DeJoux House

In a  Previous Blog story  we were trying to identify the tree in the front of the house. I finally contacted the local Department of Environmental Conservation who were amazing.  I was put in contact with a great guy called Michael Pogue who is a Senior Forrester at NYS DEC who not only looked at several photos but also went to the house and identified the tree as an American Smoketree. "Just got back from your property.  Smoke tree it is.  This is the largest specimen I have seen and the first one I have actually looked at at "close range".  It's out of its native range but obviously quite happy. " I must say I had not expected the support and help that Mike at the DEC provided.  Obviously in the grand scheme of things this is not a big priority for them but Mike not only took an interest but went out of his way to help me learn more about the tree.  If part of DEC's responsibilities is education and garnering community interest in trees and forestry,

It won't take me long to update you on the renovation as there was NOT MUCH PROGRESS THIS WEEK!!   Not entirely sure why.   The big issue we are facing is the master bedroom flooring.  We have to find 16ft long, 1 and 3/4 inch thick, 12 inch wide boards to span the beams to create the floor.   These are much thicker than normal floor boards as they need to be structural.  The need to be wider to match the 20+ inch wide boards that cover half the master bedroom.  This is taking longer than we thought and is holding up the process. We can't start framing out the upstairs until the floor is in place.   We started the framing upstairs along the knee wall but that is about it so far.    New Basement stair being built (note the door to living room is gone!) View from the living room Kitchen has become a workshop So, what has been done.  We've moved the basement stair and patched the floor with some salvaged floor boards.  The old door to the basement has been closed up