Engineering and Construction

Estimate the nominal depth of wood roof decking at 1 /45 of its span. Estimate the depth of wood floor decking at  1 /35 of its span. Standard nominal depths of wood decking  are 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 inches (actual size 38, 64, 89, 140, and  184 mm).

Estimate the depth of solid wood beams at 1 /15 of their span and the depth of glue-laminated beams at  1/ 20 of their span. Add a nominal 6 inches (150 mm) to these depths for  girders. The width of a solid wood beam or girder is usually  1 /4 to  1 /2 of its depth. The width of a glue-laminated beam  typically ranges from  1 /7 to 1 /4 of its depth.

Estimate the depth of timber triangular roof trusses at  1 /5 to  1 /2 of their span and the depth of bowstring trusses at  1 /2 to  2/ 3 of their span.

To estimate the size of a wood column, add up the total  roof and ß oor area supported by the column. A nominal 6- inch (actual size 140 mm) column can support up to about  400 square feet (37 m2) of area, an 8-inch (actual size 184  mm) column 1000 square feet (93 m2), a 10-inch (actual  size 235 mm) column 1500 square feet (140 m2), a 12-inch (actual size 286 mm) column 2500 square feet (230 m2),  and a 14-inch (actual size 337 mm) column 3500 square  feet (325 m2). Wood columns are usually square or nearly  square in proportion.

For actual sizes of solid timbers in conventional units,  see Figures 3.22 and 3.23. Standard sizes of glue-laminated  timbers are given in Chapter 3. For a building that must  qualify as Type IV Heavy Timber construction under the  IBC, minimum timber sizes are given in Figure 4.7.

Figure 3.23 A complete chart of nominal and actual dimension for both framing lumber and finish lumber

These approximations are valid only for purposes  of preliminary building layout, and must not be used  to select final member sizes. They apply to the normal  range of building occupancies such as residential, office, commercial, and institutional buildings. For manufacturing and storage buildings, use somewhat larger  members.