At 02:26 PM 14-06-2000 -0400, you wrote:
>The front and side porch floors of the house need to be replaced. They are
not currently falling in or dangerous, but should be replaced in the next
year or so.
>
>At last night's board meeting a recommendation was made to replace the
wood with plastic lumber

One of the first questions you might want answered is whether this building
itself is part of your collections; this might help you decide what is
appropriate treatment. Some other considerations - in talking with a ranger
at the Congaree National Monument in South Carolina, I found out that the
plastic lumber they have used is slippery when wet, and is also more
brittle than the real thing. They used plastic to replace some of the
decking on their boardwalks and found that it was more likely than the wood
to snap at the application of a sudden force.

Just my $.02 worth. I'll be interested to hear what the rest of the gang
has to say. And if you really want to pick nits, your use of plastic
consumes petroleum, a non-renewable resource; trees are renewable. Yeah, I
know, recycled and all that stuff. And will you use pressure treated
lumber? Okay, I'll go away now!
Anne
Anne T. Lane, Registrar
Museum of York County
4621 Mount Gallant Road,
Rock Hill, SC 29732-9905
803-329-2121, ext. 104
FAX 803-329-5249

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