Miners Exchange, Idaho City

Brick repair and full repointing on the 1865 Miners Exchange in Idaho City, replacing failed brick and mortar so the walls hold another century.

Where: Idaho City, Idaho Service: Historical restoration Photos: 7

The Miners Exchange has been sitting on the boardwalk in Idaho City since 1865, and by the time we got there the entire brick building was about to fall apart.

The worst of it was a stair-step crack that ran clear across the wall under the porch, corner to corner. Up under the eave the brick had come apart around the old wood lintels, and down at the boardwalk the bottom courses had eroded back to nothing. The mortar joints in between were not doing much holding either.

So we cut out the brick that was gone, patched it back in, and repointed the walls. Fresh mortar looks loud against 150-year-old brick, and there is a stage in the middle of a job like this where the whole wall looks worse than when you started. That is normal. Then the paint goes on.

All this building needed to last another 100 years was a few new bricks and mortar. Painting was done by Castle Mountain Homes.