Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire joining 4X4 posts

so I want to build a carport coming out from my garage that is about 24 feet long.

Its going to be a simple A frame type setup where I use 4X4s for support. But I don't want any support posts in the middle, I want 23 feet or so of unobstructed width so in order to do that I need to join 3 8ft (or some combination) of 4X4 posts on each side that can support the 2X6 trusses and the roof which will be shingled. I was thinking some kind of metal bracket with 4 or 8 holes that I could put on each side and run 6 inch galvanized bolts thru it for support.

I've searched google and I guess I'm not looking for the right terminology because I can't find anything.

Here is a crude drawing of what I have in mind

You need a Gluelam or an LVL.

Order the proper engineered length and width yo need.

If this is the side wall top, put a post under the joint and a Simpson tie “T” at the joint attached to the post.

ok, cool
Menards has a 24' beam for $419. I would need two of them of course

but that would work quite well

good god, I can't imagine what that weighs

actually I guess I would only need one - I can use supports in the back - that makes its more affordable

I doubt your coupling will work. To run 24 feet you will need a steel or a specialty laminated beams to support the roof. Especially considering the roof weight and snow load you could be dealing with. I think your proposed coupling will allow sagging and/or buckling once the roof is installed and the holes you drill for the couplings will introduce weakness that will fail under the downward stress induced by load over the length of the coupled beams. A post at each junction will work, but you don't or cant use that design in your application.

You could do it that way, but I wouldn't. If you're not going to use or don't want posts at the joints, use a gluelam or header that is rated for the span.

Much better choice.

Rent a duct jack

I hung a dozen 24ftrs with one, piece of cake!

I got one for about $50 a day

I used 16" lams, they have a sag of about 1/8" at 24ft

4 yrs ago they were $9 per foot

Yep,all good choices,lvl+duct lift. or steel I beam.
Not an engineer,but dont think plates+ bolts would last/hold up

ok good to know - sounds like I'm on the right path here now

You could save money building a torsion box beam...

Go to a local truss builder. They need to know the roof pitch, snow load, etc to get you the appropriate beam. They’ll put the info into the computer and spit out the correct info. Redneck engineering is a quick way to get killed when the roof collapses. I put a 12’ double slider in my house. I think I remember it was a 5.5 x 12 x 14’ and only had a 1/4” deflection on a 4/12 pitch roof.

LVL beam, or better yet, trusses.

You could scab them together with some pieces of 3 X 1/2" aluminum plate on each side with some 1/2" bolts going through. But I don't know if you could get away with 23' with no support posts.

Stuff tends to sag over time.

w/o reading all of it.........

Glue Lam beam is what you need

do it right the first time

Somebody needs to get a clue on construction.....

LOL.

That sounds like a tall order to me. You may need 2x10s on edge of course. There are charts that would show what you need.