While the world has slowed down during 2020, we as a fraternity have taken advantage of free weekends and empty social schedules to focus more on the house. I am incredibly proud to say that 234 Comm Ave has never looked better in my time as a brother. Over half of the bedrooms have been retrofitted with beautiful new floors, zero floor has been redone with commercial grade synthetic flooring, and we have adapted the house to be a great home base for the pandemic.
The biggest project of the year was done on zero floor. There, the entire floor in the bathroom was torn out, all rot was scraped out, then a new subfloor was built and commercial grade “life proof” flooring was installed. Then, we crawled beneath zero floor and examined structural cross beams for any signs of rot or damage. With none found, we covered the entirety of zero floor with a thick layer of plywood, then a layer of sound mitigating underlayment, and finally 500 square feet of new flooring. The effects of this renovation are enormous. First, it is more durable than our previously painted plywood. Second, it looks much better, and lastly it will effectively stop any sound travelling through the floor and into the neighbors’ homes. With the knowledge we gained from doing zero floor, we then focused our attention to many of the bedrooms. Fourth front, penthouse, fourth back, fourth single, and president’s room all have bright new flooring. We also have replaced the flooring on back stairs, third landing, and hamster cage. We have been very deliberate to not cover up any of the hardwood floors that are in good shape and will be seeking to refurbish them instead.
We also have installed a new fridge on the fourth floor to be used by those that live in singles, transformed engineers club room into a co-op work lounge, outfitted alumni with a beautiful hardwood table that is used extensively as a late-night study space, replaced many of the aging couches, refinished the front door, cleaned up the greenhouse, enhanced the security of back door, and installed a surround sound system for front room TV. Oh, and Kevin McCaterson (our house cat for the last several years) has never received more love and attention.
With the world a vastly different and unstable place this year, the house has served as a stable rock for many of the brothers. It has been an absolute joy of mine to see us all come together and really give back to the house, making it the most comfortable home base that any guy could ask for.
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