Hi there I have a double garage with a 20' I-beam above, and I want to
know how much I might be able to safely hang on it using a hoist and
trolley. Its 10' high, and holds up a bedroom upstairs.

I-beam size = 20' long, 12" tall, 6.5" wide, 1/2" thick at flange. It's
welded to a 4" steel pole embedded in concrete on one end, and rests on
a basement wall on the other side.

What do you think I should be able to lift? House feels pretty solid.

Thanks

Dean

You need to have someone do a load calculation, even though it appears to be
strong enough, it might not hold up to what you want to hoist.
I had a similar issue when I added a storage space above my garage.
Ron
"dean" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi there I have a double garage with a 20' I-beam above, and I want to
know how much I might be able to safely hang on it using a hoist and
trolley. Its 10' high, and holds up a bedroom upstairs.

I-beam size = 20' long, 12" tall, 6.5" wide, 1/2" thick at flange. It's
welded to a 4" steel pole embedded in concrete on one end, and rests on
a basement wall on the other side.

What do you think I should be able to lift? House feels pretty solid.

Thanks

Dean

What do you think I should be able to lift?

Depends on what it is already holding up above.

dean wrote:
Hi there I have a double garage with a 20' I-beam above, and I want to
know how much I might be able to safely hang on it using a hoist and
trolley. Its 10' high, and holds up a bedroom upstairs.

I-beam size = 20' long, 12" tall, 6.5" wide, 1/2" thick at flange.
It's welded to a 4" steel pole embedded in concrete on one end, and
rests on a basement wall on the other side.

What do you think I should be able to lift? House feels pretty solid.

Thanks

Dean

Well few builders will put a beam in larger than necessary to carry the
weight of the structure. You need to know what it is already supporting.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message

Well few builders will put a beam in larger than necessary to carry the
weight of the structure. You need to know what it is already supporting.

Once you determine that, I'd still put in a vertical support under the beam
while I was doing the lifting.

In article , "Joseph Meehan" wrote:
dean wrote:
Hi there I have a double garage with a 20' I-beam above, and I want to
know how much I might be able to safely hang on it using a hoist and
trolley. Its 10' high, and holds up a bedroom upstairs.

I-beam size = 20' long, 12" tall, 6.5" wide, 1/2" thick at flange.
It's welded to a 4" steel pole embedded in concrete on one end, and
rests on a basement wall on the other side.

What do you think I should be able to lift? House feels pretty solid.

Thanks

Dean

Well few builders will put a beam in larger than necessary to carry the
weight of the structure. You need to know what it is already supporting.


I think they did in this case: a 12" I-beam can carry an awful lot of
weight... but I agree with the recommendation to have an engineer do a load
calc, especially if the OP is planning to use this I-beam for hoisting auto
engines.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message

Well few builders will put a beam in larger than necessary to carry the
weight of the structure. You need to know what it is already supporting.


Once you determine that, I'd still put in a vertical support under the beam
while I was doing the lifting.



And I would make the vertical support have a very large base
in order to NOT crack my concrete floor with a point load.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

On 27 May 2005 22:56:49 -0700, "dean" wrote:

Hi there I have a double garage with a 20' I-beam above, and I want to
know how much I might be able to safely hang on it using a hoist and
trolley. Its 10' high, and holds up a bedroom upstairs.

I-beam size = 20' long, 12" tall, 6.5" wide, 1/2" thick at flange. It's
welded to a 4" steel pole embedded in concrete on one end, and rests on
a basement wall on the other side.

What do you think I should be able to lift? House feels pretty solid.

Thanks

Dean

You can stretch a string under the beam and see how much sag you
have already. If there is very little sag, then you can use the
string to keep track as you lift your weight.

Or you can spend a couple of thousand and hire an engineer. Your
choice.

Jiml

Robert Allison wrote:

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message

Well few builders will put a beam in larger than necessary to carry the
weight of the structure. You need to know what it is already supporting.


Once you determine that, I'd still put in a vertical support under the beam
while I was doing the lifting.



And I would make the vertical support have a very large base
in order to NOT crack my concrete floor with a point load.

Good point.

In article Zs_le.7390$tv3.1003@trnddc06, wrote:

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message

Well few builders will put a beam in larger than necessary to carry the
weight of the structure. You need to know what it is already supporting.


Once you determine that, I'd still put in a vertical support under the beam
while I was doing the lifting.



And I would make the vertical support have a very large base
in order to NOT crack my concrete floor with a point load.

Say you use a 4x4 as the support. Isn't there a max base size that's going
to do any good? If it was 3/4 plywood, at some size of the plywood and
load, woulnd't the ply "buckle" upwards and reduce the area that is
transfering the load to the concrete?

--
charles

Charles Bishop wrote:

In article Zs_le.7390$tv3.1003@trnddc06, wrote:


Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message


Well few builders will put a beam in larger than necessary to carry the
weight of the structure. You need to know what it is already supporting.


Once you determine that, I'd still put in a vertical support under the beam
while I was doing the lifting.



And I would make the vertical support have a very large base
in order to NOT crack my concrete floor with a point load.


Say you use a 4x4 as the support. Isn't there a max base size that's going
to do any good? If it was 3/4 plywood, at some size of the plywood and
load, woulnd't the ply "buckle" upwards and reduce the area that is
transfering the load to the concrete?


Of course! But you don't have to use plywood, in fact, I
wouldn't use plywood. I would use a steel base with
reinforcing gussets to transfer the load to as large an area
as possible and place that on a sheet of plywood.

Of course, it is also possible that the I beam in question is
large enough to support whatever he is going to lift without
any help at all. Impossible to determine from here. But if it
isn't, and you use a support, then you had better spread the
load, hope there is a footing under that point, install a
footing under that point, or just hope for thick concrete and
no cracks.

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

i had a 12" 25ft i beam 1/2" thick in a garage and we pulled
engines out of cars and lifted the front of some big lawn tractors and
it never budged.i did do most of the lifting within 10 feet of the wall
if that matters. i dont think any of the engines were over 1000
pounds..when you lift .you can see it if it sags ,just put some kind of
homemade guage on it . lucas

Do a test by hoisting your mother-in-law up there. Come back in a
week and see if she's still yakking.

Ok so could someone tell me what the center deflection would be with,
for example, a 1000 lb center weight applied to this beam? I used to
have a beam calculator, not sure where it is now.

Thanks

Dean