Ohio City Log HomeRestoration Experts

Ohio City is one of a cluster of old mining communities strung along Quartz Creek, and like its neighbors Pitkin and Parlin it holds cabins that trace back to the boom years of the 1880s. Caring for logwork of that age is a preservation exercise: the wood may be soft or punky in places, the old finishes are long gone, and the joints have settled over generations. The aim is to make these cabins sound and weathertight for decades more without erasing the history written into their timbers.

We begin by identifying which logs are genuinely sound and which need splicing or replacement, then re-chink the settled joints and apply breathable finishes that protect the wood while keeping its authentic character.

At 8,700 feet along a shaded creek, Ohio City gets a real high-country winter. Deep, sustained cold contracts logs and cracks any rigid chinking, while heavy snow leans against cabins for months and turns to meltwater looking for open checks and loose joints each spring. We use chinking rated for extreme cold so it stays flexible when temperatures drop, and we time inspections for late spring to catch snowmelt damage before it works deeper into old wood.

Like much of the Quartz Creek country, many Ohio City cabins are seasonal and remote, sitting empty through the hardest months. An unoccupied cabin is one where nobody notices the gap opening in the chinking or the check that has started to hold water, and over a quiet winter those small things grow into costly repairs. We build a schedule of pre- and post-season checks for Ohio City owners so their historic cabins are looked after even when the valley is buried in snow.