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Care and maintenance of historic structures is hard work, but in this case, a labor of love. The Zaunmiller Cabin was built in 1906. The greatest threat to older structures, other than fire, is rot from above and below.
Protection and preservation requires a good roof and a good foundation. When the conservation buyers acquired the property in 1990, the cabin was suffering from years of neglect. Working with materials provided through a donation by the owners to the Idaho Heritage Trust, a volunteer crew set out to replace the front porch and many of the base, or sill, logs.
The work was designed and supervised by Bruce Dreher of Slate Creek, Idaho. Bruce, in his 70's, is a retired Forest Service employee with years of experience in this type of work, and a work ethic that runs much younger folks ragged.
The most challenging problem with this project was raising the existing walls enough to get under the base, and maintaining the integrity of the walls.
As you can see from the accompanying photos over half of the existing base was removed and replaced.
The porch was completely replaced, including the decking, support columns and roof - all done in the same style as the old structure.

Below is the cabin today with a porch and foundation that will last for many more years. The roof is our next project.

Volunteer Work Crew L to R - Peter and Trudy Brussard, Claud Gingrich, Doug Tims, Barry Crain, Brad Janoush and Herbie Swain.