I have a one story ranch and want to eliminate the columns in a section of my basement. The beam will need to support the 2x8 floor joists which are 12' 6" from column to wall. What size beam will I need?

If you contact a supplier of laminated beams, they will give you specs for span tables. Are you going to sister against the existing support beam?

Hey! Hopeully u completed replacing the beam, as u submitted it 10/8/11 and today is 9/28/12. What did u do/use ? Oh? I wondered what your posts size are? Thanks!

I'm not 100% possitive, but I do not believe there is any such beam that can span 20' without any support, not even steel.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by electricfy

I'm not 100% possitive, but i do not believe there is any such beam that can span 20' without any support, not even steel.

---

Thanks for your answer but please note the post was made 1 year ago.

Yes this is completely do-able. What you'll need is a "parallax" or similar engineered beam - also known as LVL. BUT... what SIZE you need? Hmmmmmm... that IS a good question. To answer this, one would need to know the LOAD that it must support.

We did something very similar to this, and installed a 16 foot 12" x 3.5" LVL to span our kitchen. Our architect spec'd it out, and was pretty conservative, as one would expect, as they are "on the hook" if it fails (assuming proper installation). Hopefully, you have a window that you can slide it into, to get the thing into your basement :-)

Would the same beam be good for you? Only an engineer or architect can actually calculate the applicable load for you, and provide the appropriate construction notes that must be followed to ensure the assembly is proper. It's not rocket science but it must be done right.

Good luck!

Hey Jefferson, welcome to AMHD. Great answer but please note the OP was 1 year ago. Look at the date of the original post.

Oh I know but I figure that perhaps someone would still be interested in a proper response, as no one else talked to the OP's question.

Aitc-glulam.org has charts for Glulam beams spans. From there you can select the beam you need. A 20ft clear span can be fitted with a 5-1/4" x 13-1/2" GLB and can handle about 750 lbf