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.
Missoula kept a lot of its houses from 1900 to 1940, from the brick and clapboard homes of the University District and the Slant Streets to the workers' cottages on the Northside and Westside. They were built with old-growth fir framing, true-dimension lumber and windows that can be repaired rather than thrown away. Constructive Brothers restores them the way a carpenter would: we fix what can be fixed and replace only what has failed, matching the original details when replacement is the honest choice. That means dutchman repairs on rotted porch columns, epoxy consolidation on sash, new cedar siding milled to the original exposure, and structural work that respects the balloon framing instead of fighting it.
Old houses in this valley fail in predictable places. Porches rot where the deck boards meet the house and where columns sit on concrete without a standoff. Sills go soft on the north side where snow piles against them all winter. Foundations of rubble stone or early concrete crack and let water in, and a century of settling leaves floors out of level by two inches across a room. We have the tools and the patience for that work, from jacking and sistering joists to rebuilding a porch on new frost-depth footings with the original balustrade pattern. Where the house is in a historic district or you are pursuing a tax credit, we build to the standards those programs expect and document the work along the way.
Restoration work in Missoula is priced by phase: a rebuilt front porch runs $18,000 to $45,000, window repair runs $600 to $1,500 per sash, and structural or foundation repair runs $15,000 to $80,000, with the condition of the framing under the finishes driving the final number.
Tell us about the project. A carpenter, not a salesperson, will get back to you within one business day.
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A 1915 double-hung window with old-growth fir sash and wavy glass will outlast any vinyl replacement if it is maintained. We reglaze, replace broken sash cords with chain, repair rot with epoxy or a new rail, and add weatherstripping and a good storm window so the room stays warm.
Front porches are the first thing to go on a Missoula bungalow. We rebuild them on footings below frost with a standoff under every column, slope the deck away from the house, flash the ledger, and reproduce the original column, rail and skirting details in cedar or fir.
Sagging floors and cracked plaster usually trace to a rotted sill, a cut joist or a missing post in the basement. We jack slowly over days, sister or replace the failed member, and add proper bearing, so the fix holds without cracking every wall upstairs.
Siding exposure, corner boards, window casing, brackets and porch skirting all have specific dimensions on an old house. We measure what is there, have custom knives ground where a profile is no longer stocked, and use cedar and fir rather than composite where the original was wood.
We go through the house from the basement to the attic, note what is failing and what is merely old, and rank the work so structure and water problems get fixed before anything cosmetic.
Restoration often happens in phases over a few years. We write a fixed-scope quote for each phase, note what can wait, and flag anything that qualifies for historic district review or tax credit documentation.
Foundation, sills, joists and porch structure get repaired first, then siding, windows and roofing details, so the house is dry and sound before money goes into finish work that water would ruin.
Trim, plaster repair, floors and paint follow, matched to the original where it survives. We photograph the work and keep the material list, which helps with resale, insurance and any tax credit application.
Based in Missoula. One crew and one standard of work from Frenchtown to Hamilton, up the Blackfoot and over to Seeley Lake.
Baseboard, casing, crown, wainscot, built-ins and stair parts fitted by carpenters who scribe to wavy old plaster instead of hiding gaps under a bead of caulk. Paint-grade or stain-grade, matched to the age of your house.
Learn more →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.
Learn more →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.
Learn more →Free on-site walkthrough. A fixed-scope quote in writing. Work that passes inspection the first time.
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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