Bro. Cantalupi's Fundraising Drive
for Repairing of DPE House
Gets Going
Recent alumnus, former House Manager, present House resident Bro. John Cantalupi, Al-'05 (171st Line),
holding the first $2,200 that his fundraising campaign has received this summer
for needed House repairs.
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This Year's Projects:
new furniture for the Living Room
After 25 years of service, the living room's couches, love seats, and chairs sorely needed replacing:
House Manager Christian Assaad, President Justin Charity, and Sergeant-at-arms Denis McLaughlin
carrying out the first of the six threadbare old couches.
Grayson Badgley carrying out the second of the old couches,
while Justin Charity acts presidential on the first.
(The girl was brought back into the the House)
Mike Kuebler and Terry Boyle making another heavy donation to alma mater
of one of the old couches, but considerately packaged in the crate of one of the new.
The new furniture pieces, all commercial grade for longevity, arrived in early April:
Still in their plastic wrappers.
Outgoing Chapter President Stephen DeMatteo unpacking the new furniture.
Quite an improvement .
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new computer circuitry for the Furnace
In 1986 DPE had to replace its decades-old, enormous oil-burning furnace
with a state-of-the-art, compact gas-burning Crown-Freeport furnace
(donated by Bro. Martin Kennedy, Al-'86,
the father of Bros. Brian and Kevin Kennedy, both also Al-'86).
A free new furnace, indeed, but just its installation cost us $35,000.
In the winter of 2007-8, however, after more than twenty years perfect service,
the furnace's Honeywell computer (which operates the whole contraption)
began malfunctioning. A whole new Honeywell unit was needed,
costing us almost $4,000.
The living proof that big fancy prices don't always correlate with big, pretty things.
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new walls, ceiling and sink for the Kitchen
Years of leaks coming fromthe porch roof above
caused much serious damage to the kitchen's ceiling and walls,
causing not only the paint's blistering and peeling,
but also the underlying plaster's breaking off.
Tony Santos, who in the last five years has re-plastered and re-painted
three of the House's upstairs bedrooms
is shown here working his magic with the kitchen.
Two days before this re-plastering, Bros. Justin Charity and Joseph Hart,
in order to save money, had organized a "Weekend Warriors" turnout
of over a dozen brothers, who for six hours did all the prep work,
by stripping off the kitchen's old paint and plaster.
The whole kichen was renovated.
The old kitchen sink cabinet was hauled away (another heavy donation to alma mater).
The cabinet gone, the kitchen's plumbing is exposed.
The brand new kitchen:
The new kitchen sink cabinet goes well with the newly plastered and painted walls.
It took a lot of re-plastering
Now, if only they'll keep it clean.
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new carpeting for the Main Staircase
The carpeting on the House's main staircase is threadbare,
with new rips appearing regularly. It needs replacing - and very soon -
before someone trips.
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new walls and ceilings for the Main Staircase
Numerous leaks from the House's roof have over the years caused much damage to the main staircase.
In the last few years all new copper roofs were put on the House, and the House's exterior brickwork completely tuckpointed,
thereby stoppongthe leaking; but all the harm to the House's interior remains.
Another example of the plaster and paint on the main floor of the hallway. Quite the eyesore.
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new floors, toilet and shower stall for Bathrooms
The existing 2nd floor bathroom toilet.
Its flushes are too weak to do the job.
We need to replace with commercial grade.
The tiles surrounding the 2nd fl bathroom's drain have broken loose
and, as a result, water from the shower now seeps under the tiles
rather than going down the drain. New floor tiles need to be laid.
The existing basement bathroom's shower stall.
Water is leaking from it into neighboring bedrooms.
This stall measures 2'11.5" wide by 2'11.5" deep .
A replacement of the exact same size is needed,
if it's to fit in the confined opening.
Note that with this kind of stall there is no opening in the wall for faucets
(they are set above the unit), and, thus, by not their coming through the stall's wall,
cleaning is much easier).
Note also, that this kind of shower stall has but one horizontal and one vertical seam
- which also makes cleaning the stall much easier.
The shower stall's door, though, will have at bottom an apron
for preventing water from leaking out. Such aprons, however, sooner or later break off,
as shown here (much sooner when you have many people showering daily).
Moreover, this stall now has a crack by its floor drain
that lets water leak out and run into the neighboring bedrooms.
The brand new shower stall:
Unfortunately, when the new basement shower stall was delivered,
It was already assembled,
and therefore wouldn't fit through the House's back door.
So, back it had to go. Better luck next week,
when it returns broken down into its three constituent pieces.
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The House's exterior
The wood beneath most of the House's doors and windows,
and just under its roofs, has peeling or missing paint and caulk
The bare wood is thus becoming exposed; and,
unless it's soon primed and re-painted,
it'll begin to rot.
The peeling problem can be seen all over the House.
In this photo, note that because the porch's overhang was recently rebuilt
when all new copper roofs were put on the House,
one can see the sharp contrast
between that new overhang's fresh painting and caulking
and that on the pillers below
and on the faschia over the dining room and kitchen windows.
In November all the exterior woodwoek of the House was repaired, primed, and given
two coats of new paint. Tony Santos and his crew got to the top pf the House by tying
two ladders together (and lived to tell about it).
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Now You Can Pay Your Dues,
and/or Become a Life Member,
and/or Make a Donation to the House
electronically
by using your credit or debit card
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[How to do it]
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or the old-fashioned way
by mailing your personal check or money order
(made payable to "Delta Phi Epsilon") to:
Delta Phi Epsilon
P.O. Box 25401
Washington, DC 20027