On Sunday, August 11, 2013 2:43:58 PM UTC-5, dpb wrote:
On 8/11/2013 11:48 AM, wrote:

On Saturday, August 10, 2013 11:45:15 AM UTC-5, dpb wrote:

On 8/10/2013 9:30 AM, dpb wrote:



...

The double tuba-sixes other than filling the space aren't doing much

more than a single one as there's no connection between them.

...



What open span you desire in the end is the key to designing and

sizing any modification. I'd figure on replacing the 1/2" ply w/

bolted steel plate of needed width (height in installed orientation,

of course)--8" or so would likely be close by my feel w/ no

calculations, just "feel". Adding a welded flange to the bottom for

additional lateral restraint will stiffen it up quite a bit at some

fabrication cost if you don't have the facility to do it yourself.



...



dpb, thanks. what's your thought on LVLs? Don't want to take those

headers out if not absolutely necessary. Going to "narrow" the

opening by a couple of feet or so (on the opposite side of the opened

one). After that I'll price out steel plate, since there's one 15

minutes orso from where I am.





My thoughts on LVLs wrt to what?



Again, the first thing is what is the final opening width and an actual

design load? _THEN_ you can size various alternatives from replacement

to augmentation as was suggesting. But, the key is you need good input

on the load requirements from far more than can be assessed by anybody

on a usenet group simply looking at a couple of pictures that don't even

show the overall structure. (And you'd be extremely foolish to rely on

anybody who would claim they knew enough to be able to tell you

precisely the answer to those from the available information.)



At a minimum if you're not going to get a real engineer's input get the

input from a _good_ builder even if have to pay him for a visit.



Sure, you may get by winging it, but do you really want the risk of

having to go back and do it right perhaps just to save a few hundred

bucks at most up front? No, it's not going to fall down if you just do

as I suggest may be adequate w/o more input but it might be just enough

on the "flexy" side to allow enough sag to crack drywall seams and such.

Or, otoh, you could spend a bunch of bucks on a full-width steel plate

when the pro w/ on-site info could tell you it's fine w/ much less...



--

LVL in general, not specific to my post. A shot in the dark. Not sure if you've
dealt or used them. Are they any good?

thanks
richard