The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Do it Yourself Discussion! => Topic started by: akajoe87 on July 03, 2015, 05:25:24 PM
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Is there anywhere online to find out what the building codes are? I am trying to find out what size LVL for different spans.
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Is there anywhere online to find out what the building codes are? I am trying to find out what size LVL for different spans.
Call the code office and ask. Building codes are the one place in the US where the law of the land is a pay-for-access document. The fact that this is both unconstitutional and usually locally illegal doesn't seem to affect much.
Which code do you need where you are? We've paid for the 2006 since we had a house to build, but you are likely to need the newer code.
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The county uses 2012 building codes and 2009 residential codes. Know where a free online source for those codes?
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Most LVL manufacturers offer online resources for beam sizing. There is plenty of information available including charts and diagrams for various applications. Some will tell you what you need per code requirements, some will give you allowable loads per span based on maximum deflection, depending on what is allowed for floors and roofs.
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And if you go to your local lumberyard, they should be able to help you size the LVL you want to buy from them. If they don't have the information on hand, they can call their distributor and get it sized for you. You'll need to know from your local permit office what live and dead loads your area requires to design for.