the main advantage of flitch beam is to strengthen the beam and decrease the deflection (∆) in the beam by decreasing elasticity (E) because the elasticity of steel is much bigger than a wood beam. their ratio is about 15 to 20 (n=15 to 20).

J.E. Crawford Flitch has written:

'Modern dancing and dancers'

Perfect Flitch recipe with pictures for added help found on blogspot.com. Here is the link:

http://inmn.blogspot.com/2007/07/flitch.html Enjoy!

There are a lot of considerations to be taken into account for sizing steel shapes, especially for a residential home. For instance, what are the load imposed upon the beam? How will the beam be supported? What environment will the beam sit in (i.e. high humidity, moisture, vibration)? A licensed professional engineer or architect in your state can better answer this question.