Even though this house is 30 years old and no signs of movement, would anyone recommend replacement of the wood support of this beam with a steel post, or strengthen the post? The wood studs are about 3’ tall and on a concrete slab. The span of the beam was 22’
There are also two of these pre-construction post aligned under crawl space.
Chris, hope you are doing well.
Kind of comical to see 30 year old photos like this isn’t it.?
I don’t know what kind of load is on this what appears to be an 8" I-beam, and it’s 1-1/2" bearing on this 2x4, but amazed it lasted 30 years.
Well the paint must of preserved it. 
Considering what we all see, I would have to say that it would by far meet todays building standards, but at the time of Construction, Code may have allowed it or it slipped any Code Enforcement if any at the time.
My recommendations would be similar as to say that although it has lasted all these years, does not mean that it might not fail tomorrow.
I would recommend that an Architect or Engineer assess the loading and replace the wood studs with a proper size lally column on a concrete pad.
Amazing photo.
Thanks for sharing.
Marcel :)
Marcel , would the CMU even help at all ,on a steel I beam in that situation?
Bob, your post preview showed your post, and yes, a cmu block pier would be acceptable, but not the one in Christopher’s post.
That came in while I was posting and did not see it.
CMU piers are common, but are installed on concrete footings and the blocks are stacked blocks 16"x16" and filled with concrete for accepting the loading above. Again this is a design issue, and not a homeowner design.
Christopher, it appears from the second picture that there are a lot of other issues in this crawlspace, hopefully you wrote hard. 
But spoke softly.
Marcel :)
Thanks Marcel, I’m doing fine. It’s supporting the left half of this home, approx. 20 X 24. I think the concrete blocks may be helping.
I wrote hard, it is a foreclosure that’s been empty for over a year. Most of what you see is insulation that has fallen, caused by frozen water pipes. Most of the home was in pretty good shape.
So the beam was only 20’ long? Well I guess those blocks would help. ;)
Marcel
Outside looks good Chris, hope it worked out for you.
Dead up here, and glad I have a Builders Trade and that is so, so, right now.
Marcel :)
The column wasn’t on the truck Marcel. This will do until the truck gets there. . .
NOTICE: Delivery truck lost in vicinity of Alton, Illinois. Truck is carrying vital steel post required for home construction. Last seen approximately 30 years ago. If seen, please report to local police immediately.
Actually, it is perfectly permissible for steel to be supported by wood, as long as the bearing area is sufficient for the load. The problem with the pictured wood support is that it is probably being carried by a few nails loaded in shear, and they may be the critical element in the “design”, if one can call it that. The two minimal block piers are probably carrying well more than half the load on the steel beam, so that wood may only be carrying a couple of feet of load, and that may not be very much. That could explain why the condition has lasted and worked for 30 years.