Cheney and Delaney, moving forward

Well, actually, neither house is physically moving - and I'm certainly thankful for that! They are both on their foundations and staying there.

But we've made a lot of progress on both houses:

In the Cheney Cottage, we now have running water in the sink - a huge step forward. Bill Reyno has been spending a lot of time in the crawlspace with his crew, and the heating system is going in.

The upstairs bathroom sink, with running water

Tom and I spent time last weekend patching the floors on the first floor, and Dan followed up doing some of the smaller holes.  So the downstairs floors are now ready to be refinished - the job for  this weekend.

Tom climbing out of the crawlspace while we work on replacing floorboards

We are on track to actually finish the Cheney Cottage in the next couple weeks.

In the Delaney House, the stairs are in, and the downstairs walls have all been built. The upstairs framing is mostly done as well.   All the beams and reinforcing have gone in, and the house is solid and ready for plumbing and wiring.

So the plan is to finish the Cheney Cottage soon (kitchen counters, more plumbing fixtures, floor refinishing and woodwork finish).  Then we'll tackle the Delaney House, finishing wiring, plumbing and working on finishing walls and ceilings.  The hydronics still need to go in at the Delaney House, and then the topping slab poured and the first floor installed over it.

The amazing part for me is how the houses are both really feeling like houses again. The Cheney Cottage, once we got the plaster in place, seems to have moved back to being a real house, one where soon people will be living. The Delaney House started feeling more whole as soon as the stairs went in - we no longer have to climb the ladder to the old front door on the second floor. That door will remain in place, but will lead to a second floor balcony (formerly the front porch).  

There is still a ton of work to do. But both houses are becoming more and more complete. It's amazing.