This volume is a practical, state-of-the-art sourcebook for contractors and homeowners involved in maintaining and restoring historic buildings, as well as a technical desktop reference for all practising architects, engineers, specifiers, building managers, and architecture students. Each chapter is devoted to practical procedures for conserving historic buildings and building materials, and includes step-by-step procedures for conducting a structural building survey. Building materials of wood, stone, ceramic, masonry and metalwork, slate roofing, architectural glass, paints and costings, and foundations and footings are covered. The book describes the characteristics and compositions of building materials, reasons for deterioration, and offers step-by-step reviews of sensitive and state-of-the-art conservation methods.