#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Construction in Thailand >  >  What size beam and pillars?

## valerian

Hi,

I'm trying to find out what size load bearing steel beam, and supporting pillars, should be used when building a 8x8m open living room.
The house is a one storey "modern" (shed roof) house with 20x20cm pillars and 20x20x60 Q-Con blocks for outer walls, and 7.5cm Q-con for inner walls.

Anyone here who knows?

Cheers,
Val

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## ootai

> Hi,
> 
> I'm trying to find out what size load bearing steel beam, and supporting pillars, should be used when building a 8x8m open living room.
> The house is a one storey "modern" (shed roof) house with 20x20cm pillars and 20x20x60 Q-Con blocks for outer walls, and 7.5cm Q-con for inner walls.
> 
> Anyone here who knows?
> 
> Cheers,
> Val


Valerian
Its not so much the span that determines the beam size/strength, its that plus the load so what you use for the roof is important. You say "shed roof" so I assume you will be using some form of colourbond steel roofing.
Make sure if you are building it here in Thailand that the missus approves, mine reckons steel roofing is ugly and noisy.

If you can find an Architect or Structural Engineer anywhere near you they would most likely have a computer program that they could put all the data into and then give you the precise details of the beams required for either a steel or cement tile roof.
They would also take into account any sheetrock used for the ceiling plus after the wet season we have had recently any rain loading. You also need to work out what pitch angle you want. I used 20 degrees on my shed roof and it is fine but the Thai's of old used very steep roof pitches as they were roofing with grass and wanted the water to run off quickly.

I will take a few pictures of my "beams" used for my shed and patio roofs and post them here which may help.

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## Shutree

> 8x8m open living room.


Is the plan for an unsupported 8m span? 
Around my area in Isan the local builders tend to have a 20x20 column every 4m. I didn't want any of the local dancing poles in the middle of my rooms so I only made sure the columns were buried in the walls. Local builders can build that easily. A longer, unsupported span would probably need an engineer.

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## ootai

valerian
I will point out that while I am an engineer I am definitely not a structural engineer so anything I say here is not official professional advice if you want that go see others as I suggested earlier.

I had a picture in my mind of what you wanted to create but then Shutree come along and created some confusion in my mind (which isn't difficult).

So do you want to build something like a large verandah attached to your house which will serve as an "open living room". In my eyes "open" means not enclosed i.e. no walls.
Or do you want 8m x 8m room under the house roof that has no support pillars within that 8m x 8m room?
If its the latter then I can have a look at our other house which was the MIL's before she passed away recently because in there we had steel pillars spaced at 4m x 4m, which is the standard pattern here in Thailand, but we looked athe central pillar in the living area and thought that it got in the way so we took it out and created the 8m X 8m room

On that house which created out of the house we had previously built there the roof is just colourbond steel sheeting and therefore does not place much of a load on the beams or pillars.

Just to show a couple of examples of my open span "verandah" style roofs here a couple of pictures.


This is built onto the end of my shed. The roof at this end covers an area of about 8m X 12m. The shed walls enclose an area 8m x 12m and there is a smaller side on attached "patio" area of 4m x 12m. So the total roof covers an area 12m x 20m.


A closer look at the "beams" we made up from steel "pipe" and covers an area of about 9m x 9m. The distance of the "open" span is 7m.


This roof is attached to the back of our house. This the southern end.


This is the northern end.

Let me know if you would like me to give you more info on the enclosed room with an open floor space which is in the house you see in the right of the picture above. 
I have also got what we call the farm house which I made up some beams/trusses which created an open 8m span so we could park the truck under the roof.
So what you want is not difficult just different for these folks around here. By the way you never said where you are located.

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## david44

Ootai is correct tube is the way

When I used same 20 x 60 x 60 blocks by Supeblock /Hebel/ Qcon I "poured the corner column retro fit with lots of rebar and shuttering. Luckily I had a US architect ad Alaskan builder who had used the technique so able to train local builders.

You need to decide at outset the level of load so if noisy cheaper roofing it will be lighter than the ceramic finish, which is more attractive, quieter but of course heavier.

Another consideration if not walled or glazed on all sides, wind pressure during storms may lift tiles .

PM if you wish to visit my location near Golden Triangle

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## docmartin

When trusses are exposed in a workshop situation it might be a good idea to go one size up. 
A truss has to support its own weight plus the weight of the roof, and then theres the skyhook factor - if someone throws a strop over a lower member and then attaches a chainblock to lift out an engine or to support a tractor being split then thats an additional load.  
Not so much an issue in a house though.

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## ootai

> When trusses are exposed in a workshop situation it might be a good idea to go one size up. 
> A truss has to support its own weight plus the weight of the roof, and then theres the skyhook factor - if someone throws a strop over a lower member and then attaches a chainblock to lift out an engine or to support a tractor being split then thats an additional load.  
> Not so much an issue in a house though.


docmartin
That would never happen here 5555.

Went out this morning and what did I see?
Our "partner" is undertaking some preventative maintenance prior to the rice harvesting commencing.

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## docmartin

555.  And a strop on a truss should be on the top member of the truss, not the bottom. 
But that’s just falang idiocy - steel is steel.

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