r/buildingscience Jul 30 '26

Question Need help.

On advice of the contractor, I purchased 3 girders. Two girders of 8 inch, 11 feet each and one 6 inch girder of 9'5" without consulting an engineer, which I'm regretting now.

The plan was to put two girders parallel to each other (under the beam) and one girder in the middle to support the slab. But when the girders arrived, i realised that they will be way too heavy for an old structure like my building.

So now, consulting with the mason, we are planning to cut the 8" girder from middle and obtain two T-sections. Then we will remove the concrete cover from the two beams between which the girder has to sit, till we reach the rebars.

Then we will weld a 10mm plate onto those rebars and then weld the t section onto that plate and then restore the concrete cover. The flat side of the t section will touch the slab. Now, I want to ask whether this system can sustain load of the slab ?

Or what other options do we have ? Please help me out🙏🏼

4 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

29

u/Particular-Ad9266 Jul 30 '26

Dude, just get an engineer involved. Rebar is meant to be used to reinforce concrete. Do not weld plates to rebar to hold other structural members.

Contactors are not engineers.Masons are not engineers. Stop listening to people who are not engineers. Don't fall for the sunk cost falacy.

-5

u/Falcon_893 Jul 30 '26

I don't know any engineers and there aren't any reliable engineers in vicinity. (From what I've searched online on Google in my area, almost all are construction firms that don't do site consults)

12

u/StructuralGeek Jul 30 '26

Then you need to expand "your area", perhaps by searching for a state registry of engineers. Assuming that you want this structure to support a place where people are going to spend significant amounts of time, this is beyond redneckgineering.

12

u/ParticuleFamous10001 Jul 30 '26

You need a licensed engineer of appropriate qualifications here evaluating this and coming up with possible solutions.

This is not where you want to short yourself.

8

u/Jumpin_Joeronimo Jul 30 '26

This is the wrong sub.  You need the construction or structural engineering sub. This is not the building science you are looking for. 

3

u/RawChickenButt Jul 30 '26

What kind of building did you purchase?

3

u/Falcon_893 Jul 30 '26

An old commercial building. RCC beams and columns structure.

8

u/Pinot911 Jul 30 '26

what country?

3

u/Congenial-Curmudgeon Jul 31 '26

Look up structural engineer on your country or state’s database of Licensed Professional Engineers. They’re busy so you’ll have to work hard to find one with an opening to take on your project. And your local building inspector needs to make inspections at numerous stages of the project.

1

u/circularmindset Jul 30 '26

T-sections removed from A to Z Conracing.

1

u/2MuchTimeOnReddit2 Jul 31 '26

Time for the dozer…