I am proposing to join 8m lengths of 150x50x2 RHS bearers together by butt welding them to form a continuos beam, some up to around 30m long. The certifying Engineer said that poses no problem but did suggest that I try to keep the joint away from mid span. When the Council building inspector saw one of these joints he said he had never seen it before and thus, concerned about it.
Is this acceptable practice? Personally, as long as the weld is a full strength butt weld I cannot see a problem. The inspector said just carry on and he will speak to the Engineer......If there is a problem, I could weld say a 400 mm long piece of 50x5 flat bar across the bottom of the joint to take the tensile load off the weld.
Comments/thoughts????
Thanks.