In fact, her biggest surprises seem to have been pleasant ones.

"We found over 20 fragments of wallpaper from over the years--really cool stuff," she says. "We [also] just found...an old piece of wood pipe...Archaeologists are going to come next week to look at it."

Edith Groden's job will be finished somewhat later than Buckley's--Groden is in charge of the renovation of Grays Hall, whose completion is scheduled for September 2. While no structural changes are planned, Grays will look quite different in the fall from the way it appeared in the spring (or the way it appears now--covered in white dust sheets).

There will be a new slate and membrane roof, new double-glazed windows, new sprinklers and new fire alarms. Masonry cleaning and repainting will also give the outside of the building a fresher look. The first floor is also being de-leaded, and broken parts of the slate in the halls are being replaced.

"It's going wonderfully," Groden says. "We're on or ahead of schedule."

Hollis and Stoughton were completed last summer--except for the bathrooms. That's this summer's project for Alana M. Knuff--that, and the renovations of Canaday Hall.

Knuff says a new laundry and recycling room is also being put into the basement of Stoughton. But the third part of her job is a little more delicate--overseeing the restoration of the historic facade on the west side of the building.

Presently, she says, the restoration is about half done. "We're painstakingly restoring it," she says. "It's really astounding quite beautiful... It's made out of mahogany."

Canaday, built in 1974, has no such historic touches. It does, however, have a very leaky roof. But after this summer, Knuff says leaks should no longer be the bane of the numerous Canadayians.

"We masterminded a new roof system for Canaday," she says. "We're presently having to almost rebuild the roof. Twenty years of leaks have caused rotting.

Scott Levitan, assistant vice president for construction and planning at HRE, says stopping the roof leaks is a major priority in the renovations.

"If there are leaks, we want to hear about it is so we can get it fixed during the first year while it's still under warranty," he says.

Knuff says the basement of Canaday is being redone to make more meeting space for student groups in Canaday A through E. The Independent, a Weekly newspaper, will move from its traditional home in the basement of Canaday G to a new office in the basement of Canaday A. In its place, the Yard facilities and maintenance staff will move from Straus Hall to the basements of Canaday F and G.

Canaday will also become more accessible for the disabled with the installation of an elevator and a new ramp in its common room area.

Like many of its fellow dorms, Canaday is getting its bathrooms redone. But the Yard's newest dorm is also being gifted with a unique touch, a ventilation system for its bathrooms designed to eliminate the problem of moisture condensation leaking into the rest of the building.