Architecture - steel I beam 13' span

I want to hang a hoist in my garage from an I beam. The I beam will span 13' and the hoist will at max hold 800 lbs. The beam will sit on top of the exterior walls on either side. What size beam would I need? I had someone suggest a S6 x 12.5 but that sounds like over kill to me. Nothing other than the hoist will be supported from the beam.

Can't really advise you...but the place you buy it from should be able to look in the tables and tell you what you need pretty easily.

I'm glad you plan to do this right..but I'm not sure the walls are really designed for that..or are you going to triple the studs and plates in those areas?

I know your intentions are max 800 pounds, but once in place it becomes fair game for anything some one wants to lift. You can't set the limit based upon good intentions. If your lift will handle 1,000 or more pounds, you need the beam to be able to handle full load plus a safety margin. Not something you want to come crashing down.

Just my conservative nature, but Murphy is always out there somewhere.

Bud

Just guess-engineering but I'd bolt a 4X6 to the side of a stud to support it. And lag screw the other side of the 4X6 to the sill plate and top stud plate.

The hoist is rated to 880 lbs and I already have taken into consideration that once installed everything is possible but in general the max I would ever lift is 300 to 400 Lbs. I make concrete countertops and never pour a single piece over 400 lbs. It is just to much weight to deal with once at the job site without a hoist . I was planning on beefing up the wall support to handle the load and when I have called suppliers to get advise they seem to not want to commit because it is not a standard construction usage. Just looking for any advise on loads on a 13' span.

I think that there are more aspects to consider

1 - when you lay an I beam between two walls, you are asking the beam for a type a effort called flection. When you set a hoist, you are applying a concentrated weight, and this concentrated weight sums with the flection. So the I beam section will be different
2 - Did you confirm if the walls are ready to support the additional weight and the additional effort?

I'd say that these considerations are not for a DIY work...