good ways to laterally brace a wood beam

[altswear]

Hey all, I'm using a wood beam to partially support a continuous span section of joists which bear upon it. Are there any industry standards for this type of bearing connection, especially to ensure lateral bracing of the supporting beam since this beam is not sheathed? See photo for what I mean.

 

[jayrod12]

I'm partial to Simpson strong-tie H3 holddowns in this scenario. Quick cheap and easy. Depending on the loading however, you may get some Toe-Nails (nails installed on the diagonal through the bottom of the joist into the beam) to provide enough. It doesn't take much to brace a wood beam. Does your wood beam even require bracing? On 95% of my wood beams, I consider them unbraced laterally.

 

[altswear]

I'm looking to use a LVL beam and doing some quick and dirty calculations using their tables. They specify 24" o.c. lateral bracing is required so I was hoping to take advantage of some sort of connection to the joists to laterally brace it.

Your recommendation looks spot on for something I had pictured.

 

[jayrod12]

Yes the simpson product will do it and gives you real capacities to hang your hat on. The toe-nailed option is always a bit of a crapshoot as it relies on the contractor quite a bit more to install it properly.

 

[altswear]

Absolutely agree and I have seen some laughable quality toe-nail construction before. Also I seem to recall toe-nails have several design limitations too, particularly in seismic conditions (not that I would be relying on them for anything beyond lateral bracing in this regard).