Dear Robb,

Your concerns about plastic wood are very legitimate.

I recently attended a workshop on ecological building materials that
included a discussion about plastic wood, and frankly, it's bad.

Regarding the reconstruction/preservation of the historic house- if
significant restructuring of any historic building is very different
from it's original intent, the building deserves to lose it's status on
any historical register.

In San Francisco, the original Main library is on the Historic Register,
but is currently being renovated to house the new Asian Art Museum since
the library moved to a new building.  I've heard from reliable sources,
that the renovation is so extent, the original building is really no
longer in existence and is in danger of losing its status as a
Registered historic building.

As far as the materials itself, the quality of the platic is poor, and
simply not strong enough for the horizontal plane of the porch.  You
will have many problems, and ultimately, the low cost perceived in the
short run will be a nightmare of a mistake to repair.

Here is where you can find your amunition to successfully stop this
plastic wood infestation with the information you need, plus information
on better solutions:

Contact David Kibbey at [log in to unmask]

A cd-rom, both Mac and PC format is available.  It contains both
building codes and a database on all sorts of businesses that sell
ecologically sound building materials.

website for the Ecological Architectural Resource Database at

www.adpsr-norcal.org

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