GIRDERS

, in Architecture, are the largest beams or pieces of timber supporting the floors. Their ends are usually fastened into the summers, or breast-summers; and the joists are framed in at one end to the Girders. By the statute for rebuilding London, no Girder is to lie less than 10 inches into the wall, and their ends to be always laid in loam, &c. The shorter bearings a Girder has, and the oftener it is supported by the internal or partition walls, so much the better. The established breadth and depth of a Girder, according to its length of bearing, are as in the following tablet: