A solid plan is critical for any construction project. Solid planning will ensure more efficient implementation of your project, limit schedule disturbances and project problems, and control your project’s budget. Proper planning will also reduce the chances of causing irreparable damage to your building.
A good plan for any project on your historical building should begin with research, investigation, and implementation of an appropriate treatment that meets both your building’s needs and your budget. This will ensure that the historical fabric and integrity of your building is not permanently damaged by inappropriate treatments.
Once an appropriate treatment plan has been determined, a plan for execution of the project must be developed. The different systems in your historical building must work together symbiotically to function as a healthy building. Proceeding with a project without considering how it fits into and impacts the entire house can cause serious problems. For example, changes to your HVAC systems impact the airflow in your house and can set the stage for moisture issues. Exterior finishes and landscaping improvements can easily mask foundation concerns that need to be addressed. Both interior and exterior finishes can hide structural issues that threaten your building’s structural stability.
A good plan for execution of any project on your historic building should be developed that includes the following elements:
- Safety: An important first step to any project is to ensure that the structure is safe for occupants and that any treatments in the project will not jeopardize that safety.
- Structural: The structural systems of your building should be evaluated to verify that they are stable and can support the building’s usage and any planned treatments.
- Exterior Envelope: The next step is to access the exterior envelope of your building to determine if it is properly serving the function in was originally designed to serve (keeping the water out) and it is not deteriorating or experiencing problems that will lead to deterioration.
- Mechanicals: All work on a building can affect how the mechanical systems work (even if the work seems completely unrelated), so an important step in any project planning is an evaluation of your building’s HVAC, electric, and plumbing systems. It is important to do this work before the interior finishes to minimize impact and expense.
- Interior Finishes: Even when they look just as they should and have the colors and textures that meet your aesthetic preferences, the walls, trim work, and floors of your building should be evaluated for hidden problems that raise your risk decay.
- Landscaping: The landscaping design on the outside of your building isn’t just pretty flowers and greenery that enhances the historical significance of your home – it can also significantly threaten your home if it allows invasive plant and insect species to penetrate your exterior envelope or encourages moisture issues in your foundation.
Proceeding with projects without taking into consideration all of these elements and any specific problems to address or a prioritized list of projects to complete can set the ground for deterioration that can destroy the historical architectural features of your building.