Expert: Dave Johnson - 11/1/2007

Question
Hi Dave,

2 years ago, my kitchen was burned and have to fixed the whole roof and my small attic upstair. Instead of just fixing it, I just change the whole roof of my house to an attic roof so I could make my small attic bigger, but then I have this big window with a 10' span which my co-worker in my previous job (who was an engineering technician) calculate the size of the beam and come up with a 3 1/2" X 10 1/4" size glulam. Yesterday my father in law notice a big crack on the window and I found out that the beam was deflecting. I'm thinking jack it up and just sister it with 1 3/4" X 12 X 12' long lvl but I'm not sure if this will work.
    So is it better to change the beam or just sister it with an lvl?

Thanks a lot,

Di

Answer
Hi Di,
Wow, considering this was an engineer, I'm surprised at the problem.
Anyway, you need to be aware that if there is an unusual amount of load above the header, this could have caused the flex.
If you have no excessive load, I'm sure the lvl will do the trick....
If there is a greater load than normal, take out the glu-lam and replace it with the lvls (2) and be sure and glue and screw them together.
Good luck,
Dave