you could check craigslist out there Willa, first you need the wood. look for any barns being taken down or small mills that will custom mill new stuff.
giant beams tend to crack. If you can get old lumber like from a barn you might be able to cut it down to your size. I'd suggest opting for something like this pile on sunshine coast. it needs to be dry then planed then glued up to your final dimension. the shipping is probably too prohibitive from here but you could check your pricing locally and compare. You could consider using something like paralam as well , or boards such as ones with small knots, stains etc in the interior of the glue up so you wont' see it. If you want perfect lumber like the pile shown on sunshine coast you have to pay a premium for the higher grade. since it is to be painted and not seen you might be able to save some cost.
the other thing to watch for is how dry it is. beams take about a year per inch to dry that increases cost too. You could buy a load of lumber and sticker and stack it and wait until the moisture level is acceptable for use. If you use big beams that are green you will see cracks develop. if you dry the lumber what you do is buy it as a larger dimension in it's rough cut state, allow it to dry then when it's stable you can joint and plane it to size and do your glue ups.
if it were me and I wanted to do a lot of this I'd buy the wood rough sawn and dry it , then worry about using it. its' cheaper that way.
If you go to a lumberyard and try to buy knot free straight grained lumber, if it's perfect it's expensive. that lumber is graded so they will select out the more perfect boards and sell them at a premium. If you go to a smaller mill then they wont; have the same resources to grade the lumber so the pile will likely contain a range of quality. You can save the ones that are really nice for interior trim and such and use the rougher stuff where it doesn't show.
forget home depot, they aren't a lumberyard or a lumber retailer, you could talk to suppliers that cater to cabinetmakers and such , they will sell rough sawn lumber in loads. also check real lumberyards. You really have to look at the lumber to see what you are getting. you may find that if you watch the inventory you will notice sometimes they have better stuff. feel the ends and have a look to see if they are damp. this is a good time to buy lumber because it's end of summer so it's dryer than if you go when its rainy.
here's an example of a local hardwood supplier, this isnt; a box store, they cater to industry not homeowners.
https://www.naturallywood.com/resources ... -hardwoods If you are nice sometimes lumberyards will let you pick through the load for nice ones. try going when they arent' busy and you may get better cooperation. I sometimes just find a yard guy and say I'm looking for some nicer ones for a special project so I'm going to pick the load but I promise Ill leave it neat as I found it.. then they leave me alone and let me re-pile it at will or even help.
If you can get old seasoned wood from an old barn then you can see where it cracked and perhaps cut around the cracks. some places are sourcing lumber from old buildings and re-milling it , they might be a good source. if it's stored well it might be perfectly fine , stable from aging, and ready to use. If it's got nails and stuff in it then you have to consider if the person doing the work is going to want ot cut it. they might not want to hit rocks and sand and nails with their planer knives or the person selling the barn wood might have a little bandsaw mill and be happy to provide your rough cut dimensions.
you could also consider using Parallam. they grind up the fibers and re-constitute it with glue and pressure. this results in huge beams that are more predictable than raw lumber and you could laminate your new lumber to that where it shows. you might have to check it's suitability if it is seeing outside exposure. I see them sometimes for free because they can be huge and heavy. you might need a chainsaw or a flatdeck with hiab to move it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_strand_lumberhttps://vancouver.craigslist.ca/bnc/mat ... 41979.htmlhttps://vancouver.craigslist.ca/pml/mat ... 41051.htmlhttps://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/mat ... 49673.htmlIf you hire someone to make you beams up you are putting the onus on them to provide the lumber. I'd do it the other way.. get the lumber, make sure it's suitable , buy 30% or so more than you predict to account for waste, you'll get a better price per board foot. Now when you talk to the person you hire to trim it or do glue ups you are bargaining on labor only and not the product cost.
if you walk in there and say you want this material in two weeks they are going to have to buy lumber that is suitable for use straight away and pay a higher price per board foot. you can probably pay something like 2 bucks a board foot. if you go buy premium stuff the sky is the limit.
I'd try to work ahead and decide what you are doing , how much lumber you need, buy it ahead of time. you could consider a car tent with a fan to dry it in or stack it neatly in the basement and use it as you go. you could easily cover up the mess you ave there with some tin and nails for now.
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this is a good example of how design and maintenence caused a large member to rot. Size isn't everything
Why is the beam so big , is that bulk really needed for structure? obviously it isn't holding much if you can stick a screwdriver through it. What if it were hollow? could it be replaced by a box?