Structural beam replacement
Failed ridge beams, girders, and carrying beams come out and a properly sized member — almost always engineered lumber like LVL — goes in, engineered whenever the load path changes.
Beam replacement · El Dorado County
Structural Beam & Dry Rot Repair
CCI Builders replaces failed load-bearing beams and repairs dry rot and termite damage in homes across El Dorado County and Sacramento — every repair engineered, permitted, and county-inspected.
- CA License #835432
- Bonded & Insured to $2M
- EPA Lead-Safe Certified
- Since 2004
What we repair
Four failure modes, one licensed contractor
Beams, load-bearing walls, dry rot, termite damage — the same crew, the same license, the same permit process.
Load-bearing wall repair & removal
Bearing walls removed for open floor plans and vaulted ceilings — plus sistered studs, post and pier replacement, and header repair.
Dry rot repair
Rot gets cut out and rebuilt, not covered up — a rotted deck ledger usually means structural deck work.
Termite damage repair
We replace the structural members termites destroyed — after the pest company treats, so the repair lasts.
Know the signs
Signs your home has structural damage
Any one of these is worth a look; two or more together are worth a phone call.
A sagging roofline or ridgeline
Sloping or bouncy floors
Doors and windows that stick
Drywall cracks at door and window corners
Soft or discolored wood at posts and ledgers
Fungal fruiting bodies on framing or siding
Termite mud tubes or fine-sawdust frass
What it costs
What structural repair costs
An honest quote names a range and the drivers that move it — these are what actually set the price of a structural repair on the Highway 50 corridor.
Ranges from Jon’s real jobs CSLB #835432 Insured $2M
Typical beam replacement
$5,000–$15,000
Highway 50 corridor · extensive repairs run to about $50,000
- Span & engineering
- Longer spans and altered load paths need an engineered member, stamped calcs, and permit fees.
- Access
- A crawlspace ledger and a beam buried in a finished ceiling are two very different jobs.
- Hidden rot
- Rot often runs past what shows on the surface — discovered damage is a signed change order, never a surprise.
County hold points
The inspections on a permitted repair
Sequence per CCI's El Dorado County operations — nothing gets covered before it's checked.
- 01
Foundation
Footings and pier pads verified before concrete is placed.
- 02
Frame
The new beam, posts, and connections inspected before anything is covered.
- 03
Rough-in
Any re-routed plumbing, wiring, or ducting checked.
- 04
Insulation
Reinstalled insulation verified before drywall closes the wall.
- 05
Final
The permit is signed off and the repair is documented.
Proof
See it in the field
Structural
Structural Beam Replacement
Replaced deteriorated structural beams in a residential home to restore load-bearing integrity and bring the structure into compliance. Scope included temporary shoring, beam removal, new beam installation, and coordination with the local building department for permit and inspection sign-off.
Decks
Custom Deck and Shade Structure
Designed and built a multi-level deck with an integrated shade structure for a residential property along the Highway 50 corridor. Scope included framing, decking, and a pergola-style overhead cover. Work was permitted, inspected, and built to California code.
Get a straight answer on your beam
Send a photo and a description of what you're seeing — quick response during business hours, a real scope conversation, not a sales script.
CSLB #835432 · Bonded · Insured $2M · 1-yr workmanship warranty
Structural repair questions, answered
Straight answers first — the numbers are Jon's real numbers.
How much does it cost to replace a load-bearing beam?
Most structural beam replacements here run $5,000–$15,000; extensive repairs can reach $50,000. Span and engineering, access, hidden rot, and permit fees move the number — and in Jon’s words: “Nobody has X-ray vision to diagnose. Sometimes it’s based upon discovery — you open something up and… this went deeper than I thought. Then you have to change-order that.” Nothing proceeds until you’ve signed that change order.
Do I need a permit to replace a structural beam in El Dorado County?
Yes — replacing a load-bearing beam in El Dorado County requires a building permit and county inspections. A structural alteration changes how the house carries load, so the county verifies the work before it gets covered up. CCI Builders pulls the permit, schedules the inspections, and closes out the job with the county — that paperwork is part of the repair, not an extra.
What building codes govern beam and dry rot repair?
In homes, the 2025 California Residential Code: R304 (protection of wood against decay), R305 (termite protection), and R502/R802 (floor and roof framing); CBC Chapter 23 covers non-residential buildings. Homes built before 1978 also fall under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule when a repair disturbs painted surfaces — CCI Builders is EPA Lead-Safe Certified for exactly that work. Permits run through the El Dorado County Building Division.
How do I know if it’s dry rot or termite damage?
Dry rot is soft and spongy, often with visible fungal growth; termite damage leaves hollowed galleries, mud tubes, or frass that looks like fine sawdust. A wood-destroying-organism (WDO) inspection from a licensed pest company confirms which one you have. CCI Builders repairs the structural damage either way — at the root, not as a patch. Jon on typical pest-company repairs: they “hack out little sections of whatever’s rotted… and piecemeal it in. They don’t find the root of the problem — which ends up costing more.”
How is structural damage usually discovered?
Most structural damage is found one of three ways: a home-inspection or WDO (pest) report during a sale, a visibly sagging roofline or floor, or a contractor opening a wall mid-remodel. On a California pest report, Section 1 items are active damage or infestation — the repairs most home sales require corrected before close — while Section 2 items are conditions likely to lead to damage if left alone. If your report has Section 1 structural items, that is exactly the work this page describes.
How long does structural beam replacement take?
Two clocks run on a beam job: permit-and-engineering lead time, then time on site. Both depend on the span, the access, and the county permit queue — the estimate gives you the schedule for your specific repair.
Can I stay in my home during the repair?
The load is carried the entire time — temporary support walls go up before the failed member comes out. Whether you can stay depends on where the beam is and how much of the house gets opened up. In Jon’s words: “Sometimes you have to vacate, or relocate to a different part of the house… it depends on the job.”
Will homeowners insurance cover dry rot repair?
Usually not for gradual rot — most homeowners policies treat slow decay as excluded maintenance. Sudden covered events are different: in Jon’s experience, coverage has come through “anytime there’s fire, flood, tree, snow load.” Read your policy and ask your carrier; we’re contractors, not insurance advisers, and this isn’t coverage advice.
Is a sagging roofline an emergency?
Usually it’s a see-it-soon problem, not a tonight emergency. A sag that developed over years should be assessed promptly, but calmly. Treat it as urgent after a tree strike or heavy snow, or when you can see fresh movement — new cracks, doors that suddenly bind, a visible change from week to week. CCI takes urgent structural calls — not as a 24-hour service, and urgent work runs at a premium because it pulls the crew off a scheduled job.
Do you repair Section 1 items from a pest report?
Section 1 items are the active damage and infestation a pest report says must be corrected — most home sales require them repaired before close. CCI repairs the structural damage behind those items — the same dry rot and termite work described above — after the pest company treats.
Who will actually run my structural repair?
Jon Saunders — the owner of CCI Builders — runs the job, and he holds CSLB license #835432, licensed since 2004. You get clear schedules and updates from one point of contact, clean jobsites with protection of property, and a 1-year workmanship warranty on the repair. More about Jon.
What happened to the area’s longtime beam-restoration specialists?
The region’s longtime beam-restoration specialists are stepping back — and CCI Builders carries that work forward in El Dorado County. That work still needs doing, and it’s the same engineered, permitted structural repair CCI has done from Placerville since 2004.