Repair rot-damaged glulam beam supporting the roof

[John2019]

Hello, I have a house built in '84 in Gothenburg with laminated beams that run through and support the roof. After 20 years in the house and regularly painting the ends, we discovered that they had rotted under the paint when I scraped a little. Has anyone repaired this type of damage or have tips on someone who does this, should you do it yourself or should you hire a construction company? I have scraped out much of the rotted wood and initially thought of just gluing in new wood, wrong?

 

[Workingclasshero]

Hi
The bad wood is mostly dead weight that doesn't hold much/anything at all.
Saw off the bad parts and glue/nail new ones as you attach metal brackets after rot protection treatment.
/Workingclasshero

 

[John2019]

Hi
The bad wood is mostly dead material that doesn't support much/anything at all.
Cut away the bad parts and glue/nail on new wood as you use metal brackets after rot protection treatment.
/Workingclasshero

Thanks for the great tips 🙏

 

[Emilito]

Yes, the most important thing must be to first get rid of moisture and bad wood, and then primarily protect the end grain.

A more drastic intervention might have been to bevel cut them a little for additional protection? Or would that be ugly perhaps?

 

[John2019]

Yes, the most important thing must be to first get rid of moisture and bad wood, and then primarily protect the end grain.

A more drastic intervention might have been to also bevel them a little for additional protection. Or might that be ugly?

Beveling can even look nicer than straight, I've now seen a neighbor who beveled theirs a little, thanks for the great idea! 👍🏻

 

[Workingclasshero]

Yes, the most important thing must be to first get rid of moisture and bad wood, and then especially protect the end grain.

A more drastic measure might have been to also bevel them a bit for further protection? Or would that look ugly perhaps?

I can really agree here.
But be careful with changing the design language!
Yes, it's easier.
Yes, probably more attractive.
Yes, longer lifespan.
The design language changes for the worse, I don't know...
Sketch a little and look around before taking action is my tip.
/W

 

[John2019]

I can really agree here.
But be careful with changing the design language!
Yes, it's simpler.
Yes, probably nicer.
Yes, longer lifespan.
The design language changes for the worse, don't know......
Sketch a little and look around before taking action is my advice.
/W

Thanks for the thought about design language, will photoshop a bit on my house pictures and see, the neighboring house has angled beams, maybe I should copy the angle? The question is whether to clad with metal or just treat with rot protection and oil?

 

[FolkeF]

I had a similarly rot-damaged beam under my deck. The damage was not visible under the paint. I removed the rotten parts over a length of about 1.5 m, glued in new wood, and reinforced it with plywood on both sides. 4 years later, the rot was back. Had to replace the entire beam. Now only paint on the end grain, oiled otherwise.
Your beam likely supports the outer rafter. The suggestion to bevel cut sounds reasonable, impregnate and oil the wood, and protect the end grain.

 

[John2019]

I had a similar rot-damaged beam under my deck. The damage was not visible under the paint. I removed the rot-damaged parts over a length of about 1.5 m, glued in new wood, and reinforced with plywood on both sides. 4 years later, the rot damage was back. I had to replace the entire beam. Now only paint on the end grain, otherwise oiled.
Your beam likely supports the outer roof truss. The suggestion to bevel-cut sounds sensible, impregnate and oil the wood, and protect the end grain.

Thanks! That sounds like a good plan 👍🏻