The Home Stretch

We have it on good authority (the Permit Center) that we will have the Delaney House move permit this week. Probably Wednesday.

So, we are pushing forward. This weekend, Tom and I spent a lot of time getting the house ready. This is not a simple task: everything has to be thought through and figured out, and there was a bunch of things we had to do. We removed all the downspouts: we removed all the gas pipes; we disconnected the water main and cut back the pipes that extended below the bottom of the first floor joists. PG&E came (at long last!) and disconnected the power and the gas. We took everything out of the basement. We organized our piles of stuff in the yard (old bricks, building supplies, garbage).

There are still a couple more tasks to do: we have two rose bushes we want to dig up and move so they don't get mashed by the house; we have to remove the fuse box; we have to disconnect the house from the front stairs (which should be easy - they've been trying to separate from the house for years).

When Phil Joy and his crew arrive this week, they'll jack the house up, and put it on cribbing. Then they'll remove the basement walls and lower the house down toward the ground. The house will then be slid on beams back to its new location, and lifted 11 feet in the air, and placed on cribbing.

Hopefully, the Cheney Cottage permits will be ready soon, and then we'll get the 2nd floor of the Cheney Cottage brought over to 62nd Street. We'll have a week to work on it: reattaching the eaves that were cut off, tearing off the old roofing and sheathing the attic, then putting down building paper and getting the roof ready for shingles. Then the 2nd floor will be lifted high in the air, and the first floor will be brought to 62nd Street. The two halves of the house will be married back together, and then we'll begin the Cheney Cottage restoration.

I'm cautiously optimistic that the City of Berkeley Permit Center is going to continue to cooperate to get this project moving. So stay tuned for more frequent blogging!