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Nickels & Dimes

Working for Long Time Established Clients on Log Home Restorations & Decks

By High Altitude Finishes

October 18^th, 2025

The year 2025 went by really fast. Between adapting to a new political environment to addressing the needs of our long term clients, the year truly flew by quickly.

Over the years we have discovered that regardless of how fancy projects are or are not, they all use similar skillet. As Amy says: They all use GRK screws, Diablo blades, Milwaukee tools, STIHL saws, tons of persistence, tons of knowledge and the same old saying when you make a mistake: What in the RYOBI is going on here?

We began the year finishing the restoration of the Gold Hill Inn Restaurant. The project will become its own story when we have the time to write about it.

The whole year we worked predominantly on Flagstaff Road and the historic town of Gold Hill.

For our client on Flagstaff road, we helped him with both his home and garage as he prepares to put the house in the market. We have been working for the same client over the last 22 years. We updated several elements of his garage including giving it a new more updated look. Discovering the Benjamin Moore AF-180 color was a design hit. The garage was previously pink.

Another significant part of the project was to restore all the cedar fascia around both the house and the garage. The challenge of the job included maneuvering 40 ft & 32 ft ladders. In addition, we had to work on top of a very expensive concrete tile roof system. The goal was to address all dormers without breaking any roof tiles. The expertise of our collaborators Henry & Alfonso was paramount in the process. After 145 hours, we ended up with gorgeous fascia and no broken roof tiles.

Last but not least, one of us had to restore a beautiful 1800's stained glass window in addition to multiple other historic windows imported from Argentina among all places.

IPE Deck

Then came addressing an old IPE deck that was falling apart at the seams as they say. Clients often fail to comprehend that ALL decks need frequent maintenance. They wait until the decks can't handle any more water & UV. Then, our phone rings. We came to the table to fix a poorly built deck that had incorrect board gaping, untapped joists and a poorly designed failing railing system. We undid the whole deck saving every single board, taped the joists, replaced all rotted wood and designed a new railing system.

The result was an impeccable deck completely rebuilt using old existing elements, no rotted wood and taped joists.

Last but not least, we addressed five rotted joists on a different deck. In order to do so, we cut all rotted joists and sister the structure with new treated lumber. Decks do not like persistent sources of humidity, particularly melting snow and water.

Log & Cedar Restoration

Our year also included restoring multiple log and cedar homes for clients who have known us for a very long time. We addressed log decay, used climbing gear on steep metal roofs & gave wood siding a new life. We cut logs with chainsaws, used hundreds of sanding disks, killed a grinder & used multiple gallons of different restoring products to make homes more resilient to fire. It is hard to summarize hundreds of hours resulting in giving new life to both log and cedar siding.

Skylight Project

Our year also included removing five old skylights. We then installed three high performance energy efficient Alpen skylights on a log home. In order to do so, we framed new structures to accommodate new skylights, insulated, drywall and painted the newly designed ceiling.