Timber notch definition

[canwesteng]

I'm cutting down the width of a sawn beam to fit in a seat. To my knowledge CSA086/NDS definition of notches is for notches reducing the vertical height of the timber. Is there any restriction on cutting down the width? Of course, the net section will be checked for bearing/shear, etc...

 

[KootK]

Interesting question. As you're no doubt thinking, it still has the potential to be some kind of stress concentration. Hopefully you can find something more relevant but, worse come to worse, perhaps you could check it with whatever provisions one uses to check mortise and tenon.

My gut feel is that this would not be as serious as a vertical notch.

 

[canwesteng]

I'm thinking the same. I don't there are much for mortise and tenon checks in the code though. The joint should be much worse than my situation in terms of the material being notched and the fact that there are still vertical notches.