What to do with it.....?

[Scrounger]

I have a "beam" out back that came out of a bridge (I THINK). It is 16" square and 20' long - and HEAVY as all get out. It is a treated and creosoted piece.
Anyone have any ideas as to what I could use it for?

[DaleK]

Got any streams you need a footbridge over?

[hotzcatz]

Our house was built out of such beams. When they replaced all the old bridges in our area back in the early 1900's they ripped the beams into 12" wide 1" thick boards. Eventually, our house was built out of those rough sawn salvaged boards. Our walls are these vertical boards with little battens between the cracks on each side. Not exactly good construction for cold weather areas but it works around here.

Haven't a clue what all the creosote would do to a saw blade.

If you were building a twenty foot wide barn, that could be put across the middle to support the floor joists. You'd need some monster posts and footings under each end to support the load, though. Probably want to get some engineering for the load, too.

Hey! Build a totem pole!

[pheasantplucker]

You could probably have a lifetime supply of toothpicks if it wasn't "treated"...darn

[TiaD]

you'll want to be careful what you do with it and where you put it - whatever they treated the wood with and the creosote coating will leach into soil and water. It can severly impact the area around it.

Tia

My BIL had one like that one time. He cut it in two and and on each piece he cut the end at a angle. He then lined them up the width of his vehicle wheels and used them as ramps to change the oil and other maintenance work.

Angle cut on one end and placed a block on the other end so he wouldn't drive off the edge.

[MomOf4]

You could have a saw mill cut it into "tiles" and lay it down like parquet wood flooring, use sawdust mixed with polyurethane for grout, then poly the floor. Don't know if this would work, haven't seen the beam, but we did this with a 4x4 fencepost on our bathroom floor, and it turned out beautifully - and it's inexpensive too.

[michiganfarmer]

I would consider quartering it, and using it for posts to build a barn

[Little Quacker in OR]

I have a number of pieces of an old beam like the one you are discribing. The beam was cut into a number of shorter lengths. My neighbor brought them over on a tractor and set them here and there for benches. Very nice and a suitable height. There's a couple by the pond, one under the apple tree and two overlooking the river.

...have fun thinking about what you are going to do!

LQ

[fantasymaker]

Ebay it?
What ever you do rember the larger the piece of wood the more its worth.

[Iddee]

Three nice corner posts for the pasture. Won't even need supporting posts. Each one will save you 4 to six posts at the corner.