{Please feel free to move this post if this is not the right place.}
The National Park Service offers a series of free(!) technical briefs for folks interested in maintaining and restoring older buildings. They also offer briefs on earthquake retrofitting, ADA issues, and energy conservation.
I think these would be BK approved. Take, for example, the brief titled “Aluminum and Vinyl Siding on Historic Buildings: The Appropriateness of Substitute Materials for Resurfacing Historic Wood Frame Buildings.”
In many cases, the replacement of wood siding on a historic building is proposed because little attention has been given to the retention of historic materials. Instead, the decision to use a substitute material is made because: (1) it is assumed that aluminum or vinyl siding will be a maintenance-free material; and (2) there is the desire to give a building a “remodeled” or “renovated” appearance. A decision to replace historic material must, however, be carefully considered for its impact on the historic resource—even when the model planning process has been followed and the appropriate treatment is replacement.
Therefore, this brief focuses on the visual and physical consequences of using a substitute material such as aluminum or vinyl siding for new siding installations on a wood frame historic building. These concerns include the potential of damaging or destroying historic material and features; the potential of obscuring historic material and features; and, most important, the potential of diminishing the historic character of the building.
(Emphasis in original.)
