Would Like To Use 2 x 6's For Garage Loft Floor Joists

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Rob From Wisconsin

Rob From Wisconsin

Minister of Fire
Nov 20, 2005
531
East-Central Wisconsin
Recently had a Pole Building Garage erected & somewhat botched by
a "fly-by-night" carpenter, and one of the annoying problems I have is
relative to the loft area. Unfortunately, anyone who is over 5' 9" has to
"duck" to walk up there. I would like to reduce the floor joists from 10"
"I" joists to 2" x 6" Yellow Pine. Unfortunately, the run is approx. 15 feet,
which exceeds code. Is there anyway I can overcome this, for example
by "doubling" the 2 x 6's, or adding some additional re-inforcements??

Then again, this is only a "loft", and not "living space"....

Any input is appreciated.

Rob
 
You may want to look into engineered trusses. Those are the joists with the particle board in the middle and 1x2 or similar on the edges. I personally would not recommend a 15' span with anything close to 2x6. These will not support much load at that span. On my deck I used 2x12's for anything exceeding 8'. 2x10's everywhere else. And all I'm supporting are people and snow. Code will depend on your load, but again, 15' is a loooong span for wood unsupported. Can you get away with a support pole in the middle?
 
Here are some tables...but they only go down to 2x8 on 12" centers with about a 14'5" span. I think one of the issues you might run into would be that two 2x6's side by side still won't be as stiff as a 2x10. I agree with the above, though...possibly engineered trusses with a short 'on center' spacing might work. But you'd probably almost have to talk to an engineer for the special scenario.

http://www.raisedfloorliving.com/spantables-2.shtml
 
i would agree with stee6043, engineered trusses are a solution to your problem.
 
I have 2x6 bottoms on my trusses which hold a storage room but they are engineered.
 
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