On the road again

[speeder]

Now do you insulate the heck out of it and heat it as a workshop or is that the smaller building or? I'm guessing that the weather is changing rapidly up there and that you got the concrete poured just in time.

[Scott Douglas]

I'm following too.

Didn't they put any rebar down for the floor?

Looks great so far.

At least with the 'trips' to the old house you're not faced with an overwhelming amount of 'stuff' each time. Moving it all at once would be a daunting task I'm sure.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by speeder

Now do you insulate the heck out of it and heat it as a workshop or is that the smaller building or? I'm guessing that the weather is changing rapidly up there and that you got the concrete poured just in time.

It won't get cold enough to affect pouring concrete for a couple of months, and then we have windows in time when we can pour. We did the floor in my previous garage in January.

I'm not going to insulate the barn. I have enough interests that I can work with the seasons and keep busy no matter the weather. I work in the unheated shop with the lift when it's warm, and have a car space in the heated garage under our house if I need or want to work on a car during the winter. During the winter I operate Vicki's quilting machine, restore sewing machines, fix furniture and random stuff - it keeps me busy.
The worst thing about an unheated shop in Ohio is that in the spring, warm, moist air will come up from the gulf for a day or two after everything in the shop has cold soaked for weeks. The moisture in the air condenses on the cold surfaces and causes things to rust. I uncover my cars in the spring, to keep wet car covers laying against the paint. We have half a dozen of these cycles every spring.

[stevej37]

^^^ I had the same problem with the spring thaw in my four stall garage.
I solved it with a 40 pint dehumidifier. During that time... it's full every day. Other parts of the year.. it's only full once a week or less.

Rust loves moisture.

[wdfifteen]

I got the gang back together in their new "clubhouse" this week. Winter is on the way, so I'll be packing up the barn (since it's half barn and half garage, Vicki calls it the "Barnage") and mostly working in the winter shop under the house.





They'll be installing the electrical panel in the corner where the Speedster is, so I'll be doing some re-shuffling pretty soon to get it out of their way.



For the winter I think I'll bag the Speedster and put it tight in the corner near the tractors, park the VW in front of it, put the 911 where the Speedster is, and park the truck in the middle. That way I'll be able to get the VW and 911 out for exercise on nice days and have the truck in out of the ice and snow.

I left the truck out Monday night. It was raining so I had the wipers on and I forgot to turn them off. We had 2" of freezing wet snow that night. Went out to drive it Tuesday AM started it to warm up while I cleared the ice and snow off the windshield. The driver's side wiper was frozen down, but the passenger wiper made a couple of swipes before I could turn the truck off. I was afraid I was in for a repair bill, but after I got the windshield clear, the wipers straighten themselves out and they work perfectly.



I'm planning to sell the Ford tractor and the golf cart next spring to make some room. It's pretty tight on the "barn" end of the "barnage."

[Zeke]

I guess the Ford tractor didn't work out for you. I agree that one less vehicle is one less headache.

[wdfifteen]

Looks like I won’t need the Ford after next spring. When doing my research I checked multiple web sites that said my 20 hp Kubota was too small for a 5 foot bush hog, so I went looking for a bigger tractor. The plan was to buy a bigger old tractor and a used bush hog. Hence the Ford. But then I couldn’t find a used bush hog at a decent price so I stopped by the dealer where I bought my Kubota 12 years ago to see about a new one. The owner is a cool guy. He said, “Hell, I’ve sold a dozen combos with that tractor and a 5’ bush hog. They’re a great pair.” I tried it out and the little Kubota doesn’t work up a sweat. I do need to plow up about 3 acres for the wild flower patch next spring and I DO need the Ford for that. After that I can sell it. Fixing it up has been a fun challenge and it would have been even more fun if I had more time to spend on it. Anyway, I have amassed some knowledge of 3 cylinder Ford engines that Im sure will come in handy in my next life.

[Baz]

Sweet setup there, Patrick! Man I'd kill to have a "Barnage" like that for all my rigs!! Enjoy!

[MMiller]

Love the updates... please keep-em coming.

[wdfifteen]

I made the last trip to the old place yesterday. I used to feel nostalgic for it, but this move has been so much work, I'm glad I never have to go back. I set the trip ODO on my truck after a trip or two back in July. Since then, I've put 4952 miles on the truck, dragging a trailer every mile. That's about 50 trips in 91 days.

I put an ad on FBM last Monday advertising the barn clean-out - everything is free, just take it away. Forty seven people responded, saying they would be there. Some junk men contacted me and said he would take any metal left over. I gave it to the first guy who responded, but thankfully kept the names of the rest of them. THREE people showed up! Fortunately, they were voracious and took a lot of stuff. My neighbor came over to say Hi and left with a golf cart full of stuff, and while he was there a friend of his stopped by looking for him. That guy took a bunch of stuff, too. In the end it turned out OK, but they left some good stuff - a commercial paint sprayer, a plastic utility washtub with a nice stainless steel faucet, and some antiques. I kept the sprayer and the washtub and threw everything else in the junk pile - antique wrenches, axes, sledgehammers - some good stuff. I called the junk guy and told him to come and get it, and he started hedging, "How much is there? It's a long way over there." I told him nevermind, and called the second guy on the list. He took it all, bless him.




I took home 2x4s and lumber I thought I would need, but left half a dozen 12 foot 2x6s, about 100 square feet of solid wood flooring, and a lot of random stuff.



Shingles and enough floor tile to do a small bathroom are still there.



This sink is in perfect condition. No one wanted it.

Back home, I reassembled my welding table and started trying to organized the storage and equipment.



I took this before the welding table, drill press, etc were in place.



One project I was anxious to get done was to replace the turnbuckles that were being used to hold the barn door closed with these nifty latches.

[wdfifteen]

The barn shop is sorta coming together. I have the welding table in place, which is huge, mostly because of the vice. This table had a little 4" Wilton vice on it, which I was worried I'd break. So I swapped out the big mamajamma that was on the bench in my basement shop. I don't think I could break this one with a sledgehammer. I still have a lot to do, and with winter coming on, going will be slow.





Between them, I put 5000 miles on the trailers this summer. I don't need the 18 foot machinery hauler any more so it's going up for sale. I paid $2000 for it and got every penny of value out of it. I've had the little utility trailer for 15 years or so. I made the box for it when it became obvious that we would be moving, and it really came in handy. I don't have a specific use for it, but I'll probably hang onto it for a while to see what shakes out around here.

[herr_oberst]

❖ That hasp is pretty neat. I've never seen one before.

❖ Yes on the Wilton. I love mine. Had a craftsman for years; Wilton is better in every regard. We all knew that, but it's nice to be reminded.

❖ The little anvil on your bench looks like a professionally made version of the anvil I want to make out of railroad track.

❖ I'm happy that you're settling in before winter settles in.

[wdfifteen]

I don't know how other people move their stuff. The way I do it is (apparently) is to just dump everything I own into a number of random piles and then later go through it to see what's there.




I found this toy Porsche 356 that I rescued from the trash many years ago. I planned to restore it. After looking at it again, I might just call it a Nash and pitch it.




I took some time out of the chaos of moving and moved this Wilton vise from my welding table to my basement shop. While I was at it, I cleaned it up and painted it. I don't know how old it is. I've owned it for 50 years or more. It's a good vise.





I came across a vise I made in shop class. Must have been 1968 or '69. I haven't seen it in years I had forgotten I even made it. Looking back, it was a pretty cool project. It was is pretty well rusted up, but I oiled it and got it loosened up. I'm not sure how strong it is, so I'm thinking about putting some soft jaws on it and using it for light work. I don't know whether to paint it or try to preserve the patina. It has never been painted.

Vicki has me remodeling her laundry room this week. Pics later.

I came across another item that I won't post pictures of. It is the name plate I took off of the desk of the superintendent of schools when I was in 9th grade.
Backstory:
Some kid told his mother that I had roughed him up on the school bus. The supe came to gym class and told me to shower and come to his office. I showed up with my gym bag, he read me the riot act, and basically told me as a kid I was lower than whale droppings and he had called my mom to come to the school. The kid and his mother and showed up and it was like, "What's he doing here?" They got the wrong guy!! I was pissed, mostly about catching hell from my mom for having to leave work (she never did show up, for some reason). When the supe, the kid, and the mom went out of the office to find the real culprit I took my revenge. I slipped the walnut nameplate off of his desk and into my gym bag. Sixty years later and I still have not been apprehended.

[herr_oberst]

You MADE a VISE? In high school? Wow. That is somethin'.

(Nice job on the Wilton, too.)

As to the name plate; did you ever wonder how successful you might have been, or what you could have accomplished without that Karma debt hanging over your head? .

[wdfifteen]

After 8 years of transforming the old place into the home we wanted, we both knew moving would mean starting over.

And so it begins:

With the laundry room.



This is the photo of the laundry room from the agent's listing. Not much to recommend it.



Between the time the listing photo was taken and the time we moved in, the PO painted the tile floor brown. WTF? Vicki spent two weeks scrubbing it off.



I ordered a sink and cabinets. It took a couple of weeks for it all to arrive, and when it did, the sink was damaged.



I didn't want to wait another two weeks to get this done, so I applied a little C-clamp persuasion and straightened it out.



I have no idea how I accumulated so may C-clamps. I don't think I've bought a C-clamp in my life. I do recall half a dozen of the little ones were in the bottom of a box of stuff I bought at an auction.



Once the cabinets and the countertop were installed, time to install the pulls. I always found this a tedious job. To speed it along, I drilled a couple of holes in a scrap of wood to make a template to locate the holes and help start the drill straight.



I made a French cleat to hang the shelf over the washer and dryer, so it could be easily removed. I had all kinds of trouble with these plastic toggle bolts. I bought 4, was successful in installing 2, and finished the job with some good old-fashioned steel ones that I had.



From ordering parts to finishing the job it took 3 weeks of off and on work and waiting. The drawer stack in the center was a mistake. They were supposed to match the insets in the doors. Oh well, I didn't point it out to Vicki until after she approved the job. She said, "The last time, we built the Taj Mahal. This time I'm happy with 'good enough'." Bless her.

[wdfifteen]

I forgot to mention, there are two outlets in the laundry room and neither had a GFCI. The one on the left was an end run, while the one on the right was a line/load. It seemed logical to assume the one on the left was the load for the other one, right? Nope. They were both on separate circuits. So I had to buy two GFCI outlets.
Turns out the only load on the right outlet was the ceiling lights. There is a lot of screwy electrical work in this house. While trying to identify the breakers, I discovered 5 outlets that were wired backwards, including the one by the washer.

[Rot 911]

Looks like you’re making some real progress and turning that place in to a home. I too am baffled that somebody would paint a tile floor brown.

[herr_oberst]

Wow, nice work and Bravo to Vicki for letting good enough be good enough, and to you for just getting busy and fixing the sink, rather than waiting to 'be made whole'. Life's too short.

Funny thing about those snap-toggles. Personally, I absolutely love 'em. I never have a problem using them and they are so much better than the molly bolts of yore, In my humble opinion.
But.
When I worked at the hardware store a couple of years ago, there was a surprising amount of return and shrinkage because of what you just said - it seemed like one of every two were ruined in the process.

This is absolutely no reflection on anything or anybody. Personally, in the long run and the bigger picture, I'd sooner be good at lots of things other than a modern take on the molly fastener. But I have to take my wins where they happen.

[Baz]

Nice upgrade for your new pad, Patrick. I admire your good taste and attention to detail. Inspiring! Thanks for sharing!

[astrochex]

Love the template for the pulls.

Your work looks great as usual.