Home Improvement Advice for Historical Buildings
10 Ways To Ruin An Old Building Do it Yourself Tips for Historical Buildings
Today the greatest threat to historic buildings comes from the small, insidious 'improvements' often made by well intentioned but misinformed owners, their contractors and consultants, as well as from a lack of regular maintenance. Following are ten sure-fire ways to ruin an old building from the Editor of The Building Conservation Directory:
1 Employ consultants and contractors who do not specialise in historic building work
Relatively few contractors and consultants have the expertise required to deal with the special problems of historic buildings
Traditionally constructed buildings do not perform in the same way as modern ones and need to be treated differently. Modern materials and construction techniques are often incompatible with traditional ones, and repairs which are suitable for modern buildings can cause permanent damage to historic ones.
2 Do not carry out any essential maintenance work
Owners need to clear gutters of leaves; roofing slates and tiles need to be replaced, flashings maintained and chimneys pointed and capped to prevent water entering the fabric of the building
Air bricks and vents need to be kept clear of weeds to ensure that cellars are kept well ventilated and pipes, washing machines, shower trays and other potential sources of water within the building need to be checked for leaks for the same reason.
3 Use cement in place of lime for mortars
Traditionally constructed masonry is bedded in soft lime mortar and is relatively flexible: pointing with a hard cement restricts its movement, causing stress in the surface of the wall, and eventually failure of the face of soft stone and brick
Apart from being visibly different, cement mortars do not allow the structure behind to 'breathe': moisture is forced to evaporate through the stone or brick, and may cause these materials to deteriorate.
4 Paint or coat surfaces which were originally left natural
All non-original coatings hide the original colour and pattern of masonry and modern coatings such as stone cladding and pebble-dashing make old buildings look (at best) modern and ordinary
Cementitious coatings and most modern paints and stone consolidants will lock moisture in the walls, causing decay of materials.
5 Extend or alter the accommodation in a manner which conflicts with its style
Badly designed extensions can dominate the existing building by their size or style and internal alterations which change the original layout of rooms, decorative features or principal features such as fireplaces and staircases damage the interiorīs character
Covering the garden with tarmac to create forecourt parking ruins the setting of a building.