> > how much intervention
> > is acceptable to stop any leaks?
I find that as I walk along the path of my career in preservation that I do
Less and at the same time More to buildings. Early on, as a tradesperson, it
seemed good to hop up with the sun, work as hard and long as possible, then
fall asleep at dark knowing I had done my best and most to change a building
so it would endure. Then, as a contractor, I found I could make more money
by doing less physical work on the building, just so long as I met the terms
of the contract and made everyone happy. Then, as a consultant, I found
myself advising my clients to do as little as possible to the building.
Replace a shingle here, improve a flashing there, leave the rest of their
building posterity and use the rest of their money for something else. As a
writer and educator, I do nothing to buildings except the most important
work of all: helping people understand how to maintain and preserve their
buildings. The pattern is clear to me. Less and less physical work saves
more and more buildings. Working under the current preservation philosophy
Less does indeed seem to be More. Perhaps the path leads to simply going to
a building, looking at it and experiencing its presence. Then not even going
to the building, but only recalling it, and after a while forgetting about
it. How excited do we get when we have found a building people have
forgotten about for several decades or centuries? That excitement comes from
the spirit of the building that has been preserved by our letting go of the
physical building.
About your leak: Minimize physical intervention, maximize mental
intervention. Get as close to the source of the water as possible to
implement physical intervention. For example, control the water further up
the wall before it gets to the window. Get even closer to the source of the
water by implementing mental intervention. For example, teach the occupants
how to use the windows by inspiring them to love their building, convince
the managers of the building to maintain the windows, and, not least of all,
pray to your god for less rain on the windows.
John (with a name like that he ought to know) Leeke
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