Wayne Whitney wrote:
On 2007-02-10, DanG wrote:

This has been done for ages to remove bearing walls.

Could you explain what the advantage is to putting the new beam on
top
of the joists instead of in line with the joists (so the bottoms are
lined up)? The latter seems much simpler in a variety of ways, but
perhaps I'm missing something.

You did, see quote below my comment. He is taking out a load bearing
wall below and wants a flat ceiling it seems. I have the same type
thing in my home, but mine has an overhead engineered truss through
the center instead of the overhead beam that uses angle iron straps
like I suggested.
Quote
"I don't want to just hang the beam, I want it on top (because I am
removing a wall below and don't want it to show). The beam will be
supported with blocking at both ends, so the beam will still support
the joists. I looked through the simpson site and didn't see anything
that jumped out at me for this."
End Quote

Tom J