WATCH CUSTOMER REVIEWSHistoric Restoration Facts
Historic restoration is the practice of maintaining a property and keeping it in its natural condition as it was built. Restoring a property takes time and effort, and a lot of research about the building you are set on restoring. Everything must follow the same time setting, or time scheme, even if adding more modern appliances such as in bathroom remodeling. Depending on how big your project is, you should consider acquiring an exterior design consultation, or an in-home consultation. This will ensure the property is properly maintained.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an organization established in 1949 that aims to protect historic properties, as well as provide consultations as to how to maintain these properties yourself. They also buy historic properties with the intent to restore them and take care of a historic landmark. This organization is a nonprofit and maintains their properties through membership dues, sales and grants. They target historic neighborhoods, structures, or other areas worth preserving and either buy the property or advise the owner how to properly maintain their historic property.
Maintaining a Property
Proper maintenance is integral in keeping your historic property in proper order. While this may mean interior remodeling, it is important to keep the historic quality. This means replacing the older components of your property with newer components of the same type that would be available in the time period of the structure. Similarly, if you are replacing a staircase with a more modern elevator to make the property handicap accessible, you must follow certain restrictions to only put in an elevator that fits with the rest of the historic aspect, not a sleek, modern model of elevator.
Replacing Components
While striving to keep a property as accurately historic as possible, it is sometimes necessary to replace parts of the property such as windows, doors, or even parts of the foundation under your property. You can do the research on your property and oversee the installation and process yourself, or hire a professional to come in. This is where the National Trust for Historic Preservation will come in. They will evaluate your property and then advise any contractors you hire what they can and cannot do to the property. This ensures that the historic integrity of your property will be maintained and that the problem is being adequately fixed.
Exterior Design
While most properties are preserved because of the house or structure on the property, sometimes the property will be preserved because of the natural world that is on that property. Whether this subject is a particularly rare species of trees that are growing on your property, or a historic sight in history, this too can need maintenance. Restoring a subject from the natural world is a bit more difficult, and requires very intensive care. A specialist is usually always required.
Maintaining and restoring a historic property requires a lot of time and effort put into the project. However, if you feel you are in over your head, then you can always enlist the help of a specialist. Restoration needs to be precise and completely accurate to the time period it is maintaining. Preserving historic parts of our world is necessary to keep our history alive.
