Big changes on every visit, still a lot more to go. To make it happen, masons, electrician, painter and tile guys were all scheduled for Saturday work. Third and second floor all of the ceiling lights are in place, rooms and hallways. Heating units are complete on third floor and some of second floor. Floor tile is started in restroom on third floor and it seems like floor tile is stacked all over the house.
Vanity cabinets are installed in the rest rooms. Painter has started on first floor, the two study rooms are painted, and mostly complete on second and third. All closet shelves have been installed.
Inspection is scheduled for first floor so drywall will be able to be finished soon in the previous dining room area. All of the holes that were in the floors, from the chimney, dumb waiter, heat ducts, plumbing, etc. are now filled in. That took a long time to happen because the steel beams could not be installed because they could not get close to the house because of all the water problems.
Outside it is not hard to tell it is a construction area. The surface around the house just seems to be dug up everywhere. A new water tap was made near the far side of Iuka Avenue. We now have a 4 inch tap, this divides into a 3 inch line for the fire sprinkler system and a one inch line for the domestic supply. This will give us much more pressure than we have had in the past. The big black iron pipe for the sprinklers comes down alongside the house and turns 90 degrees into the house. At that turn there must be a yard of concrete in place to prevent it from moving. The outside stairs are poured and functioning. The window wells are complete and caused some consternation. There wasn’t much room to work with the fire escape supports in place. Some damage was done to the new drain lines that come from the down spouts in front of the house to the new catch basin off the back corner. The guys that were replacing the damaged pipe were not happy campers.
The block work for the elevator tower is now progressing along well, they are getting pretty high up in the air. Some of it is a double wall, consisting of 16 inch blocks, about 80 pounds each, so that is a slow process. I just wish this could have started about a month sooner. All of the delay because of water, first the ground water and then the rains just kept making the problem worse. Several wash outs and cave ins on the sides of the excavation. One of the cave ins covered a pump which is still down there. That should puzzle some archeologist some many years from now. I am not sure which is worse, the AGR water problem or all the soybean fields I see as I drive back and forth to Columbus that are standing in water.
Remember, dedication celebration October 3. That is also our 100th anniversary celebration of owning 1979 Iuka Avenue. You don’t want to miss this.
Bill
Beta Chapter, The Ohio State University 