Factory-direct steel gratings & stair treads, shipped worldwide
Grating Load Bar
Load bars and spans calculated to your traffic class, free.
Itemized quote within 24 hours · Load bar and span chart attached on request
Load bars 20×3 to 100×8 mm
Plain or serrated, carbon or stainless
Certified & tested
Reports on request, MTC with every order
Quote within 24 hours
Samples in 5–7 working days
FOB Tianjin
Factory-direct worldwide, EXW / CIF negotiable
Terminology first
Load Bar, Bearing Bar — Same Steel, Different Name
If a drawing says bearing bar and a supplier email says load bar, nobody changed the product. This page is about the bar itself — and about choosing it by the load it has to carry, which is the only selection that matters.
One bar, three names
Bearing bar in North American catalogs, load bar in UK and Asian trade speech, main bar in older specs. All three point at the same piece of steel — the deep bar that spans the opening and carries the load to the supports.
What the load bar does
It runs across the opening, sits on the supports at both ends, and hands the traffic down. Its depth and thickness set how much load one panel can carry and how far it can span before the next support is needed.
What it is not
The cross bars lock the load bars in place — they carry almost none of the traffic. And "load bar grating" as a phrase means the whole panel, selected by its load bars. For the bar-by-bar anatomy, see bearing bar grating; here we stay on selection.
Selection by load
Choose the Load Bar by Traffic, Not by Habit
Our welded line makes load bars from 20×3 mm up to 100×8 mm. That range is not a menu you guess from — it is a response to three kinds of traffic. State which one crosses your panels and the bar size follows. Duty classes below are qualitative; the exact bar for your span and wheel load is calculated with your quote.
| Dimension | Light Foot Class | Standard Industrial Class | Heavy Wheel Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| What crosses the panel | Pedestrians, inspection access, light hand carts | Foot traffic plus hand pallet trucks and stored goods | Forklifts, trucks, dock loaders, crane outriggers |
| Load bar window | Small end of the range — 20×3 mm bars and their neighbours | Mid-range depths and thicknesses, the working default | Deepest, thickest bars, toward the 100×8 mm end |
| Bar spacing | 30 mm centers where heels or small debris matter | 40 / 60 mm centers — the everyday specification | Bar size first; spacing follows debris and open-area needs |
| Span behavior | Short spans; go deeper only if the walk must bridge further | Most platform spans land here without special measures | Shortest sensible spans — or the deepest bars we weld |
| Surface | Plain or serrated; galvanized for outdoor duty | Plain or serrated; HDG standard outdoors | Serrated tops common in wet yards; HDG to ASTM A123 / ISO 1461 |
| Watch-outs | Undersizing reads as bounce long before it reads as failure | State wheel loads even on foot platforms — maintenance trucks happen | Give wheel type and load, not just the words heavy duty |
Not sure which class your traffic falls into? Send your drawings — we will spec the bar inside the 24-hour quote.
How the bar carries
Depth First, Then Thickness — and Where the Bar Grating Span Points
Three facts decide almost every load bar choice. Read these, and you can brief any grating factory in three lines.
1 · Depth carries, thickness endures
Depth is the cheap way to capacity: from one end of our range to the other the bar grows fivefold in depth, but under threefold in thickness. Deepen the bar before you thicken it.
2 · Span is measured along the bars
The bar grating span is the clear distance between supports, measured parallel to the load bars — not the panel length. Halve the span and the same bar carries far more; stretch it and only a deeper bar saves the floor.
3 · Serrated is a surface choice
Any load bar in the range can be made plain or serrated. The toothed top edge is a grip feature for wet or oily zones — it changes how the surface behaves underfoot, not how much the bar carries.
Fix the span
Support-to-support, measured along the load bars. If the steel is not drawn yet, say so and we size both together.
Name the load case
Vehicles: wheel type and wheel load. Foot and storage traffic: load per unit area. If both happen, give both.
Describe the traffic
Pedestrians, pallet trucks, forklifts — and how often. The same wheel crossing daily is a different brief from one crossing a year.
Why buyers ask Dengtai
Load Bar Grating From the Mill That Sizes It for You
Free span sizing help
Send the traffic you actually have — wheel type, span, frequency — and factory engineers calculate the load bar to your traffic class inside the 24-hour quote. Free, and part of the service, not an upsell.
Load bar & span charts with your quote
The charts cover every bar size we weld, span by span, with the deflection basis stated up front — so you can check our recommendation yourself instead of trusting adjectives.
Mill made, any quantity
Load bar grating made on our own electro-forging and press-locking lines, FOB Tianjin, shipped worldwide. Small trial orders welcome — samples in 5–7 working days, production in 15–25.
Applications
Where Each Load Bar Class Earns Its Keep
Same factory, same range — different traffic. Four duties that between them cover most load bar grating orders.
Walkways & access routes
Light foot class — inspection walks, roof access, escape routes where weight matters more than wheels.
Plant platforms & mezzanines
Standard industrial class — foot traffic, pallet trucks and stored goods spread over the panel area.
Vehicle trench crossings
Heavy wheel class — the wheel lands midspan on the load bar, so the bar is sized for the vehicle, not the trench.
Dock aprons & forklift routes
Heavy wheel class with serrated tops — wet yards, ramps and loading zones where grip and capacity are briefed together.
Specifications
The Load Bar Range Behind Every Class
| Parameter | Range |
|---|---|
| Load bar (bearing bar) | 20×3 mm to 100×8 mm, plain or serrated |
| Bar spacing | 30 / 40 / 60 mm centers |
| Cross bar | Twisted square or round, per specification |
| Panel width | Up to 1.25 m |
| Panel length | Up to 6 m |
| Materials | Q235B carbon steel · SS304 / SS316 stainless |
| Surface | Black or hot-dip galvanized (ASTM A123 / ISO 1461) |
| Load & span charts | Provided with your quote, per bar size and deflection basis |
Materials & test documents
Every heat of Q235B, SS304 or SS316 enters production with its mill test certificate verified at goods-in — the first of our five QC stages. The load bar you are quoted is the bar that ships:
- Mill test certificate to EN 10204 Type 3.1
- Factory inspection report with every shipment
- Declaration of Conformity prepared per order destination
Standards & compliance
Produced to Recognized Practice — Documents on Request
ANSI / NAAMM MBG 531
Welded load bar panels produced to MBG 531 reference practice, with weld inspection built into our five-stage QC plan.
ASTM A123 / ISO 1461 HDG
Galvanized load bars for outdoor duty, with coating thickness checked by sampling on every galvanized batch before release.
CE & SGS tested
Certified & tested, reports on request — we show documents you can verify, not a certificate wall.
Custom made
Custom Load Bar Spans, Cut and Banded to Your Drawings
Send your load case
Span, wheel or area load, traffic — or just the drawing and a photo. Drawing review is free and happens inside the quote window.
Quote within 24 hours, bar size stated
Itemized, FOB Tianjin as standard — EXW or CIF on request. The recommended load bar and span chart come with it, plus the deflection basis.
Samples in 5–7 days, production in 15–25
Working days after drawing confirmation, hot-dip galvanizing included. Installation drawings and fixing layout ship with the order.
Factory-direct quote
Send Span and Load Specs — Reply Within 24h
State your load case in three lines — span, wheel or area load, traffic — and the itemized quote comes back with the load bar we recommend for your traffic class. Sizing help is free.
- Load bar and span calculated to your traffic class, free inside the quote
- DoC, MTC EN 10204 3.1 and inspection report with every order
- Factory audits welcome — see the lines before you commit
Prefer to talk? WhatsApp us or sales@dtsteelladder.com
Request your quote
Five fields — we do the rest.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a load bar the same as a bearing bar?
Yes. Load bar is the trade synonym for the bearing bar — the main bar that spans between supports and carries the load. North American catalogs say bearing bar, UK and Asian trade speech says load bar or main bar, and load bar grating simply means bar grating specified by its load-bearing bars.
What should I state in my RFQ so the load bar is selected correctly?
Three lines are enough: your span (clear distance between supports measured along the load bars), your load case (wheel type and wheel load for vehicles, or load per unit area for foot and storage traffic), and the traffic itself — pedestrians, pallet trucks or forklifts. Engineers calculate the matching load bar and span inside your 24-hour quote, free.
Can I get the load bar and span charts with the numbers?
Yes. The verified charts are provided with your quote rather than published as fixed numbers, because the values depend on bar size, span and deflection basis. Ask for them in the message field of the form and the sheet travels with your itemized quote.
Related pages
Related Specification & Calculation Pages
Bearing Bar Grating
The same bar under its catalog name — anatomy, sizes and how it is fixed.
View page →Grating Maximum Span Length
How far a load bar bridges between supports before the next size is needed.
View page →How To Calculate Grating Load
The method behind our sizing help — load case to required bar, step by step.
View page →I-Bar Grating
The I-shaped load bar profile — more depth for the same weight of steel.
View page →Twisted Bar Grating
The twisted square cross bar that locks load bars into a rigid panel.
View page →1 Inch Bar Grating
Load bar depth stated the imperial way — what 1 in buys you at a given span.
View page →