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Expert: - 5/7/2008


Question
I have a question that deals with the steel beam in the basement that runs the complete distance across the house.  I have four support poles that are place to help support the beam, but what I noticed is the main beam is not placed completely across the concrete blocks. The beam is placed across the blocks of the wall but do not cover the complete block.  My first question is, will this cause a problem to the beam or the structure of the house?  Secondly, I noticed the blocks cores are not filled with concrete. Will this cause a problem and what should I do to have this corrected?

Answer
This is a question that a structural engineer must answer.
The steel beam should absorb weight of one or two floors above and not crush the concrete blocks.  If you have a brick veneer then it may be that the steel beam is offset for the brick to bear directly on the block edge. You should have cores filled every four or five blocks normally but this depends on soil conditions and possible ties up to plate of floor above the steel beams.  Blocks should have rebar in them and poured concrete in those cells.  Consult a structural engineer as this is an educated guess not having more information than you offer.

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