Two Photos...

...of a bedroom with finished walls and ceiling:

Windows and Plaster

The bay windows of the Delaney House

What a difference a day makes.

As you can see, the Delaney House now has more windows. Dan and the crew worked to get all the windows in on the first floor. It's a pretty dramatic change - the house really looks to be coming together.

The west wall of the Delaney House

The view out the bay window in the new first floor bedroom

The new kitchen, with a bit more work to do

The new living room, with windows (the outside door will be to the right)

And the Cheney Cottage has the first plaster on the walls. The back bedroom over the dining room now has solid walls - the holes for all the beams have been filled with plaster, and the finish coat of plaster is already up on some of the walls. Compare this to the recent post that showed the insulation in the sloping ceiling!

Plaster on the ceiling and walls, with the wooden corner bead exposed

Happenings

The front stairs of the Cheney Cottage - with the concrete walkway

Lots of updates:

Dan and his crew have been working to get things organized on the site. In the Cheney Cottage, they removed the stored windows and doors, and put them all in the Delaney House. They also organized piles of wood, and moved all the junk out. The place is a lot more spacious with all that stuff moved out.

The living room in the Cheney Cottage

The dining room

They've also been helping get the Cheney Cottage ready for the plastering. They have been installing the rigid insulation in the sloping ceiling (where the ceiling is basically the back side of the roof, with no attic space above it). This should help keep the Cheney Cottage warmer in winter, and especially help by stopping it from heating up so much upstairs in the summer.

The back bedroom of the Cheney Cottage - insulation in place

The plasterer is in the Cheney Cottage. Tom and I stripped the wallpaper in one of the back bedrooms, and Jesus and Hector stripped the other two today. The plasterer is going to be replastering the three bedrooms, the upstairs hallway, the stairwell, and the living room and dining room. The kitchen, downstairs bathroom and laundry room have to wait until the plumbing inspection happens.

Ray Triola and his crew have been working on installing the drain waste vent system for the plumbing, and it is almost done.

We also have started installing the heating system - the first of the colorful red and white pex pipes are in place, running up inside the downstairs bathroom wall to the back bedrooms upstairs. These pipes will soon bring hot water to and from the radiators in those rooms.

The first heating lines (insulation not yet installed)

Out back, lots of clean up has been going on. The scaffold on the west side has been removed, and the piles of debris taken away, so it is possible to get to the back of the Delaney House with a bobcat (to start digging footing drains and clearing debris in the backyard). The house has been organized, and materials put into organized piles.

This week, the plastering of the Cheney Cottage continues, plus the installation of all the windows in the Delaney House. The crew will also work on prepping the old siding to be installed on the new first floor of the Delaney House, and install the watertable between the first and second floors. The goal is to make the Delaney House weatherproof in the next couple weeks, before any rains arrive on the site.

Upcoming activities at the Cheney Cottage:

• Painting (finishing the exterior)
• Installing the supply plumbing
• Installing the heating system
• Installing kitchen counters
• Installing gas lines
• Finishing the woodwork
• Refinishing the floors

In the Delaney House:

• Building the stairs (connecting the two floors at long last)
• Finishing the framing
• Finishing upstairs bathrooms
• Installing the heating system
• Wiring and plumbing

Outside:

• Installing the driveway (on the site - the curb cut is done, along with the new sidewalk)
• Running electrical and gas to the Delaney House
• Walkways to the Delaney House
• Patio outside the Delaney House back door
• Landscaping

A lot to do, but suddenly it's all happening, and seems manageable.

Watch Our Dust

We've changed crews working on 62nd Street, and things are really starting to happen. Over the next couple months, a lot will be taking place.

Dan Tobin, who we have known for many years, is now actually living in the Cheney Cottage, taking care of the place and overseeing the work that's going on. Dan and his brother Tim have taken charge of the construction, and they'll be working primarily in the Delaney House. In the next couple weeks, they'll get the windows installed, put up the siding, build the stairs, and really start flying on the inside. The Delaney House is going to start looking like a finished place (at least from the outside) very soon.

Dan has helped manage the first project: installing the driveway and the walkway to the Cheney Cottage. The concrete is done (we used 5 yards of concrete) and it looks sharp! By tomorrow, when we can start walking on it, we'll be able to walk right up to the front steps, without having a major step to get up to the porch.

The new walkway to the Cheney Cottage

In the Cheney Cottage, the plumber is starting on Monday installing the drain waste and vent lines. Next weekend, Tom and I will install the pipes for the upstairs radiators, and then on the 20th the plasterer will start. Soon the Cheney Cottage will have finished walls!

We're finalizing the details with Bill Rayno for the heating systems, but we should have a working heating system in both houses before long. Dan and Tim have secured the Delaney House, so we can put things in there and not worry about them being stolen. So the boilers for both houses will be installed, then the underfloor heating and radiators.

And Dale will be back the week of the 20th to finish the paint job on the front house, and to start planning the paint for the back.

The whole project is on track to wrap up some time in November. We hope to get the Cheney Cottage rented in early September, and the Delaney House will follow soon after. Stay tuned, things will be moving fast!