CPC40120 – Certificate IV in Building & Construction

Unit 4010 – Structural Principles for Residential & Commercial Construction – TFC
CEILING FRAME – EXERCISE 2 EXPLANATION
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2.3E CEILING FRAME – EXERCISE 2 EXPLANATION

EXERCISE 2.
Determine the sizes of the ceiling members for the coupled roof house shown below assuming the
following details: –
 Wind Classification – N1/N2
 MGP10 Seasoned Softwood for all roof members
 Hip Roof (both ends)
 Brick-Veneer wall construction
 Tiled roofing
 No over-battens to Ceiling Joists
 Rafter and Joist spacing – 600 mm c/c
 Eaves width – 450 mm
 Roof pitch – 25°
 One Underpurlin to each pitch

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prepared by B. Nikulski © 2.3E.1

 CPC40120 – Certificate IV in Building & Construction
Unit 4010 – Structural Principles for Residential & Commercial Construction – TFC
CEILING FRAME – EXERCISE 2 EXPLANATION
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For this exercise we’ll size the ceiling members for Room 2 (3.69 × 5.155 m internal dimensions).

We’ll start with Ceiling Joists, and initially we’ll assume single span joists i.e. no Hanging Beams

Following the steps described in Exercise 1 we can size the members.

a) CEILING JOISTS (NO HANGING BEAM)

Note: – being a ‘coupled roof’ the Ceiling Joists run in the same direction as the rafters, i.e.
across the shorter span/ width of the building/ room
– Hanging Beam runs perpendicular to the Ceiling Joists (roughly centrally placed across
Ceiling Joists, in case of single Hanging Beam)
– Counter Beam runs, most of the times, perpendicular to the Hanging Beam (roughly
centrally placed on Hanging Beam)
– Ceiling Load Width (CLW) is the amount of load carried by the member. In case of
Hanging Beam it is half of room width, and in case of Counter Beam half of the room
length

Ceiling Joists

Counter Beam

Hanging Beam
CLW for HB

CLW for Counter Beam

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prepared by B. Nikulski © 2.3E.2

 CPC40120 – Certificate IV in Building & Construction
Unit 4010 – Structural Principles for Residential & Commercial Construction – TFC
CEILING FRAME – EXERCISE 2 EXPLANATION
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ridge board

Hanging
beam
Rafter

Ceiling joist
Counter beam
Supporting wall

Looking at table 21 (Ceiling Joists without overbattens) determine the required information/ unknowns.

 JOIST SPACING 600 (given in the Specification)

 SUPPORT Single (no intermediate support)

 CEILING JOIST SPAN 3690 (internal width of the room)

SIZE REQUIRED 140 × 35

To reduce the size of the Ceiling Joists we have several options: –

 Use Overbattens
 Use higher Stress Grade Timber
 Reduce the Spacing
 Change/ Reduce the Span

With the use of Overbattens we’ll be able to slightly reduce the size of the Ceiling Joists, but the most
effective/economical way is to change the span, which can be achieved by introduction of Hanging
Beam. The Hanging Beam will not only reduce the span of the Joists but will also change the
supporting conditions.
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prepared by B. Nikulski © 2.3E.3

 CPC40120 – Certificate IV in Building & Construction
Unit 4010 – Structural Principles for Residential & Commercial Construction – TFC
CEILING FRAME – EXERCISE 2 EXPLANATION
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) CEILING JOISTS (WITH HANGING BEAM)

First we need to decide how many Hanging Beams will be used – in this situation having relatively
small Joist length we’ll use only one Hanging Beam centrally placed on the Joists.

Looking at table 21 (Ceiling Joists without overbattens) determine the required information/ unknowns.

 JOIST SPACING ………………… (given)

 SUPPORT ………………… (the HB provides central support so continuous)

 CEILING JOIST SPAN ………………… (half of the room width)

SIZE REQUIRED (90 × 35)

Following the explanation above, i.e. refer to the plan and the diagram for visual explanation have a go
on your own.

c) HANGING BEAM (SINGLE SPAN)

Following the same procedure as for Ceiling Joists we can size the member.

Looking at table 23 determine the required information/ unknowns.

Note that the Ceiling Load Width – CLW is half of the Ceiling Joists span each side of the Hanging
Beam.

 CEILING LOAD WIDTH …………………

 HANGING BEAM SPAN …………………

SIZE REQUIRED (240 × 45 or 240 × 35 if using CLW = 1800)

To reduce the size of the Hanging Beam we have several options: –

 Use higher Stress Grade Timber

 Reduce the Ceiling Load Width (CLW)
 Change / Reduce the Span

By introducing more than one Hanging Beam we can reduce the CLW, which in turn will reduce the
size of the Hanging Beam, but more economical way/ method is to change the span. This can be
achieved by introduction of Counter Beam, which primary function is to provide support for the
Hanging Beam.

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prepared by B. Nikulski © 2.3E.4

 CPC40120 – Certificate IV in Building & Construction
Unit 4010 – Structural Principles for Residential & Commercial Construction – TFC
CEILING FRAME – EXERCISE 2 EXPLANATION
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

d) HANGING BEAM (WITH COUNTER BEAM)

Similar as before, first we need to decide how many Counter Beams will be used – in this situation
having relatively small Hanging Beam length we’ll use only one Counter Beam centrally placed on the
Hanging Beam span.

Note that the Counter Beam position will depend on the available supporting points. In case of not
being able to position the Counter Beam centrally the span for the Hanging Beam will be the longer
one. The Counter Beam does not have to be perpendicular to the Hanging Beam

Looking at table 23 determine the required information/ unknowns.

 CEILING LOAD WIDTH …………………

 HANGING BEAM SPAN …………………

SIZE REQUIRED (120 × 45 or even 120 × 35 with interpolation)

e) COUNTER BEAM
Following the same procedure as for previous members – looking at appropriate table (in this case
table 24) determine the required information/ unknowns.

Note that the Spacing heading in the table is the same as Ceiling Load Width – CLW, which is half
of the Hanging Beam span each side of the Counter Beam (i.e. half of the room length – internal).

 SPACING (CLW) …………………

 COUNTER BEAM SPAN …………………

SIZE REQUIRED (2/170 × 35)

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prepared by B. Nikulski © 2.3E.5