H Beams.

Oh dear, l've holesawed through several RSJ's to get 40mm shower wastes through in the belief that you were pretty safe around the neutral axis. Take a look at artic trailers, more holes than metal!

A modern lightweight steel farmed building on a local farm collapsed during a sudden gust of wind.

A man on the roof was knocked over by the wind, not knocked FROM the roof. and it was alleged that the shock loading of the worker falling over caused the collapse.

The man was briefly knocked out and upon recovering believed that he had fallen THROUGH the roof and not that the whole building had fallen with him still on top, until sliding to the ground.

Take a look at artic trailers, more holes than metal!

That's global warming for you!

Regards

BAD

Chris Pearson: 
 

AncientMariner: 
How big a hole?  (I have drilled a hole through a ship's side before now.)

Presumably above the water-line. ??

It certainly was when I drilled it!   Joking apart, it was about 4mm in diameter through the radio room bulkhead at bridge height.  I tapped it for a 5mm brass screw. "Height of eye" was about 100 feet in that location. I was determined to achieve a low Z earth connection for the copper strip that I had run around the Radio-Telex MODEM.

Considering that I was using a hand-drill, the steel must have been a soft alloy or the drill bit rather sharper than expected.

Clive

Oddly I have put holes in a building of that exact type. However where the holes are made, we fitted  splints along side to beef the cross-section,  and the holes are small  compared to the web width, and pretty much on the neutral axis. I'd certainly not do it without some considerable thought. Most services seem to be on banding of some sort.

If you look at how the building is put together, there are bolted joints and diagonal rods to keep the frame square, so clearly holes are OK in some places.

Mike

On my current job I was asked to drill through large load bearing beams to attach lighting. I refused. In previous jobs where I worked in factories and the like we always clamped stuff to beams rather than drill them. I still follow that policy. The owner said it is o.k. to drill the H beams, I still refused. He offered written permission but I still refused. I did though drill some small holes in purlins.

I argue that a qualified architect/designer/structural engineer has sized the beams, so who am I to remove material or alter them in any way. What would we think if a designed copper conductor like a cable or bus-bar was reduced in size by A.N. Other by removal of material?

And………………..the well healed building owner didn't even provide me with a cup of tea. A first for meanness. ?

Z.

drilling  a hole is the last resort if there is no way around it. most likely things get clipped on the beams. I've seen electrical containments go through beams with 600mmx 200mm size hole but that was agreed with the steel work engineer and fire proofed. 
 

so in general it does happen but with today suppliers and variety of clips, how good they are, it is hard to justify a hole through beams.