Maximum load of steel I - beam for 16' garage door span?

Question

I have to replace my beam over my garage door. It is a 16 ' wide openeing, 7 ' high. it is 2x4 construction.
It carries a approx 24 ' roof span and is load bearing the ends of the rafters. the rafters are approx 30' total span eave to eave.
I have access to a steel I beam that is well over 20 feet long,
10" high, 5 3/4 " across the flange, the flange is 3/8" think and the web is 1/4 inch wide. Will this beam work for my application?

The beam currently in place is a poorly constructed wooden structure, well below standard code, I beleve it is two 2x12" beams nailed together with plywood lining the inside. the neighbour two doors down built hbis house and his 12 ' door called for four 2/12's for his smaller span.

any help would be super !
Thanks
Derek

Answer 1

The recommendation to hire an engineer is a good one. Also the idea to use engineered wood product beams has merit because making connections will be MUCH easier.

If you really want to use the steel beam, perhaps you can get it free? there is a good chance it will work, the dimensions you give correspond to a W10-22, which is a nominally 10" deep beam weighing 22 lbs/ft. The AISC allowable stress design handbook lists an allowable uniform load of 23kips (kilo ponds force) for a 16 foot span IF the beam is laterally supported. While. the top flange will by laterally supported by the rafters, the bottom flange won't, therefore the allowable load will be less and can't be simply read off a table.
I calculate your load is something like 12kips, given a 30 foot roof span, half of which is supported by the opposite wall, so 15' times the 16' span of the header times (for example) a 50lb/square foot load (which is a bit conservative for a roof, but I don't know if you have snow) Since 12kips is about half what the beam could support if laterally supported I think it will work, but of course this is just preliminary information and will have to be confirmed (by someone else) before actual construction

Answer 2

I did some remodeling several years ago and had to increase the size of several openings in bearing walls and resize all the headers.
I looked in the phone book and found a structural engineer who had a consulting business.
He designed all the new headers and provided sketches for their installation and stamped all the sketches.
He had me use TriLam beams.(epoxy-plywood laminates) that were easily available.
He charged me $150 and it was well worth it.
Went over well with the building inspector, too.

I suggest you try to find an engineer to design your header.