A typical building renovation aims to improve the structure by replicating its historic features while adding modern conveniences. This will include ventilation systems, electrical upgrades, and security improvements.
When renovating historic buildings, the goal is to keep them accurate to their original appearance and structural integrity. This involves adherence to historical accuracy and paying attention to historic building restoration codes and regulations.
Historical Accuracy
Historical accuracy in building restoration means that the materials, methods, and processes used to restore a building must be accurate to the period. In addition, historic preservation rules and regulations must be followed.
This is especially important for buildings that have been a part of the neighborhood for a long time. When a structure is threatened with demolition, decay, or renovation that could destroy its value, people can mobilize public opinion and force developers to rethink their plans. Aside from buildings, other forms of historic preservation include historical landscapes such as cemeteries, battlefields, community parks, and residential gardens. These landscapes must also be carefully restored and maintained for the same reasons a historic building needs to be preserved.
Materials
Historic buildings are important symbols of our culture, and they benefit the local economy by attracting tourists and investors. However, these buildings often need special care to retain their historical accuracy.
The materials used in a building are a critical part of its history. Using traditional materials such as bricks and stone from within the local area helps to retain the character of a building while supporting local industries and specialist craft skills. Conservation restorers should carefully select substitute materials with a comparable thermal expansion, contraction, and vapor permeability rate to the historical material used in a building. A physically incompatible material will damage the surviving historic fabric and should be avoided. Choosing a suitable material for a restoration project can be difficult. It requires expertise and sometimes considerable investigation.
Methods
Buildings are often restored or altered over time, and it’s essential to do so in a way that respects the original look of the building. This is referred to as “true-to-character historic restoration.”
The most effective preservation techniques in historic conservation involve making buildings energy efficient and modern while retaining the building’s unique character. This includes replacing outdated systems with newer ones, re-roofing, insulating, and re-wiring. These upgrades can help protect the building and its contents from further deterioration while meeting applicable codes, occupants’ comfort and safety, and the environment.
When a property requires restoration, it is best to reconstruct its appearance from a previous period. This is a process that requires careful study of documentary and archeological evidence.
Codes
For building professionals, consumers, and public officials, code updates are an essential indicator that jurisdiction is on the cutting edge of knowledge. Suppose environmental lessons learned from increasingly severe storms or advances in geological science still need to be addressed, for example. In that case, failure to make consensus improvements in new buildings can raise red flags for insurers and have consequences for public health and safety. Updates also help stimulate the market for product innovation and improved building performance. This is particularly important as building materials and technologies markets are becoming increasingly international.
Codes are developed in an open, democratic, statewide process that brings together all stakeholders to address public health and safety issues and meet consumer demand for products and performance. This process is based on established scientific and engineering principles, fairness and balance of interest, and due process.
