Met History wrote:

> Architect/coop shareholder who is supervising the restoration (not
> replacement) of the several hundred wooden windows in his coop, at a cost
> comparable to that of getting entirely new wooden windows:
>

Good choice.

Even though the repair costs are comparable to new wood windows the dollar value
to the repair compared to the new is most likely greater. The assumption here is
that the existing windows are better than replacements for several reasons. The
one reason I will bring up now is the idea of wood being a food source for decay
fungi.

Think about going to a conference that last several days. At the morning break on
the first day there is a hugh pile of donuts at the coffee table. Most attendees
happily help themselves to one or more of these sugary bread treats and maybe
without anything to drink. At the afternoon break, some people take another donut
with something to drink while others consider them too stale to bother with. The
next morning, with donuts still plentiful, a few people love to dunk stale donuts
in their coffee. That afternoon some kids come by and swipe a few, now hard dry
hockey puck like, donuts. Then head to the water fountain because the donuts are
so dry. The following morning, most of the remaining donuts are placed in bags to
give to homeless people. The remaining donuts are taken to the dumpster and will
end up feeding the birds at the landfill.

As the donuts age and change due to exposure to the environment, the likely hood
of being a desirable food source decreases. They are still a food source, it is
just that the condition needs to become more extreme for the donuts to be used as
a food source.

Now, think of new wood window as a food source and think of them a nice, fresh,
hot, just out of the oven donuts. Add a little moisture and we have the fungi
convention attendees lining up at the morning break table. Yum, yum.  Now serving
new windows and doors in a variety of flavors including exotic tastes from South
America and Asia.

Next time you think about repair or replacement of any architectural wood element,
think of nice hot fresh donuts.

Now for the next story about the hard working wood boring insect. Once upon
...........

Mr. Donut