[MassHistPres] our town hall

Tue Feb 5 09:20:58 EST 2008

Just for the record:

- Maintaining the craft necessary to keep wooden structures viable is not my 
strategy, it is the position of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments 
and Sites.)
- It was the sales rep from Azek who emphasized - at a CE seminar - that the 
product needs to be painted.

As builders surely know, architecture has a feel and texture as well as an 
appearance. Good preservation is above all "thoughtful,"all aspects need 
consideration, and the balancing of priorities is an important part of this 
process. I must confess that I believe that rants are of very little help in 
doing this. Perhaps the MHC would like to organize a blog.

 James W Hadley AIA, Chair, Orleans Historical Commission

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bourdon, Paul" <Paul.Bourdon at gtc-bio.com>
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>; <Winwilb at aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 6:34 AM
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] our town hall

>I would like to respond to Mr. Wilbur's comments by saying, how can we 
>expect individuals to bear the cost of preserving the architectural past if 
>municipalities (where the cost is born by many) won't?
>
>> ----------
>> From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu on behalf of Winwilb at aol.com
>> Sent: Monday, February 4, 2008 8:39 PM
>> To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
>> Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] our town hall
>>
>>
>> Some thoughts on the many aspects of this issue from my son, a builder 
>> who
>> specializes in the renovation/restoration- and who believes in 
>> preservation,
>> but  raises some interesting related issues.
>> Win Wilbur
>>
>>
>> "This sounds like a continuance of our past conversation on this issue. I
>> think that Mr Hadley, as a preservationist, has his own ax to grind here.
>> Maintaining a base of  "knowledgeable woodworkers and painters as  part 
>> of the
>> preservation strategy for wood buildings" is certainly important,  and 
>> I'm not
>> trying to sound like a Republican, but on whose shoulders should  this 
>> fall?  The
>> taxpayers of MV? Additionally,  I'm no expert on the  foundation issue, 
>> but
>> have to wonder if this is to efficiently create additional  space at 
>> lower
>> additional cost or even perhaps to help make the building ADA  compliant?
>>
>>
>> It's NOT true that Azek needs to be painted, although it only comes in
>> white. (Mr Hadley should check their website _http://www.azek.com_
>> (http://www.azek.com/) ) but it does tend to  take paint better than 
>> new-growth wood, it comes
>> in longer lengths and thus  requires fewer joints, and can even be welded 
>> on
>> the joints, so that it needs no  caulk. It does expand and contract, and 
>> it
>> does so at about the rate that  softwood expands ACROSS THE GRAIN, but in 
>> length
>> as well. Modern architectural  coatings are made to accommodate this, in
>> fact, Sherwin Williams has a product  specifically for cellular PVC.  You 
>> can
>> certainly go down the "it uses  fossil fuels" line of argument, but so 
>> does
>> purchasing, shipping and applying  coatings for years to come.
>>
>>
>> Yes, there are differences between the look of aluminum clad windows and 
>> the
>> original single glazed ones. But even most professional builders would be
>> hard pressed to tell the difference at 25 ft:  Marvin (and I assume KML, 
>> which
>> is owned by Andersen) makes a 5/8" mullion with a putty glaze profile, 
>> and
>> they make literally dozens of extruded aluminum casing profiles - they'll 
>> even
>> match what you have in an existing building. In my 20+ years in the
>> renovation/restoration building business I've seen exactly one (1) client 
>> who  properly
>> maintains his wood windows and trim.  He lives on the water in  Cape
>> Elizabeth and has his painters inspect, repair, and touch up his house 
>> EVERY spring.
>> I've seen hundreds more who have NOT maintained their wood windows  and 
>> trim
>> and face very expensive repairs.
>>
>>
>> For me it boils down to a compromise, or at least a trading of values: It
>> certainly makes sense to preserve "authentic" historical structures so 
>> that we
>> may learn from them in the future. Where it becomes less clear is where 
>> we
>> have  to accept the "real world" as it is:  This project is an excellent 
>> example:
>>  Is there the public will (in the form of additional tax dollars) to
>> preserve and then maintain an historical structure which must still be 
>> functional
>> and appropriate for a current public use?  Perhaps if Mr Hadley  wants to 
>> be a
>> purist it's better to sell the building to a private party who can  and 
>> will
>> maintain it (require an endowment?!), and then build a new  structure.
>>
>>
>> >From my perspective it boils down to one fundamental issue:  Is the 
>> >civil
>> society willing to pony up the additional funds to:
>> A. Restore the existing structure including windows and exterior 
>> millwork
>> B. Pay a premium on the construction and finishing cost of an  >
>> authentic-all-wood structure
>> C. Maintain the restored structure and the new addition, probably needing
>> paint every two years given the greater porosity of new growth wood and 
>> the
>> lower level of protection provided by modern lead-free and Low-VOC 
>> compliant
>> architectural coatings.  In my experience public buildings are NOT 
>> generally
>> maintained properly, and thus suffer deterioration, as this structure 
>> apparently
>> has.
>> D. Pay the additional amount it will cost to heat/cool a building that 
>> does
>> not have insulated glass? (Or is Mass Hist Pres suggesting wood storms -
>> another  maintenance nightmare)?
>> E. Use the additional resources (i.e. burn the fossil fuel) required to 
>> heat
>> AND to scrape, prime, and paint the structure religiously.
>>
>>
>> Is this the right way for society to spend its finite dollars?  Or  ought 
>> we
>> be educating kids better, maybe taking them on a field trip to see the
>> preserved houses in town so they gain a sense of history and value what 
>> HAS been
>> saved.
>>
>>
>> WOW, this has turned into a rant, but it is an issue I think about every
>> day. I totally believe in preservation (I grew up in Concord, I was a 
>> history
>> major, I work on old buildings) but we as a society have to maintain a 
>> balance.
>> Sort of like Cape Winds or the proposed wind farms on Maine's wilderness
>> trails  - which way do we go there?
>>
>>
>> Food for thought... Michael
>>
>>
>> Michael Wilbur, Willow Ledge Builders
>>
>> 207.846.6944 office
>> 207.671.3792 cell
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>>
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>> 48)
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