Light at the End of the Tunnel

We do not have our permits in hand. But by this time tomorrow, we should have the Delaney House Permit, and we should receive the Cheney Cottage Permit by Friday.

Tom just got word that the final piece, the Soils Report, was reviewed and approved today (after a two week delay). So we can pick up our permit tomorrow from the Permit Center. The Cheney Cottage Permit should be following close behind.

Careful blog readers will recall that the original plan with the City was for us to get permits by May 15th so we could move the Delaney and Cheney houses that week. So we are receiving our first permit on August 12th - three months later than we expected. Not to mention all the added expense we had to go through, the various additional charges and reports the City heaped on - all the time telling us they really supported what we're doing. As I've mentioned in several other posts, this is the reason so many residents of Berkeley circumvent the permit process.

But I have spent enough time kvetching about the City of Berkeley. Let's look forward:

Today, the last of the landscape work is happening (removing another tree, cleaning up all the plant debris left from prior tree removal, etc). We will get PG&E to cap the gas and disconnect the power, and we will cap the sewer line. Then, Phil Joy and crew will return, and lift and move the Delaney House to the back of the lot. The new site has already been staked out, so we know exactly where to put the house.

On the first available Sunday after that, they will bring the second floor of the Cheney Cottage to 62nd Street, and lift it up high in the air on cribbing. The following Sunday, they will bring over the first floor of the Cheney Cottage, carefully position it below the second floor, and gently lower the second floor down onto the first floor.

And then the fun begins: reattaching the first and second floors of the Cheney Cottage; fixing holes in the walls and siding where the beams went through the house; replacing the trim removed prior to cutting the house in half; new foundations for both houses; building the new first floor for the Delaney House; new wiring and plumbing and heating systems for both houses; interior stairs for the Delaney House; new kitchens for both houses; restoring the Cheney Cottage bathrooms; landscaping; patching plaster; refinishing floors; fixing windows; painting the exteriors of both houses........

Stay tuned - we're almost on our way.