Interpreting Joist and Beam Span Charts

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Learn joist span and reading a span chart 💪 #deck #joistspan #spanchart #learn #carpentry

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The video presents a "span chart example" on a whiteboard, which is crucial for proper deck design. It categorizes lumber by "species" (e.g., SYP for Southern Yellow Pine, Hem-Fir), "size" (e.g., 2x6, 2x8, 2x10), and "spacing" (e.g., 12, 16, 24 inches on center). The speaker demonstrates how to read the chart: for a given species, lumber size, and spacing, the chart provides the maximum allowable joist span. For instance, a 2x10 at 12 inches on center can span 18 feet, while a 2x6 at 24 inches on center can only span 7 feet 7 inches. It is emphasized that beam span charts will also exist and look similar but will generally show much shorter allowable spans compared to joist charts because beams bear the full weight of the deck, whereas individual joists support only a portion.

Goal: Learn to effectively read and apply joist and beam span charts.

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resist uplift. This here is a span chart. You see here we have species, size, and spacing. The size has to do with the depth of the lumber. This is where your joist spacing comes to play. You could have 12 on center, 16, or 24. The further your spacing is on your joists, the less length you can go between your beams. So, if you do 12 in on center with a 2x10, you can go 18 ft. If you do 24 on center with a 2x6, you can only do 7 ft 7 in. So, with a 2x10, you can nearly do double of a 2x6. Joist beam span will look similar. It'll give you doubled or tripled and then go by the nominal size of the lumber. These spans for beams will be a lot less than the spans for your joist. These beams are required to

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