Historical Preservation, Your Property and Your Community Part 2: Repair, Restore, or Replace

House in Disrepair. CC-A-ND, sollyth, Flickr.

If you have identified the architectural style of your home in part I, then you may feel ready to undertake projects to help restore your house to its original splendor. However, one of the most difficult decisions you will have to make when restoring any building is the one that has to be asked before any restoration is even started. Should the portion or component of the building be repaired, restored, or replaced. This question is commonly associated with old windows because of their frequent need for repair, but in recent years has been applied to any part of an old building.

For many people replacing a part seems like the easiest method, in many cases it requires the least effort and often will make a building more efficient, secure, and safe by modern standards. A new component in a house will promise less maintenance than restored parts. From a brief glance replacement seems like the best method for someone who doesn't have a personal interest in the historical value of their home and who could use some more money.

Historical Preservation, Your Property and Your Community Part I: Determining the Architectural Style

Most people think that historical preservation is just maintaining the original splendor of castles, battlefields, mansions, and other important buildings. However, some of the most important historical preservation is being done on a smaller, more local scale. The heart of historical preservation is not just to protect national monuments and relics, but largely to protect local stories. Every region in every country has some story to tell, whether it happened 60 years ago or 600 years ago. These stories are important and that is what historical preservation seeks to protect. Local preservation has become extremely important in the last few years. Whether it is an old house that has been in your house for years or a local storefront that dates back to one of the gold rushes, it is important to try to restore these historical buildings into their original state.