Current Press Releases
Sense and Sustainability – Why Maintenance Matters!
Date
16 October 2007
National Maintenance Week takes place each year in November to remind anyone who looks after a building, regardless of its age, type or purpose, of the simple, achievable steps they can take to prepare for the worst that winter can bring. This year the week, organised by SPAB (The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings,) will take place from Friday November 16th to Friday November 23, National Gutters Day!
Now an established event in the calendar SPAB's National Maintenance Week provides property owners throughout the UK with practical tips and advice on maintaining their properties in preparation for winter. SPAB's 2007 campaign is supported by TV's Griff Rhys Jones and aims to encourage homeowners (and people who care for public buildings such as churches, village halls and local authority properties) to be aware of the simple, economic and achievable maintenance steps they can take at the beginning of winter to stave off costly major faults and damage at a later date.
"It's really common sense", says Griff. "My own experience of maintenance has everything to do with being house-proud. If you look at your lovely house for long enough you will probably spot that it's falling apart! Global warming is making exterior paint last less long. Gutters fill up with leaves. Tiles ping off. I was recently with a farmer in North Yorkshire walking through someone else's farm where a lot of the dry stone walls had fallen down and remarked that it must be a big problem. "It's not," he said. "It's easy. Just repair it when it happens. Leave it and others fall down and then the job becomes huge."
In 2007 SPAB will show that good maintenance makes a positive contribution to sustainable living.
There's more to sustainability than saving energy. It's about making practical, common sense decisions about our immediate environment - the places where we live, work and meet. Increasingly we live in a throw-away world and one of the key questions SPAB will urge people to ask this year when dealing with maintenance is: "what can I repair, not replace?" A maxim that echoes the words of William Morris on the foundation of the Society back in 1877: "Put protection in place of restoration. Stave off decay by daily care."
SPAB is Britain's oldest conservation body fighting to save old buildings from decay and dereliction, but the message of National Maintenance Week is relevant to everyone who owns or cares for a property, whether it's 500-years-old or brand new. Water damage is a particular concern - especially as the winter rains approach. The annual cleaning of gutters and drains (at roof and ground level) can be much cheaper and less inconvenient than having to cope with a serious outbreak of dry rot in timber roof trusses and floorboards following years of neglect.
National Gutters Day (Friday 23 November 2007) is a timely reminder to homeowners that just a few minutes spent clearing weeds and debris, or just a few pounds spent to mend a leaky gutter can save many hundreds, and possibly thousands of pounds!
Marianne Suhr, SPAB's roving education officer and co-presenter with Griff Rhys Jones of TV's popular Restoration series adds: "National Maintenance Week aims to provide people with simple practical advice that can really make a difference to the condition of their property now and in the future. A lot of people are daunted by maintenance. We want to reassure them that they are not alone and that there is somewhere they can get straightforward, free advice that could save them money."
For further information visit SPAB's dedicated National Maintenance Week website, www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk
Notes to Editors
You are warmly invited to use the following information in any editorial (email version available from SPAB press office 0207 456 0905).
Griff Rhys Jones' top tips for gutter maintenance
***images of Griff in action up on the roof available**
- Every spring and autumn, clear any plants, leaves and silt from gutters, hopperheads, flat roofs and drainage channels
- Look for blocked downpipes (best done during heavy rain to see water coming from any leaky joints - in dry weather look for stained brickwork)
- Keep gullies at ground level clear and have them cleaned out if necessary
- Remove vegetation from behind downpipes by cutting back or removing the plant altogether
- Use a hand mirror to look behind rainwater pipes as splits and cracks in old cast iron and aluminium often occur there and are not easily noticed
- Fit bird/leaf guards to the tops of soil pipes and rainwater outlets to prevent blockages.
- Check that gutters junctions are watertight by watching them in rainy conditions
- Have gutters refixed if they are sloping the wrong way or discharging water onto the wall
- If sections are beyond repair, make sure that replacements are made of the same material as the originals (on older houses, this is sometimes lead, but more usually cast iron)
- Regular painting of cast iron is essential to prevent rust
Always wear protective gloves when necessary and act safely and responsibly
Details of the programme of events supporting SPAB's National Maintenance Week can be viewed at www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) was founded by William Morris 125 years ago to care for and preserve the UK's architectural heritage. Since its foundation, SPAB has been committed to maintenance matters, in line with William Morris' exhortation to: "Stave off decay by daily care." Today it is a dynamic organisation, and registered charity (no. 231307), taking building conservation into the future. To find out more visit www.spab.org.uk / www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk
For more information/images please contact Kate Griffin, SPAB press office, 0207456 0909 email: kate@spab.org.uk
