Sweat Equity

It was hot today in Berkeley,   Well, maybe not that hot, but it was hot in the Walnut Street house.

I spent the day pulling staples and tackless strips (those wooden strips they use to hold carpet down that are, despite the name, FULL of tacks) out of the floors in the three bedroom, the living room and the hall.  Since there is no electricity, and the windows are all boarded up, much of this was done in semi-darkness or by the light of a single battery-operated lantern.

It's the kind of work that I find both exhausting and deeply satisfying.  I think what I love most about all the house restoration work that we do is that it is so gratifying - there are immediate results.  You spend several hours on your knees (wearing knee pads), pulling out nails and staples, and then you sweep up the mess, and the floor looks completely different.  Unlike most of the work I do at the office, this is work that has a pretty fast result.

Even though we don't have permits yet, there are many things that can get done.  We can start roughing in wiring; remove the old galvanized plumbing; removing the chimney.  We're figuring out how heating and sprinkler systems will be run.  We're planning how to rebuild the porches, which wood is still usable, what needs to be replaced.

The new project marches forward.