Q: My house plan calls for steel beams that will support the floor joists and even parts of a brick wall. Can I substitute wood beams for steel? Is a steel I-beam hard to handle on the job site? Do ...

DEAR TIM: I’m getting ready to build a large room addition that needs a beam to support the floor joists. I’ve been told that a wood beam will work, but I’ve always seen steel I-beams in other houses.

The idea of strengthening a steel beam with carbon fiber is not new. Approaches have ranged from coating corroded steel i-beams with carbon fiber and epoxy to a patent by Boeing where carbon fiber ...

Scan the skyline of New York City and it’s almost everywhere you look. Same thing with Chicago and Philadelphia and just about any big city where the buildings poke into the sky. Everyone knows ...