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Discussion Forum

Covering Steel Beams

BUNGHI | Posted in General Discussion on March 10, 2008 06:06am

I am in the process of building my home and have a number of structural steel H beams I wish to frame in to make look like natural logs.

Anyone have any suggestions on how this could be done?  My experience and resources are fairly limited but I’d like to make as natural and authentic a look as possible.

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  1. User avater
    Sphere | Mar 10, 2008 07:41pm | #1

    Sawmill slabs..but most I have seen are short ( less than say 12') or find a local Woodmizer owner and have him/her cut to order.

    If you expect bark to stay on, the tree must have been felled in winter when the sap is down.

    Log cabin siding is available in Cypress and Pine..its a rabbeted back and shiplap top 5.5" face measure with a "D" profile to mimick logs on the foundation of true log homes, with some creative juice flowing it could maybe be adapated to your plan.

    Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

    "Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"

  2. wane | Mar 10, 2008 07:53pm | #2

    I beam ..

    are you the blonde that worked in the M&M factory ... kept throwing away all the W's?

    1. User avater
      xxPaulCPxx | Mar 10, 2008 10:45pm | #3

      Actually, there are H beams too.  The top and bottom flange are much wider that an I beam.  I think the just used a different font at the foundry ;)Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA

      Also a CRX fanatic!

      If your hair looks funny, it's because God likes to scratch his nuts.  You nut, you.

    2. User avater
      JDRHI | Mar 11, 2008 05:57pm | #8

      I gotta wonder how you are orienting your steal beams if you refer to them as "H" beams.

      Do you also call wall studs 4 X 2's ?

      Stay outta the M&M factory yourself.

      J. D. Reynolds

      Home Improvements

      Pp, Qq

       

       

       

      1. wane | Mar 11, 2008 07:11pm | #10

        I prefer smarties ...

  3. Jim_Allen | Mar 11, 2008 01:02am | #4

    The concrete guys can do it best.

    Bob's next test date: 12/10/07

  4. akjack | Mar 11, 2008 04:00am | #5

    You didn't mention if you needed to cover the two open ends of the "H" and what thickness the beam is.

    The best way I've found if you need to cover either of the open sides or all 4 sides is to tack weld some light weight simpson 90's (ungalvanized) on the underside or inside edges of the each open side. Then face the open side with a light ply screwed through the 90's. I do this for two reasons, 1.) if the material is over 1/4" it can be a bear to drill and 2.) you can extend the ply past the upper and bottom edges of the beam by xx and then place a 1x or 2x attached to the ply running parallel with the beam and attach your other to side pieces to the wooden 1x or 2x pieces you just placed. All 4 sides are now sheathed and you can finish it of with whatever material you wish AND attach it to the ply sheathing which is much easier than dirlling through the "H" beam multiple times.

    1. BUNGHI | Mar 11, 2008 11:53am | #6

      To those who posted actual suggestions, thank you.

      For those of you who decided instead to make sarcastic remarks, well, I truly appreciate your lack of assistance and charm as well...what goes around comes around.

      I'm living in Ireland, and whether the beams I have in my house are "H" or "I" beams by American standards, they are called "H" beams here.  There are four fully exposed vertical beams (where all four sides will need to be covered).  There are then three horizontal beams supporting the loft & roof, and these beams will need to be covered on 2-3 sides.  There is finally one vertical hollow steel box beam supporting a corner that needs to be covered on 2 sides.

      I have received suggestions such as wedging a board "inside" the side of the beam that can then be used to anchor planks.  I have also heard of obtaining full logs from a logger, seasoning them for 6-8 months inside the house, then hollowing them out and securing them to the beams (obviously the much more labour intensive process).

      My concern with the first suggestion is how do you finish four sides of a beam with four seperate peices of timber and ensure they look like one log?  Is it a feasible alternative to wrap plywood (or some other wood material) around the beam?

      1. DaveRicheson | Mar 11, 2008 01:23pm | #7

        Is it a feasible alternative to wrap plywood (or some other wood material) around the beam?

         

        I have use Ramset or Hilti fastners to wrap steel beams and columns in commercial construction many times. Nail off the flanges first  with the Hilti and then hand nail the open side material to the edges of the flange material.

        I have covered a lot of them with rough sawn cedar, but never tried to make them log like a timber or log. Sorry, can't help you there.

      2. frammer52 | Mar 11, 2008 06:08pm | #9

        make a ladder of 2x4. glue down on top of beam with PL400 or equal.  Nail plywood to both sides then make another ladder for the bottom.  Nail the ladder to the ply..  This will give you a base to nail finish wood or drywall.

  5. BUIC | Mar 11, 2008 10:42pm | #11

      Bunghi,  I noticed this is your first post here so let me say "welcome".

      You'll find a great cross section of people here, just like home I'm willing to bet.

      Knowledge, barbs, humor, chiding, compassion, sarcasm, and more are often flying about.  Take it all with a grain of salt!

      Now to your beams.  How big are they at the ends?  4"x4", 6"x8" etc.

      Without more info my first impulse is to wrap them in 3/4" plywood for a stable nailing base, then cover that with slabs from your "logs". 

      As to a hollowed out log, as you said alot of work.  I would be more concerned with it twisting and splitting apart after you hollow it out. Just a WAG on my part.

      Good luck with your home...buic 

  6. BenM | Mar 11, 2008 11:58pm | #12

    You can buy clips that attach to the flanges without welding or using hiltis.  Then you can attach your panels to the clips.  Here is one manufacturer:

    http://www.lafargeplasterboard.co.uk/drywall_manual/pdfs/Fire_Protection/Cormet_Column_and_Beam_Clip_System/Fire_Protection_Cormet_Column_and_Beam_Clip_System_full_section.pdf

  7. sapwood | Mar 12, 2008 12:01am | #13

    I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it cannot be done. Oh sure, you can wrap the beam with wood slabs, or whatever, to create a log look (read: long wooden cylinder). But it will not look like a "natural log." The best suggestion is the one you spoke of ...... take a real log and hollow it out, then place it around the beam and glue the halves together. But what do you do at the intersections? And hollowing out a log or three isn't an easy task.

    If it were me, I'd settle for a rough hewn beam look. Then you can use rough sawn timbers and assemble a realistic looking facade.

  8. cuzzy | Mar 12, 2008 12:58am | #14

    It will take some time and patients.  But one way to cover the beam is to use sauna tube or even a big carpet role.  Cut 1/4 of its radius out so it forms an oblong "u"or so it lookes like the bottom 3/4+ of the log.  to give a bark or textered look try stucco or a layer of spray foam (can be cut,grooved,sandedetc.)(iI think certain brainds will take stain)... good luck

  9. User avater
    shelternerd | Mar 12, 2008 01:16am | #15

    We wrapped a steel column with an antique wood post one time by screwing a piece of plywood to the post and then running it through a bandsaw to split it and hollowing it out with a skill saw and chisels until it could be re-assembled around the steel. Piece of work but got us the effect we were looking for. Something like that might work for your situation. You'd probably have to put the bandsaw on rollers and roll it through the log rather than put the log on a sliding table and run it through the bandsaw. Can you contact a local sawmill and buy some split round logs from them and then hollow them out with a chainsaw jig?

    You just have to learn to skim over the hard cases. You can set the preferences to ignore posts from the especially annoying ones like red eye fly and do right but it's generally easier to just click on by them.

    And people change, when I was first here I thought Brown Bag was annoying but I've really come to appreciate his perspective and can see he's really a good egg. Probably me that did the changing there and I'm glad of that.

    ------------------

    "You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."

  10. MGMaxwell | Mar 12, 2008 01:49am | #16

    I've read down to 16 suggestions and haven't seen this yet.......use poplar tree bark!

    I see it a lot in North Carolina. It's used as an exterior siding. I would wrap your beams in plywood then pin up the bark. You're in Ireland so I don't know if you have tulip poplar or can Google a source for it. But you might try some other local species and play around with it. Certainly there are arborists that fell trees there. Get a 2 meter piece and peel the bark off as well as you can.

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