Tips for maintaining your heritage home
Regular maintenance is essential for all buildings and is more cost effective in the long term than large scale work every 20-30 years. Attending to a minor problem can prevent the problem causing more extensive building defects. Appropriate techniques should be used to ensure maintenance does not create other problems with the building fabric.
The Heritage Branch, Department of Planning has prepared a number of publications that provide advice on maintenance of buildings and these can be downloaded below. These documents are not a substitute for professional advice. Employing a conservation specialist is usually the easiest and often, in the long run, the most economical way of ensuring the job is done well. Council also has a Heritage Advisor who can provide some advice on maintenance and conservation of heritage buildings.
In all cases, you should follow a logical progression in carrying out conservation work:
- Investigate the physical and documentary evidence of the place;
- Assess the heritage significance of the place;
- Develop a conservation and management approach based on the importance of the place;
- Carry out the work;
- Record what you have done.
Most maintenance work to heritage listed buildings and buildings within a heritage conservation area does not require development consent.
However, you should advise Council in writing of the work to be undertaken form and wait until Council has approved the application in writing before starting work.
The NSW Heritage Office has a range of helpful documents to guide building maintenance and heritage conservation work.