At this point, not quite as scheduled

When it comes to the past few months on the house renovation, there hasn’t been much to show.

Our contractor has been trying to align the removal of the front half of the upstairs to some favorable (meaning dry) weather, and that has been tricky. Plus, he has to line up a crew to participate in the most labor-intensive steps.

The electrical work has been continuing details, ultimately leading to rewiring about everything, including the discovery that the house was not grounded – period. Well, that’s been fixed, and a temporary strip for the main line coming into the house has been installed in preparation for the removal of the front roofline itself.

Then there was some work for other clients, including a new metal roof for the neighbor who recommended him to us. We can’t begrudge him that. A few other jobs were essentially trades in time with the carpenter who has been assisting him here in the bigger stuff. You know, I help you on your projects and then you help me on mine. That makes sense, too.

Oh, yes, and he really did get a well-earned week of family vacation in South Carolina.

Now the scaffolding is in place around the front of the house, gutters have been removed, and other obstacles are cleared away. But the demolition phase had to be delayed a couple of weeks when he discovered that all the dumpsters around here have been reserved nearly a year for the vendors and related events at Eastport’s big Fourth of July and homecoming week festival. We are expecting the dumpster on the fifth or sixth or even the following Monday.

Well, that hiccup did create an opening to remove the rickety ramp and accompanying deck at our back door and to start an enlarged new deck and stairs there. Again, not much to show at the moment unless you want the beginning of a step-by-step instruction manual.

The plumber, meanwhile, has been off in Indiana supervising the piping installation in a new lithium factory. He’s back in town and promises to be on our project next week, to our big relief.

Still, it’s hard to believe we’re 30 weeks into this venture.