3-story porch (wood frame)

[Ben29]

I specified this porch to have continuous 6x6 wood posts with wood beams framing into the sides of the wood post via simpson face-mount hangers. The contractor wants to splice the wood post at the second level. I have never done this before.

He suggested butting the ends of the post together and splicing it with a 24" long, L5x5x5/16 angle bolted to the post. See images below. He provided the sketch of the splice.

He doesn't want to use steel due to cost. He said he could find the long 6x6 post that I specified (they are $2000 per post he said).

 

[gte447f]

Ben29, I like your post-to-post detail, except that the Simpson straps are ugly if they are exposed to view (but it is what is I guess, since straps are ubiquitous with modern wood framed construction), and the straps and upper posts will have to be installed before the floor joists, which seems counter to the probable sequence of construction that framers are used to for platform type framing, which means they will probably leave them out and then have to figure out how to add them after the fact.

 

[phamENG]

A common detail to solve the problem pointed out by gte is to use a steel strap (3/16" thick or more) that matches the bolts for the beam below and then gets bolted or lagged to the post above. It's out of the way of the joists on either side and has enough strength to do the job of two straps (the eccentricity is unpleasant, but not insurmountable).

 

[Ben29]

If you have a splice condition over the post, then this opens a whole other can of worms. I spent an hour trying to figure out a "contractor friendly" way to splice the beam over the post and also have a column above with uplift. I decided that the best thing to do was to just ask contractor if he can get the 16ft long boards he needs in order to make it a continuous member. Hopefully that won't be a problem for him.

pharm: I like your steel strap suggestion. I will use that.

When I frame a building I do not run into many conditions where I have post and beams with lateral/uplift. Typically I have interior bearing walls + shear walls. This is just my experience.

 

[phamENG]

Bern - think of it this way: every stud is a mini post. It's just a matter of restraining the top and bottom at a lateral support. So if your deck is a diaphragm with a competent load path, it can brace the post. Just make sure you connections work.

16ft boards shouldn't be an issue. They're readily available at the Home Depot here.

 

[jayrod12]

Keep in mind that a continuous beam/joist may require bottom chord bracing for the negative moment region. So going continuous doesn't always improve other issues.