I am designing/building an 18' wide frame with a staircase that ends at the top of the 2nd floor about 14" from a centered Summer beam, perpendicular to the staircase. I know the look might be a bit funny on the 1st floor but would there be any negative impact to moving the Summer 14" or so closer to the outer bay wall? (so one side of the bay has ~9.5' joists and the other has 7.5' approximately)

Thanks!

Josh

As long as your joists are sized appropriately, it shouldn't make any difference. I'm assuming that you're doing the loading maths here. If you're just making modifications to a known design, you might want to get the final plans checked before you start cutting.

My house (still under construction) has off-centre summer beams (or an equivalent, not quite sure what the terminology should be) giving two different joist lengths. These beams line up with the divisions for the various rooms. The joists are all the same size (for aesthetic reasons) and are sized for the longest span.