The Porch: Finding Skilled Labor (not just anybody can do this)

Our porch, dormer, painting, window project was not large enough to attract some large construction firm and I am not sure that would have been the right path to take.  What we needed was a skilled carpenter who was willing to work with the historic requirements and who knew enough about the current code to make that work.  When we started this project builders did not have to be licensed.  That changed in the middle of the project effort but for the work on the front of the Hotel because the building permit had already been issued, licensing was not an issue.  But insurance and payroll taxes were an issue.  There are a number of skilled artisans here but none have insurance.  I could just envision someone falling off the porch roof or even worse from the dormer thirty feet above the ground.

The work broke down into three basic components; the carpentry, the window construction, and the painting. First the carpentry.  We were fortunate enough to find Christian Hansen, a resident of Eldora with a family history in the area. That might be the basic requirement. A person with skill who has a vested interest in doing the job with the history in mind.  Christian was able to find an insurance broker who would insure him.  Christian works alone so the project took quite a while but the outcome was worth the wait. Some of the delay was caused by people walking by who wanted to talk about the project or in a few cases took Christian off the job to go and look at their own cabins.  That certainly built community support but it added to the time.

Next the windows.  The staff at County Parks and Open Space use a window builder who is able to build windows to historic standards yet meet current energy efficiency requirements.  The windows designed and built by Colorado Sash and Door ( www.colosash.com ) were essential for the project.  A copy of the window design is in the resources section.

Finally the paint.  I have a friend, Amy Bayless, who is a painter.  In the end she painted the sign but did not do the building painting.  She did, however, recommend a painter’s supply store and that store recommended a painter.  (That information is in the resources section.) They did the job before the winter snow with little notice and they did it well.  We did have one difficulty; the paint on the porch deck was designed to take weather and traffic but when it gets icy the deck is really slippery.  We are fixing that problem now by adding grit to the paint.

And then the little things.  The original sign must have blown off a few years after it was constructed.  Subsequent owners added a sign on the side of the building but we had proposed to put the sign back on the front.  We used that photo documentation; scaled the size of the sign to determine the exact original size and placement; had Christian build a sign using the same materials as the original; asked our friend the painter to paint the sign; had a local blacksmith design a bracket that matched the original as evident in one of the photos; put six rather than just two brackets on the sign, and bolted it to the porch roof.  This is the first winter for the sign.  We will see if it survives.

All of these pieces have the same theme.  Work with artisans who have a vested interest in the history of the area.