THIS IS THE TEXT for photo-page
(It may help to just PRINT OUT this page and then visit the previous
page again, or
of course you could just PRINT BOTH PAGES -- why didn't I think of that??
| TOP LEFT picture - This is the BEFORE picture when the
building was a shelter house which my wife's father built about 30 years
ago. Through the years picnics have decreased and we felt a more useful
building could be had as a workshop for Bill. The concrete pad was
poured July 13, 2004 and is approx.16 x 18 feet. Once the spring weather (soggy ground) cleared up and the concrete was poured [see above left picture] a very good friend and I got busy building wall sections between the telephone poles ("thanks TO Maw Bell" -- the poles have weathered well all these years). I opted to use the product T1-11 which is special made plywood sheeting for exterior use. I was mainly the helper as my friend had years of experience in maintenance (and farm buildings) but I did my share of swinging the hammer. Once these wall sections were covered with the T1-11 I had a lot of trim work to finish. TOP RIGHT photo - this is my friend, Jim Wheeler, without whose help this building would still be a pile of 2 x 4's. PHOTO, left, 2nd row - (Sorry for the poor focus) This photo is a "combination" shot of my production scheme. WIRING was designed to run two circuits (every other outlet is "another" circuit) so a shop-vac could be run while any dust producing machine is on without overloading. The outlets (eight--four to a circuit) were placed at 4 feet from the floor. The green area is actually (in this pix) two "rows" of 18" wide "locker room doors". This idea is an attempt to anticipate or prevent damage to plaster board in back of any shelf. Plaster board is to be mounted "from the top edge of metal shelving" on the walls. 2nd row, RIGHT - this photo could be mis-read. The DARK area in this photo "looks like" the floor, but the dark area is really the locker room doors mentioned elsewhere. Also the left portion in the photo seems "jagged" (paralax problem?) as the edge of the door section REALLY is smooth. 3rd row, LEFT - There's my friend, JIM WHEELER, an acquaintance for about 40 years, spraying the exterior of the shop. For color buffs, this is "Coconut-Shrimp", I think, and his little electric gun sure was quicker and easier than a brush! We did the exterior paint job all within four hours. It was doing all I could do to keep ahead of him--spraying is faster than the brush (to repeat myself). BESIDES I had to take the photos, naturally! (Again my pix quality was sacrificed in my hurry mode; one of the reasons I do not work as a professional.) 3rd row, RIGHT - I am going to call this photo, chronologically speaking, a little out of order (note the spraying was not yet done in this shot) but I wanted to show off my metal doors. I got these for $5.00 EACH (with hinges!!) because they had some "damage" from being stored on a construction site but my "Chocolate Brown" paint took care of any imperfections! Those who know me personally already know of my frugality (thrift?) and others just call me "cheap"--and to quote a famous comedian, "...and I don't care." Such an opening is very convenient--total of six feet with both doors opened. The left door is "fixed" to remain shut normally but is easily "un-locked" when needed. As of today (09-11-04) we have the plaster board mounted and I have one coat or spackling finished. Since the electric (wiring and switching) in the structure was pretty worn due to its being unprotected from the weather, I opted to install all new wiring around the perimeter of the shop (inside) and as I mentioned, I planned early on to use TWO circuits in the shop for convenience in running equipment without overloading any one circuit. The project started July 13 (pouring the concrete) but of course a couple days were used up in plans and building the concrete form. Insulation was not a big job--just itchy. Weather was kind to us in many ways so we have little to complain about in that area. Of course, once we got the outside work done the inside work could be done regardless of the weather. As I mentioned in some other correspondence we did take some time out in discouraging a huge nest of hornets in our yard (and some wild bees who thought our mobile home looked like a good place to settle for the winter)--the hornets are gone but the bees were more stubborn (believe it or not). There is some interior painting & trim work yet to be done. Now comes the fun in moving all the machines from our house (garage) shop. I know I will be pushing the envelope [some] because it seems whenever you build something it is rarely as big as it looks once it is finished [so we are not apt to be surprised]. Plans have been rushing through my head as to where this or that goes and I am so pleased and grateful for this new shop space I cannot afford to let something like logistics, etc., spoil my fun. I will leave a couple pieces of equipment in my town shop just because I need something occasionally "at the house" but basically ALL the major shop will be "in the country shop". The size of my country wood shop is nearly four times the space I now try to work in at home. The new wood shop has an attic (which was already a part of the shelter house) where I can store LONG pieces of lumber so this should help reduce some storage problems inside too. THANKS to a wonderful and encouraging wife in all this project, a very good friend (Jim Wheeler) who was the brains behind the major carpentry work and some assistance from my brother-in-law (Jean's brother) and yet another friend who is helping me finalize all the electric -- IT'S BEEN A BLAST! And I am proud to have used up ten locker room doors my father-in-law saved for something (we gaze skyward and thank Jean's dad for such "stuff" and can see him grinning because Bill used those metal doors). READ ON for electric box story... |