Current Condition

Current condition
The exterior walls of Rick’s brewery are much as they were in the 1870’s.  The only two significant changes to the limestone walls were the addition of the group of three windows in the dining area, and a seven foot wide garage door on the west side.  The dining room window addition was probably done in the early 1900’s, and the garage door was added around 1950.  There are numerous areas where stone work is needed, and other areas where Portland based mortar should be replaced with the proper lime rich mix.  The overall condition of the masonry is good.  The roof was originally wooden shingles.  These were long ago replaced with brown asphalt tab singles.  Various portions of the roof have been in poor repair at different times in the buildings history.  This has resulted in rotted flooring and supports.  It is interesting to see how really rot resistant the old yellow pine is, only the tongue and groves of the flooring have been damaged.  Likewise when floor joists were doubled,  moisture pockets were created, these joists were ruined, while single boards right next to them are fine.  The roof still has several minor leaks around the remaining chimneys and vent pipes.  The valley deterioration was halted with the 1991 addition of a new roof section above it, connecting the older peak roof with the hip roof of the addition.

All doors with the exception of two were replaced in the early 1900’s with “five panel” doors.  Several of these have been more recently converted to hollow core doors.  It is uncertain if any of the current windows are original.  Most seem to be replacement windows from the 1970’s.  Those in the kitchen and upstairs bath Probably date from the same era as the panel doors.  The oldest windows appear to be on the west end of the building.  These windows show the most “flowing” in the glass, but half an inch was cut off one edge apparently to allow them to fit into existing openings.