‘Wheelbarrow’ Repair

‘Wheelbarrow’ Repair to Timber Beam Ends

At a recent talk given by Ian Hume, Conservation Engineer, he made reference to a popular
strengthening detail for decayed timber beam ends which he referred to as a ‘wheelbarrow’ repair as
shown on Photo 1 below.

Photo 1 – ‘Wheelbarrow’ Repair

This strengthening arrangement is shown on the following sketch: -

Sketch – Support Condition

1
‘Wheelbarrow’ Repair

Assuming that: -

 The end of the timber beam in the wall has decayed and the steel shoe does all the work
 The beam supports a uniformly distributed load of w kN/m
 The beam span is L

Then R = wL / 2

Considering the loads on the steel shoe and taking moments about 2: -

P1 . a 1 = R . a 2 P1 = (a2 / a1) R

P2 = R + P1 P2 = {1 + (a2 / a1)} R

So, the ratio a2 / a1 is important in this model

Typically, a2 / a1 would be 1/3, in which case

P1 = R / 3 = wL / 6

P2 = 4R / 3 = 2wL / 3, which is greater than R

If, for instance, a2 = a1 and the same assumptions applied then,

P1 = R and P2 = 2R which does not look as efficient.