Our museum had an HVAC renovation done last year, and all of the comments I've read so far would have been useful to know beforehand! It's definitely excellent advice you're getting. From a logistical perspective, I can recommend a few things:
Make sure the entire staff who will be impacted is at the discussion table when appropriate. Think beyond the collections and exhibits committees and make sure to include your education staff, gift shop staff, and any volunteers who have schedules or larger projects that will be impacted. And everyone will be impacted.
Take lots of 'before' pictures. Have photos of things like telephone jacks, built in shelving, and anything that won't be moving out during the renovation. This will protect you afterwards when clean up wasn't done properly, or when electrical sockets or phone jacks get damaged. This will help you avoid "but it was like that before we started work" discussions.
Signs are your friends. If there are any places that you don't want HVAC workers entering for security or collections reasons, don't just verbally tell them, post obnoxiously large signs on doors. Again, this will protect you and your collections from dust getting into sterile or sensitive areas because workers "didn't know" not to go inside a room. Additionally, if any preliminary or wrap-up HVAC work will be done while you're open to the public, tell visitors and post signs warning about sudden noise and vibrations - the last thing you want is a veteran and his service dog halfway through your exhibits when there's suddenly a loud drilling noise in the floor. I can't make this stuff up.
Plan to be dislocated longer than expected. Historic buildings are tricky (ours is not nearly as old!), and inevitably hold problems that were long forgotten: fire suppression systems, lighting, wiring issues: they will come up. Be prepared to go with the flow and keep your public aware when you might be closed a bit longer than planned.
Best of luck!
Maren Svare, MA
Administrative Assistant III
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
University of New Mexico
505-277-1830
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Marciniszyn, Kayla
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 5:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] HVAC For Historic House Museums
Thank you everyone for contributing to this discussion! This has been extremely helpful! I truly appreciate everyone's suggestions as I continue my research for this upcoming project.
Best wishes,
Kayla
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