The points that Bill, Jordan and you raise are reasons why I did not really want to do a flitch plate. But, I wanted to cover my bases in case I needed to really explore that route.
It turns out that I can do it with a honkin' big PSL. Strength is not an issue at all. It is deflection that is really driving things. But, it appears that the siding is relatively flexible (thankfully not brick) and I don't believe the windows will be an issue. But, I supplies some wood options and some steel options. The downside of ANY steel option is the thermal break of a hunk of steel in the middle of a SIP wall. While wood is not nearly as good as the foam insulation, it is still WAY better than steel.
So, if nothing else, this was a good intellectual exercise.
Thanks for the help!
Scott
Adrian, MI
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Kester, P.E. [mailto:akester@cfl.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:16 PM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: re: steel flitch plateScott,I completely agree with Bill on his business/legal reasons not to do it, as well as Jordan with his opinion that the steel plate will take a majority of the load. Even though your LVL is pretty stable from a shrinkage standpoint, under axial load it will creep some but your steel plate will not. I would think the steel plate would "see" a majority of the load due to its higher stiffness as others have indicated. Can you not sandwich a tube steel inside your SIP and even maybe thru bolt or TEK screw the LVL let-ins (splines) onto the sides of the tube?AndrewAndrew Kester, PE
Principal/Project Manager
ADK Structural Engineering, PLLC
1510 E. Colonial Drive, Suite 301