# Engineered Joists & holes for HVAC ducts



## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

Couldn't open your links.

Replace the wood with metal I-beams?
Bolt long flat plates of steel or angle irons to the wood areas that you will not be removing?
Use a center support column?

The deflection in the center, before and after, will tell you if you made it strong enough.


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## Michael Thomas (Jan 27, 2008)

Generally,











however _*check the specific manufacture's requirements*_:

Also, see here for many details of I-Joist construction.

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## walt1122 (Aug 16, 2007)

Hi Michael Thomas and Yoyizit, thanks for the suggestions and especially for the reference material from you Michael. Based on item 4. sounds like I can cut away most of the web to accommodate putting in the round flex. I will check with the I-beam manufacturer to see what they say and see if they have anything to say about doing anything like this with their product. The I-beams are currently covered with fire code sheetrock on the ceiling of the garage. I am just looking at possible methods and haven't made any decisions yet. 
Yoyizit, I’m trying to not have any columns in the garage area. Only as a last resort would I consider a steel I beam. It’s probably to costly to do just for this purpose. I would rather shell out the few thousand dollars to revamp the duct work from round flexible to rectangular rigid instead of doing all the structural changes.

Thanks again for the help.

Walt


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