from the Usenet group alt.home.repair:

I have a modest 90yr. old Craftsman bungalow that I have owned for over 15 years. I recently bit the bullet and took the time (months!) and  money (you don't even want to know) to have the old composite shingle  siding removed to expose the original redwood clapboard. My
painter/restorer filled every nail hole, scraped every nook and cranny,  carefully and conservatively sanded off every layer, repaired every  corner of old window frame, etc. and finally completed a new coat of  paint that does my little place justice. It is constructed of solid old  growth redwood and feels like it will go another 90 years, no worries.

Until today. My roofers came out today. This is a company I have used before - they re-roofed my detached garage a few yers back. I don't have any leaks, but I'm trying to be proactive and not wait for trouble, so I signed up for a new 30 year shingle. After about two hours of banging I decided to go out and have a look at progress. I was stunned to see two workers in the process of nailing up a dinky piece of pine in the place where my front fascia used to be. This was a 12
ft. long 2x8 that completed 1/2 of my front roofline - nice and wide with an angled rafter end tail. Gasping, I asked "What have you done with my redwood "Oh, there was some dry rot on the end" Well, I had known about that - my painter had informed me and we felt that during
the re-roof would be the time to address it, repair and repaint. The involved area was about 1-2" deep along about 6" of the rafter tail.

For this they removed the WHOLE thing. Just ripped it off - and were nailing up a piece of typical modern day lumber - in other words, too small in two dimensions. A 2x8 doesn't measure 2x8 these days, but my old one did. Can you imagine how inadequate that was? I felt like someone had cut off my foot - being a preservationist is not easy. They looked at me like I was cockeyed, I was trying not to shoot anyone. :)

My contract specifically notes that the owner is to be informed immediately if any latent damage is discovered, requiring any wood work. What happened!?! They acted as though they were doing me a favor - "Oh, we thought you'd want to go with the lowest cost option" Ack!
Removing an irreplaceable lengtht of redwood is an option?! Gawd, if they'd only asked me first.

Read the full article and folks' advice for fixing this enormous cock-up.