City of Stillwater HPC -- HHLS Website -- Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitating a Historic Home

The Heirloom and Landmark Sites Program is a joint effort of the City of Stillwater and the Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) to honor homeowners who maintain the historical character of their historic homes.

An Introduction

As the owner of a historic home, you may be aware of the valuable resource your home is to the historical character of Stillwater. This brochure is designed to give you some basic information on how to preserve, restore, or rehabilitate your home as part of the unique historical fabric of Stillwater.

Navigating the terminology of architects, contractors, and preservation specialists can be a �lost in translation� experience. Here are a few terms you should know as you talk with these specialists about your historic house:

Preservation is generally defined as measures that are necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of a historic home. This includes ongoing maintenance and repair of historic materials and features, the stabilization of severely deteriorated materials, and limited upgrades for code-required work including mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.

Rehabilitation is work associated with an efficient, compatible use or re-use of a historic home through sensitive repairs, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features of a historic home that convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.

Restoration is the process of returning a building to an appearance it had during a particular time period in history and may include the removal of current features and the replication of missing features.

The Basics

Before beginning any repair or maintenance work, evaluate the existing condition of the historic features. Deteriorated historic materials should be repaired and reused. Only severely deteriorated materials should be replaced.
Use a knowledgeable contractor, who can often repair historic materials for less than what it would cost to replace them with new materials.
If a house is missing character-defining historic features, consider replacing them with reproductions that are based on historical documentation, such as a photographs and/or physical evidence.
Do not add conjectural features such as features from other houses that, when added to your home, result in a combination of features that never existed together historically.
Use the gentlest means possible to preserve historic materials. Avoid chemical or physical treatments, such as sandblasting, that may damage historic materials.
If you alter the exterior, add a new addition, or construct a new building, try to:
- Locate these features at the rear of your house or set them back on a side of the house
- Ensure these features are compatible with the historic home in terms of size, scale, massing, design, and proportion
- Avoid adding new features that are taller than the historic home
- Use materials found on the historic home, but slightly differentiate them from the old to avoid creating a false historic appearance
- Avoid damaging or destroying character-defining historic materials and features
- Use construction practices that preserve the essential form and integrity of the historic building should the addition or alteration be removed

Best Practices

Your home likely includes many of the features outlined in this brochure. Here are some best practices you should consider as you preserve, rehabilitate, or restore your home.

Materials
Generally, deteriorated historic materials should be repaired and reused rather than replaced. For example, rather than replacing an entire feature such as siding, consider only replace severely deteriorated materials with new materials that match the old in terms of composition, design, color, and texture. If historic materials are unavailable or economically infeasible, use a compatible substitute material.

Siding
Historic siding is important when it comes to the overall appearance of a historic home. For most historic homes, wood-clapboard siding is historically appropriate. Wood-clapboard siding is a highly durable, long-lasting material when it is properly painted. In addition, it is easy to replace severely deteriorated pieces, and limited replacement is typically cheaper than completely replacing siding.

Replacement siding can radically change the appearance of a historic home and may result in the loss of important character-defining features. Replacement materials, such as vinyl and metal, can also cause other long-term problems since historic houses were not designed for these types of materials. If replacement siding is used, it should match the lap pattern, profile, and texture of the historic materials, and replicate the character-defining features of the historic materials.

Windows
Inappropriate replacement windows can severely detract from the character of a historic house. While replacement windows have grown in popularity, upgrading historic windows and installing quality storm windows will make historic window as thermally efficient as new thermal-pane windows. In addition, upgrading historic windows is often cheaper and more environmentally friendly than replacement windows.

If windows are replaced, new windows should match the dimensions, profile, operation, materials, and glazing pattern of the historic windows.

Porches
Front porches are one of the most prominent features of a historic house. For this reason, porches should be left open, and historical columns and guardrails should be maintained. Historical guardrails are often shorter than what is required by modern codes; however, the code for historic buildings often allow historical guardrails to be left in place or restored to their historical height.

Roofs
Most houses constructed in the nineteenth century had wood-shingle roofs. In the early twentieth century, tin roofs became popular in Stillwater due to their fireresistance. In the mid-twentieth century, composition and asphalt shingles became the prevalent material for reroofing houses. Tile was not common in Stillwater.

A historic home should be roofed with materials that were historically found on the house. For example, if your home originally had wood shingles, it should be roofed with wood shingles or a compatible substitute. If it never had a tin roof, do not install a tin roof.

Alterations
If you need to move an existing window or door or add a one to your historic home, try to locate it on the rear of your home or on a secondary elevation.

New Additions
If you need to construct an addition, try to place it on the rear of your home or on a secondary elevation. Additions should be stepped back (as pictured). The roof of an addition should have the same pitch as the historical roof and should not rise above the historical roofline. If dormers are added, they should be located on the rear of the home, or set back on a side elevation.

Case Study

The homeowner of this house searched through nine contractors before one agreed not to put vinyl siding on this historic house. Repairing the existing siding was important to the homeowner and to the historical integrity of the home and the neighborhood. The photo above shows the house as the original siding is being repaired prior to painting.

Preservation Briefs
Prepared by the National Park Service

Preservation Briefs prepared by the National Park Service have helped home owners, preservation professionals, organizations, and government agencies by publishing easy-to read guidance on preserving, rehabilitating and restoring historic buildings. Below is a list of available Briefs. To view more Preservation Briefs visit http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/presbhom.htm or click one of the specific topic areas below.

01: Assessing Cleaning and Water-Repellent Treatments
for Historic Masonry Buildings

02: Repointing Mortar Joints in Historic Masonry Buildings

03: Conserving Energy in Historic Buildings

04: Roofing for Historic Buildings

05: The Preservation of Historic Adobe Buildings

06: Dangers of Abrasive Cleaning to Historic Buildings

07: The Preservation of Historic Glazed Architectural Terra-Cotta

08: Aluminum and Vinyl Siding on Historic Buildings: The Appropriateness of Substitute Materials for Resurfacing Historic Wood Frame Buildings

09: The Repair of Historic Wooden Windows

10: Exterior Paint Problems on Historic Woodwork

11: Rehabilitating Historic Storefronts

12: The Preservation of Historic Pigmented Structural Glass
(Vitrolite and Carrara Glass)