GL Design Services are a team of chartered civil and structural engineers that work on a wide range of construction projects, including house conversions, temporary works and new builds.
We are based in Croydon, London, and offer our professional services across London and the South East of England. If you are looking for high quality, innovative building design solutions, then we can help ensure your building project is safe, structurally sound, and gets delivered smoothly within budget.
Our expert design services include:
- CAD drawings
- Category 3 (CAT3) checks
- Checking engineer
- Steel connection design
- Structural calculations
- Temporary works design
One of the most important elements of a structurally sound building project is beam design. Because support beams can come in a wide variety of forms, you need to make sure your beam design is right for the function it needs to perform. Beam design is a critical element in both domestic and commercial construction projects.
What is a beam?
Beams are long, horizontal supporting members that are installed to withstand various loads. Beams form an integral part of your building support structure and help safely transfer imposed loads onto the bearing members (walls or columns) and then onto ground via existing or proposed footings.
Beams can be made from various materials such as steel, reinforced concrete or timber. The load they bear refers to the dead weight of elements resting atop and imposed live loads. Load-bearing capacity of beam depends on magnitude of imposed vertical loads and, in some cases, horizontal loads from wind when beam forms part of a stability structure such as goal-post of box-frame structure.
Beams can be designed in a different supporting conditions such as simply supported, fixed-ends, cantilever end or continuous over support.
Our in-house team of chartered civil and structural engineers have many years of experience in beam design of various configurations, amassed on structurally diverse projects across London and the South East.
Here is a brief explanation for you:
Vertical load
Vertical load is the amount of force that is applied vertically onto the beam. This could be the weight of the walls of a building and will be made up of the materials used in the building construction such as brick, timber, stone, concrete, steel members etc.
The vertical load can also include self-weight such as the people occupying the building, heavy furniture and any equipment within the building, and beam designs for the vertical load can also include extra weight from external weather elements such as snow build-up.
Horizontal load
Horizontal load is the amount of force applied horizontally onto a support beam when in framed configuration. Horizontal loads usually originate from external environmental factors such as wind.
In multi-framed or multi-storey buildings, there are also notional horizontal forces to be considered. These account for the effect of geometric imperfections introduced into the structure during construction.
If you are looking for an expert team to work with you on designing the beams for your house extension or loft conversion projects, do not hesitate to get in touch with us – we are here to help!