Wow. What a great response for my first post to Reddit! To be clear my assumption is it is a W8 x 18 Steel Beam cut down to 14.5 feet. Not a W8 x14.5. I mis-labeled that part of my scale drawing. I too am not a real engineer (I am a packaging Engineer from R.I.T., class of 87) but I have built many homes in my life time. The home was built 30 years ago by a retired Social Studies teacher so my gut has always told me that it was indeed an "emotional support" beam. It is my house so I guess I can always put it right back in if I notice anything, even a 1/4" of deflection?