"x12" bolted to the poles across a 10' span. The floor joists are going to sit on top of this beam.

My question is what is the correct way to attach the double 2x12's... should I nail the 2x12's together and then lag bolt them to one side of the pole OR is it better to mount one 2x12 on either side of the pole and use threaded rods to bolt the 2x12's to the pole?

The load requirement calls for double 2x12 to carry the weight across the span, and I don't know if one 2x12 on each side of the pole will act the same as two nailed together on one side of the pole.

Thanks for any help!

Don't space the 2x12 on the pole, bolt them together with carriage bolts. Laminated beams would carry the load even better. What is the size of your pole and what does it sit on?

the pole is 6x6 and it sits on a 12" sonotube concrete peir that extends down 42" below grade.

the post is bolted to the peir with a 1/4" steel sleeve with an air camber (part of a kit i purchased including the base, eve and ridge steel sleeve system to allow you to slip standard 6x6 inside and bolt them together into a "tip up" frame.

the max load requirement per beam is 4500lbs across a 10' span, so I was thinking a double 2x12 should carry the load. This is just a weekend cabin and probably would never see the kind of loads a normal house might see.

thanks

Two 2x12 over 10" should be fine. My cabin sees big loads when my buds come for golf. 2x12 would just about carry the kegs.

I agree with the bolted together method, but encourage the laminated/engineered bean. As an architectural designer, I'll often specify the product listed below. Take a look and perhaps you can get some ideas that would work for you.

TrimJoist Corporation - Engineered Wood Joists (http://www.trimjoist.com/)

Thank you very much for your help.