I missed that slight imputation of an insult, Jani .
It wasn't intended as such, so it was good that you missed it.
It was more meant as an observation that just because it might be a solid beam, it wouldn't make it unique to Australia; there are quite a few other places in the world where it would be sensible to build for storms and reasonable to expect solid constructions.
While the storms and hurricanes on the north-western coast of Norway can be pretty harsh, they're not quite up to the ferocity of babies like Katrina.
Yes, the beams are small because I had to lift them (or chose to lift them) myself.
Egads!
But they consist of the strongest, hardest, toughest, most durable, most termite resistant timber that exists;
Termite resistence is something you wouldn't need here.
Australian Iron Bark.
Is it also very warp resistant? If so, it would be a cool thing to import to this country. Maybe I can convince someone to construct pool tables from it, too. Not to forget hardcases for airline transportation.
The beams are also about double the height you see. The rest is taken up with roof insulation. From memory they are 2"x10" and span 5 metres. (You see, I'm the sort of guy who's half metric and half imperial ).
Ah. If I'm not mistaken, a typical beam in a Norwegian flat-roof house that's not on the exposed west coast would probably be around 4"x10" at that length, if made from glued composite -- "glulam" IIRC -- of fir or spruce (which is about the strongest we get over here, as well as the most predictable material if a fire breaks out). From a handbook in glulam, such a beam would take ca. 35 kN or a momentum of 25 kNm. Whatever that means.
