Re: Question for those with structural knowledge
Logically, you could use a wider I beam in place of a taller one. I too am not an engineer. Talk with an engineer. My steel dealer has a wall full of engineering degrees, maybe yours does.
Do watch out for engineers who aren't as smart as they think. My son has an apartment over his in law's garage. It was planned for a small deck running along the area above the garage doors 6' wide, 28' long. His father in law knows everything, so he asked an engineer to design brackets to support it in 5 places. Think of shelf brackets, only bigger. The engineer specified high strength steel. High strength is risky stuff to weld without special skills, and methods. My steel dealer thought it was all a bunch of BS. one size bigger in hot rolled gets you more strength, and no special skills to build. The estimated cost of these fancy brackets was prohibitive from a high end fabricator.
7 years later no brackets have been fabricated, no deck has been built, and the door to nowhere is referred to as a "mother in law door"
Willie
An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.