Any Experiences with Glulam Beams and/or I-Joists?

[R Leo]

Please tell me.

[Wes Bender]

Added a two-car garage at my Alpine cabin. Used a glulam beam over the main 7 x 18 door. They are well engineered and seem to do a good job. Hasn't shown any sag whatever, but it has only been 8 years or so. My Green Valley garage uses an I beam for the same purpose, but the construction is slump block rather than the ship lap at Alpine. The only difference I could even think of might be termite resistance, and I'm not sure that they don't put something in the glue to discourage that.

Wes

[crash9]

I'm working out a project right now and am doing the same research. They are both engineered products and Glulam's have been around forever. They can be used to make a visual statement but the I-joists will be less money. If this is for your little project I'd think it's small enough that I'd think you could span it with 2x8 easily. One exposed Gluam with 2x8's over would look great, but would force a roofing system that might not be what you'd want.
Basically I think you can trust the engineering from the sellers.

[R Leo]

Originally Posted by crash9

I'm working out a project right now and am doing the same research. They are both engineered products and Glulam's have been around forever. They can be used to make a visual statement but the I-joists will be less money. If this is for your little project I'd think it's small enough that I'd think you could span it with 2x8 easily. One exposed Gluam with 2x8's over would look great, but would force a roofing system that might not be what you'd want.
Basically I think you can trust the engineering from the sellers.

The I-joists and glulams are primarily for the floor system on the cabin, plus there will be glulam beams supporting the roof trusses.

I trust their engineering specs but, was searching for some of that 'practical, in the field', knowledge from folks who had used the products. Pros & cons, etc...

The specs for GluLams and I-joists are incredible. Unfortunately, down south it is hard to find the smaller 9 1/2" dimension products since their biggest use is for roof systems with snow loads. With that discovery yesterday, I reworked the floor system to use the bigger dimension product...a blessing in disguise since I was able to reduce the number of concrete piers required.