Engineered Beams & Headers

any new homes boast wide open floor plans and all sorts of architectural bric-a-brac — cantilevered decks, wild roofs, lofts, balconies, popout dormers. These features create complex loading conditions that are often difficult to support with solid-sawn timbers or beams built up from dimensional lumber. As a result, more builders are turning to the higher strength and stiffness of engineered structural wood products, including glulams, laminated veneer lumber, Parallam, and Arrowood. Practically all the manufacturers of engineered lumber products provide technical support to both the distributor and the guy on site. This support includes span charts and installation details, computer software for sizing beams, and a staff of on-line engineers and technical field reps. To use these materials successfully, however, requires more than just the right engineering