Tables providing size selections for various beam spans and loading combinations for southern pine dimension lumber and southern pine glued laminated timber are available for the following applications.
Roof load beam span.
In the example the beam spans the 10 foot width of the roof.
Window door garage door headers supporting roof wall floor loads.
Window door garage door headers supporting roof loads only.
50 psf x 14ft 700 pounds per lineal foot.
For the initial calculation f can be estimated at 1 000.
15 psf x 14ft 210 pounds per lineal foot.
L stands for the span of the beam in feet.
An essential part of planning a patio roof or gazebo project is determining the number size and spacing of rafters beams and posts according to the loads they will carry.
Fill in the parts of the formula that are already known.
Use the span tables below to determine allowable lengths of joists and rafters based on size and standard design loads.
Standard 2 by 12 beams on 16 inch centers are used to span 15 feet.
It is important to list live load dead load and total load separately because live load is used to compute stiffness and total load is used to calculate strength.
910 pounds per lineal foot.
The total load is 4 000 pounds.
You can also use the wood beam calculator from the american wood council website to determine maximum rafter and joist lengths.