Bonner and Milltown are about ten minutes east of our Missoula shop on Highway 200, so we treat them as in-town jobs and can fit a half-day repair between larger projects.
Bonner and Milltown sit where the Blackfoot meets the Clark Fork, ten minutes east of our Missoula shop on Highway 200. This was a company town. The Anaconda mill built rows of nearly identical houses for its workers in the early 1900s, and many of them are still standing along the old streets in Bonner and across the river in Milltown and West Riverside. They were built well for what they were, with fir framing and simple lines, but a century of add-ons has left most of them with a tangle of foundations and rooflines that need sorting out. That kind of puzzle is exactly the work a carpentry-first crew is built for, and it is a short drive for us.
The river dictates the rest. Since the Milltown Dam came out in 2008 the confluence has been reshaped into Milltown State Park, and the floodplain around it is mapped differently than it was when most of these houses were built. Homes on the low ground in Milltown and along the Blackfoot see a high water table every June, so decks and additions there get deeper, wider footings and we keep framing well above grade. Up in Bonner proper and out toward Marshall Canyon and Turah, the ground is drier and the lots bigger, with newer houses on wells and septic. Snow loads off the Garnet foothills and 42-inch frost depth apply the same way they do in town.
Ten minutes out means Bonner gets Missoula scheduling, with early starts and no travel charge, and we can swing by for a half day when a small job calls for it. Siding and exterior repair on the old company houses is steady work, and we also take on the full renovations where a family wants to keep a century-old house and make it livable for the next fifty years. Every job gets a written, fixed-scope quote, and on these older houses that quote includes an allowance for what we expect to find behind the siding. Call (406) 207-2524 to get started.
Working near Milltown State Park, Blackfoot River, KettleHouse Amphitheater, Bonner Mill site, Marshall Canyon and throughout the Bonner area.
Tell us about the project. A carpenter, not a salesperson, will get back to you within one business day.
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Bonner's early 1900s mill houses share a floor plan and the same problems, mostly shallow foundations and porches that have settled. We restore them as a type, which means we already know where the rot hides and how the roof was framed. Matching the original siding profile keeps the street looking the way it should.
The flats across the Blackfoot sit in or near the mapped floodplain, and the water table rises every spring. We pull the current flood map before quoting a deck or addition there, and we set footings for saturated soil. Crawlspaces in these houses usually need drainage work before anything else.
East of the mill site the lots open up and the houses get newer, mostly 1980s onward on wells and septic. Decks with a view up the Blackfoot are the usual request, along with garages and shops. Timber comes close to these places, so we build exteriors with embers in mind.
Whole-house and multi-room renovations for Missoula's older housing stock, run by the carpenters who do the work. We open walls and fix what the last owner hid, then finish to a standard that passes inspection the first time.
Home Renovation & Remodeling in Bonner →Full residing and targeted exterior repair for Missoula homes: LP SmartSide, James Hardie fiber cement and cedar over a proper drainage plane, plus rotted trim, fascia, soffit and window flashing fixed by carpenters who know where the water got in.
Siding & Exterior Repair in Bonner →Restoration carpentry for Missoula's pre-war houses: rebuilt porches, repaired double-hung windows, matched siding and trim, and structural fixes done in a way that keeps what makes the house worth saving.
Historic Home Restoration in Bonner →The repairs that keep a Missoula house working: sticking doors, drywall patches, rotted trim, loose railings, roof leaks, gutter clearing and the rest of the list, handled by carpenters who show up when they say they will.
Handyman & Home Repairs in Bonner →Based in Missoula. One crew and one standard of work from Frenchtown to Hamilton, up the Blackfoot and over to Seeley Lake.
Free site visit, a fixed-scope quote in writing, and a crew that shows up when it says it will.
Send us a few photos and a rough idea of the project. You will get a real number from a real carpenter, usually within one business day.
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