Live in a house built in 1920 in the California Bay Area and started remodeling our downstairs bathroom. When we opened up the walls, the contractors said they found termite damage in one of the support beams. Looks old (mud tubes all dried up) but they are recommending replacing the support beam (20 feet, runs half the length of the house).
Any advice on determining if the beam needs to be replaced? Tried pushing on sections with a screwdriver and the wood seems pretty hard. We bought the house 10 years ago and seems like this has been here before then and the damage was just covered up.
Replacing seems like the safe thing to do but also don't want to do it unnecessarily and possibly cause other problems in the process. Thank you for any advice!