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• Provenance
  A question you should ask when buying any reclaimed materials is why are these materials being offered to me? The reason will be perfectly legitimate in the majority of cases, usually arising from the renovation or demolition of a property. It is often simply a discrepancy in taste that means someone is ripping out and trying to get rid of those particular wide Georgian pine floorboards that you've been hankering after for years. Or perhaps a fan of unfussy modernism is doing away with the ornate Victorian bathroom fittings that your bathroom is crying out for. It is prudent however to first rule out the possibility that the reclaimed goods you are looking at have not been removed because they are in some way faulty or damaged. Has this Art-Deco front door with period stained glass been removed because the timber is rotten on the lower stile? Does this period cast-iron radiator have a hair-line crack that if it isn't pressure tested I'll only know about when I turn it on for the first time and it leaks all over my newly laid carpet? The way to avoid any unpleasant surprises is to look carefully at what you are buying and to ask as many questions as you can about provenance and condition. In the rare case that you may suspect the possibility that the goods you are being offered are stolen, or have been unlawfully removed from a listed building, the prudence of asking such questions is more evident still.
• Condition & restoration
  It is of course unrealistic, and arguably sometimes 'missing the point' to expect reclaimed goods to always be in perfect condition. By their nature reclaimed goods carry the marks of their history, be it the un-fakeable crackling on the glaze of that deco sink, or the time-worn patina of those Victorian brass door handles. It is these very 'imperfections' that make salvaged architectural elements so appealing to many people. The extent to which one is prepared to restore any salvaged piece is ultimately a matter of personal taste although a little sensitivity to an item's history avoids 'over restoration' and the loss of its original character
• Tradesmen & installation
  Almost all period architectural features should be relatively straightforward to re-install/re-use, although given that you are not dealing with modern machine-produced materials a little more patience may sometimes be required. Most tradesmen are perfectly experienced, happy and capable when it comes to handling reclaimed materials. There are however inevitably some tradesmen who resist the use of reclaimed materials, usually because of the conception that they are more problematic to use than modern materials. This conception is often born of simple inexperience although occasionally it is simple laziness. I can recall a number of occasions on which I have sold reclaimed goods to happy customers, only for them to return with them because their builder or their plumber refuses to fit them even though I know they are perfectly straightforward to use. A useful resource for tracing skilled tradesmen and craftsmen in the UK can be found at www.findacraftsman.co.uk, a website run by The Guild of Master Craftsmen.

Doors

Re-installing reclaimed doors into a period property can be one of the simplest and most effective uses of architectural salvage.

Size matters
Perhaps the first thing to be aware of when looking for a reclaimed door is that I'm afraid to say, size does matter. Unlike with most modern door dimensions, there is absolutely nothing 'standard' about period door sizes.
You will need to take accurate dimensions of the door aperture you are looking to fill, taking into account frame dimensions if you are yet to build the frame. There will be some flexibility on most reclaimed doors in that you can cut them down to some extent to fit. Exactly how much you can cut down will depend on each individual door, but as a rule of thumb you can normally lose up to 2" off the width of a classic 4-panel door, and up to 4" off the height, without seriously affecting structural soundness or visual proportions. Indeed it is often preferable to use a slightly oversize door since your existing door aperture may not necessarily be perfectly true- any inconsistencies can then be accounted for in the trimming down of the door.

Is it warped?
You can easily check for this by standing the door on its side and looking down the length of it. Minor warping may be acceptable and can to a degree be catered for in the hanging of the door, but a seriously warped door should be avoided.

Is it structurally sound?
Check that the joints are all basically tight and that there are no serious cracks or splits through tenons or hinge areas that are going to be under pressure.

Stripped or unstripped?
The recent trend, particularly with internal panelled pine doors, has been to strip them back to bare wood. It is important to be aware that these doors were originally nearly always intended to be painted and were often contructed accordingly. It is common when stripping doors to find for example that the graining in the panels goes different ways, or that the panels are made of an entirely different timber less liable to splitting. These details, whilst a sign of quality construction, do not look so appealing when the door is stripped bare.
Be aware that the stripping of a door will reveal the sins of its history- patching, filling, repairs, etc that would not be visible when painted. These are imperfections you either consider part of the history and charm, or as ugly and undesirable- it's a matter of personal taste.
Another factor when considering a stripped door is that most doors are stripped in hot caustic soda. This is liable to weaken the joints and can cause considerable movement. It can also cause warping, particularly in slimmer doors. In my experience about 1 in 20 doors comes back from the hot caustic tank the worse for wear, so there's an element of risk if you buy a painted door to get stripped yourself. There are other stripping techniques that are gentler such as cold-stripping or hand-stripping. These are more expensive but may be an option if you want to play it safe, or if you are stripping finer quality or hardwood doors.

Fitting
Hanging a reclaimed door is a standard and inexpensive job for any joiner or carpenter worth his or her salt, and don't be told otherwise!

Windows

Windows are not as straightforward to re-use as doors principally because you are limited by specific inflexible dimensions. Like doors, period windows don't obey any rules when it comes to dimensions. Generally speaking windows can't be cut down to any significant extent and so you are left trying to source a window that happens to exactly match your existing dimensions.

The most effective re-use of period windows is in new-build situations where existing dimensions can be built around.

Timber Flooring

A reclaimed timber floor adds immediate character to a property, a quality that even the best 'antique finish' new timber flooring struggles to emulate.

Roughly speaking salvaged wood flooring comes in three forms: board, strip and parquet. It will invariably come in an 'as is' state and require sanding, filling and finishing in situ.

Can I lay it myself?

Laying a floor can be a complex business and there are tradesmen across the country who specialize in doing it. Floor laying involves not just the laying of the timber itself, a process varying in complexity from simpler floorboards to much trickier parquet blocks, but also requires preparation of a suitable and stable sub-floor. Your existing floor may be a suitable sub-floor itself although it is likely you will need to use screed, plywood or battens to form a sound base. The reclaimed floor is then either glued, nailed, secret-nailed or floated. It is then filled where necessary and sanded in descending grades. Finally it is finished with your selected finish. I would strongly recommend using a professional to fit your floor as there are so many opportunities to get it wrong. A badly laid floor won't look as good as it could, and it won't last as long as it should.

What finish should I use?

There are a dazzling array of floor finishes out there but they can essentially be broken down into 3 options, each with its pros and cons:
Lacquer- Minimal maintenance, highly durable, satin/matt/gloss.
Oil- Moderate maintenance and durability, a matted natural look
Wax- High maintenance and low durability, a traditional look & smell

Will my floor move?
Timber is a natural product and as such is prone to movement due to changes in temperature or humidity. The main precaution you can take to avoid floor movement once laid is to fully acclimatise the materials prior to installation. You should leave the timber in the space where it will be laid for at least 2 weeks prior to laying. You should remove any packaging the floor was delivered in and if it is being laid in a centrally heated room allow it to acclimatise at a constant temperature. The longer you can acclimatise it the better.

A further issue arises with under floor heating. Most modern under floor heating systems claim to be compatible with solid timber flooring, although this claim is not yet fully proven. The best precaution you can take is to keep the under floor heating at a steady moderate temperature, avoiding any sudden or extreme changes. This should limit movement in your floor.

Radiators

Period cast-iron radiators are just as efficient and in many cases more efficient at heating a space than their modern equivalents. They are also decorative objects in themselves, the more elaborate examples particularly so.

Restored or unrestored?
You can buy radiators restored or unrestored, although I strongly advise
going for the fully restored option as restoration is far from a DIY job.
It may be tempting to source an unrestored radiator and get it professionally restored but you should be warned -you run the risk of finding that there are irreparable cracks in the cast-iron, that will be discovered during the reconditioning process, and render your prize purchase scrap.

The restoration process involves initial pressure testing to identify any leaks or cracks. Any leaking joints are then rectified by breaking open the radiator and replacing joint gaskets, then re-joining the radiator sections.
Where necessary replacement sections are fitted.
After re-pressure testing reducing bushes are fitted to enable metric valves to be fitted. The radiator is then flush tested to clean out any detritus.
It is then sand-blasted before the chosen finish is applied.
Radiators can be polished back to the original cast-iron, burnished, powder-coated or spray-painted.

Compatibility with modern plumbing systems?
There are a number of companies in the UK who specialize in this process.
A common misconception, and one compounded by some less enlightened plumbers, is that plumbing antique radiators into modern plumbing systems is problematic. The truth is that reducing bushes are readily available from plumbing merchants nationwide-these reduce existing fittings to standard usable metric size. Radiators supplied fully restored would normally be fitted with reducing bushes as a matter of course.

• Enamelled Baths
  Enamelled cast-iron baths are one of the most popular items of architectural salvage. The main issue likely to arise is likely to be the condition of the enamel. There are numerous companies offering 'resurfacing' services which might be suitable for small surface repairs. Authentic vitreous enamelling is almost a lost art these days and there are in fact only two businesses in the UK still doing it, http://www.uniqueenamellingservicesltd.co.uk in Lancashire, and www.ajwells.co.uk on the Isle of Wight.
• Ceramic & porcelain sanitaryware
  The key with buying ceramic or porcelain sanitaryware is to check carefully for damage because both materials are notoriously difficult and expensive to restore. You may well be happy to live with some minor erosion on your art-deco ceramic sink, but more serious cracks are effectively irreparable. Certainly from an architectural salvage dealers point of view, a serious crack to the ceramic or porcelain renders a piece unusable, and therefore effectively valueless, however rare or decorative it may be.

Lighting

When buying period lighting the first thing to make certain of is that it actually is antique. It is common for modern reproductions of period lighting to be described as "Victorian-style" or "Deco-style", so if it is the genuine period article you are after, be aware of this difference.

The main issue you will need to deal with when using reclaimed period lighting is the wiring and electrics. Some dealers will offer lighting completely re-wired and ready to go, in which case there is no issue.

If not, most lighting is relatively simple to deal with and can be re-wired and installed by any decent electrician. The odd example, such as an elaborate chandelier with multiple sockets, may call for more specialist treatment.

A useful online resource for approved electrical contractors in your area can be found at www.niceic.org.uk , a website run by the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting.

Ironwork

Ironwork comes in two forms- cast-iron and wrought-iron.
Cast-iron is produced by pouring molten iron into sand moulds. Once a pattern is designed it can be used to produce accurate multiples of the same design. Sand casting has traditionally been used to create widely utilised exterior fixtures such as lamp posts, telephone boxes and bollards, and has also been used to create highly ornamental and detailed pieces. Cast-iron has incredible load-bearing strength although it is weak in tension and surprisingly brittle on impact. For this reason great care should always be taken when moving or transporting cast iron. A cast iron column capable of supporting a building can snap if accidently dropped from a height of a few inches. Once broken, cast-iron cannot easily be mended. Specialist welding can be used although the fixed joint will always be weak and susceptible to re-breaking.

 Whilst the industry is nothing like it was, there are still quite a number of foundry's across the UK using the traditional sand cast technique.
Wrought-iron is produced by a blacksmith, who heats rods of iron in a furnace until pliable, before working it into the required design by hammer and anvil. Unlike cast-iron, wrought-iron has great tensile strength and is not brittle on impact. It is particularly suitable for railings and gates and can be worked into highly intricate and fine forms not achievable in casting. The 19th century is generally regarded as the golden age of British wrought ironwork, realising a perfection of manufacture not reached previously and arguably not reached since. Wrought-iron is relatively straightforward to repair providing you can employ the skills of a blacksmith. A useful source of information for all things concerning wrought-iron, including advice on maintenance, cleaning and restoration, can be found at www.realwroughtiron.com/wiac.asp , home of the Wrought-iron Advisory Centre.

Fireplaces

Timber and cast-iron fire surrounds are relatively easy to install as it is simply a case of screwing them to the wall. Marble fireplaces are a different animal and I would strongly recommend using a specialist or a builder with prior experience. Marble fire surrounds tend to be high value, sometimes very high value, and they need to be installed correctly using appropriate pins, cements, etc. They need to be installed in such a way as to be removable at a later date without causing damage. Whilst marble can of course always be restored, it can be an expensive process and a favourable result is not guaranteed.

General advice on fireplace installation and regulations can be found at www.nfa.org.uk, the website of the National Fireplace Association.