Exterior Restoration Specialist ǀ by CIS Steeplejack

CIS Steeplejack @ www.steepleusa.com/contact.htm - Nationwide building restoration contractor for all church interior and exterior building restoration projects. CIS provides 25 years of knowledge and experience in building restoration and is licensed and insured in all 50 states. Quality Services. Helping to save and maintain costs in high places!

Building restoration describes the process of the renewal and refurbishment of the fabric of a building. The phrase covers a wide span of activities, from the cleaning of the interior or exterior of a building

Buildings are structures which have, from time to time, particular purposes. They require ongoing maintenance to prevent them falling into disrepair as a result of the ravages of time and use. Building restoration can be thought of as that set of activities which are greater than year-to-year maintenance, but which by retaining the building are less than a demolition and the construction of a new building.

The scope of restoration depends upon the need, and other circumstances, such as the status of the building, and the affordability of the work required. There are three main types of restoration:

Building cleaning — most especially cleaning the external façade of a building, and typically needed in cities that have suffered from smoke pollution. Many granite, sandstone, and limestone buildings in the UK, for example, have for most of their existence been black in colour owing to smoke and smog. Many, in turn, have been cleaned after air pollution legislation diminished the incidence of airborne particulate matter. Any building that has suffered from fire and/or water damage, needs to be restored as well. Fire and water restoration specialists can help speed repairs, whether for individual homeowners or for the largest of institutions.
Major repair — especially to stonework affected by acid rain and other pollutants, and which has weathered or decayed to a structurally unsound or aesthetically displeasing condition.
Rebuilding to replace severely damaged or missing parts of a building. Here, in all cases, a balance is to be struck between recreation of the original building using materials and techniques similar to the original construction, as happened at very great expense at Windsor Castle; and the use of more modern techniques and materials.

Not all building restoration seeks to follow the original design of the building. It is reasonably commonplace for the shell of a building — its external walls — to be retained whilst an entirely new building is constructed within. This approach is also referred to as adaptive reuse.

In the field of historic preservation, building restoration can refer to the action or process of accurately revealing, recovering or representing the state of a historic building, as it appeared at a particular period in its history, while protecting its heritage value. Work is often performed to reverse decay, or alterations made to the building after its initial construction.

Exterior and interior paint colors present similar problems over time. Air pollution, acid rain, and sun take a toll, and often many layers of non-original paints are applied before an attempt at restoration is made. Color spectrum analysis of old paint now allows a corresponding chemical recipe to be produced. But this is often only a beginning as many of the original materials are either unstable or in many cases environmentally unsound. Many eighteenth century greens were made with arsenic, a material no longer allowed in paints. Another problem occurs when the original pigment came from a material no longer available. In the early to mid-19th century ground mummy parts were used in making some browns.

CIS Steeplejack
Nationwide Restoration Contractors
Church, Steeple, Cupola, Tower Specialist
www.steepleusa.com
(P) 330-461-6251
Email: info@steepleusa.com