Shop Remodel 2007 - Update: We Have Power!

[jim capozzi]

By California standards, it's been pretty cold here. It's about 54º outside right now (almost noon) and about 51º in the shop. Supposed to be back up into the 70s tomorrow, which is good, because the epoxy paint needs the slab to be 55º or higher.

Compared to your part of the country, it's absolutely balmy.

hi vaughn ... ok so what would you do with our temps 27 currently ........ and mid twenties for the highs this week coming and teens and single digits at night

i think i will move somewhere warmer

[Vaughn McMillan]

Keep 'e coming! I love picture shows!

One note - a "if I had it to do over"- I used epoxy on my floor and I love it because it's easy to clean and nothing bothers it - like solvents and such. I hate it because it's slippery, especially with a little saw dust on it. What I would have done differently is to add some type of traction additive...

Rennie, did you use the little paint chip sprinkles, or go with plain paint? I'm planning to use the sprinkles, but I can add extra traction grit to the paint, too.

...Is that a Hoover DC?

The only one in the tri-state area, baby!

hi vaughn ... ok so what would you do with our temps 27 currently ........ and mid twenties for the highs this week coming and teens and single digits at night

i think i will move somewhere warmer

It's not uncommon out here to be hanging Christmas lights in shorts and a t-shirt. I've lived here for over 16 years, but that still seems all messed up.

[Bruce Page]

aww c'mon who could forget the Hoover Thread?

LOL! I totally missed it - I was in Alaska when Vaughn posted that thread.

Unquestionably a classic!

I have to agree with Marty – you guys on the left coast are different…

[Vaughn McMillan]

Well, I beat on the shop floor for 12+ hours today (including two trips to the local hardware store and one to the orange Borg), the only visible difference is the carpet tack strip and the garage door threshold are no longer there, so I didn't take any pics. It still looks like an empty garage at this point.

Removing the tack strip was not too bad, although the Stanley Wonder Bar (a bent pry bar) made things a lot easier. The threshold, on the other hand, was a bear. It was attached with not only Hilti nails (with 1" washers), but what seemed like about a gallon of Liquid Nails. I used an angle grinder to remove the heads from the nails, then a big pry bar to break out threshold. Did you know that an angle grinder will remove glued-on wood and Liquid Nails from concrete? Smells pretty bad, but it seemed to work.

After a dinner break, I began cleaning the slab. I scrubbed it completely about four times with a stiff brush and degreaser, then followed that up with two separate acid washes and thorough rinses. As I mentioned last night, the carpet pad was glued to the slab, so I spent a lot of my time scraping up glue residue, too. Finally called it quits a little before 2:00 AM.

Next up for tomorrow will be patching all the craters from the tack strip and the threshold. I'm going to use a 2-part Bondo-like repair putty, so it won't require a long time to cure before painting.

The instructions with the paint say the air temperature must be 65º or higher, and the slab has to be 55º or higher. The temp in the shop never got above 55º all day, so I've got a couple space heaters running full blast in there tonight trying to warm things up. Tomorrow's supposed to be in the 70s, and Tuesday is supposed to get up into the 80s, so hopefully things will be warm enough tomorrow to paint. If not, I'll probably bite the bullet and postpone the painting for another time of year. I'd hate to waste nearly $200 worth of paint due to impatience.

The last two and a half days has taken a serious toll on my body. I've done a lot of bending, lifting, pushing, pulling, and kneeling (thank goodness for knee pads)...none of which are good for my messed-up back. My back, hip, and knees are talking to me tonight, and even my hands are sore from gripping hammers, brooms, and scrub brushes all day and night. I think I'm beyond what Advil will help. Tonight, it's time to break out the prescription meds. I save the strong stuff for special occasions, but I think tonight is one of them

More tomorrow -

[Stuart Ablett]

You may not have much visible progress for you hard work, but you HAVE made progress, getting the floor done right, the first time IS worth all the effort, which you know.

That shop will REALLY look different come 2008..........maybe we should start calling it a "Studio"

Pick out a spot of for the espresso machine!!

[Don Taylor]

You may not have much visible progress for you hard work, but you HAVE made progress, getting the floor done right, the first time IS worth all the effort, which you know.

That shop will REALLY look different come 2008..........maybe we should start calling it a "Studio"

Pick out a spot of for the espresso machine!!

Some of us learn that the hard way.... sigh.......

Vaughn you will be able to look back on all the work next year and smile with pleasure at what you have.

Hey? Maybe you could cut that carpet into one inch squares and sell it on the bay?

DT

[Rennie Heuer]

Rennie, did you use the little paint chip sprinkles, or go with plain paint? I'm planning to use the sprinkles, but I can add extra traction grit to the paint, too.

I went with the plain paint - had I only known....
I'm not familiar with the sprinkles, but if they give a grip-able texture to the surface then I think you're good to go. Hope you picked a light color!

[Jack Tanner]

Well, I beat on the shop floor for 12+ hours today (including two trips to the local hardware store and one to the orange Borg), the only visible difference is the carpet tack strip and the garage door threshold are no longer there, so I didn't take any pics. It still looks like an empty garage at this point.

Removing the tack strip was not too bad, although the Stanley Wonder Bar (a bent pry bar) made things a lot easier. The threshold, on the other hand, was a bear. It was attached with not only Hilti nails (with 1" washers), but what seemed like about a gallon of Liquid Nails. I used an angle grinder to remove the heads from the nails, then a big pry bar to break out threshold. Did you know that an angle grinder will remove glued-on wood and Liquid Nails from concrete? Smells pretty bad, but it seemed to work.

After a dinner break, I began cleaning the slab. I scrubbed it completely about four times with a stiff brush and degreaser, then followed that up with two separate acid washes and thorough rinses. As I mentioned last night, the carpet pad was glued to the slab, so I spent a lot of my time scraping up glue residue, too. Finally called it quits a little before 2:00 AM.

Next up for tomorrow will be patching all the craters from the tack strip and the threshold. I'm going to use a 2-part Bondo-like repair putty, so it won't require a long time to cure before painting.

The instructions with the paint say the air temperature must be 65º or higher, and the slab has to be 55º or higher. The temp in the shop never got above 55º all day, so I've got a couple space heaters running full blast in there tonight trying to warm things up. Tomorrow's supposed to be in the 70s, and Tuesday is supposed to get up into the 80s, so hopefully things will be warm enough tomorrow to paint. If not, I'll probably bite the bullet and postpone the painting for another time of year. I'd hate to waste nearly $200 worth of paint due to impatience.

The last two and a half days has taken a serious toll on my body. I've done a lot of bending, lifting, pushing, pulling, and kneeling (thank goodness for knee pads)...none of which are good for my messed-up back. My back, hip, and knees are talking to me tonight, and even my hands are sore from gripping hammers, brooms, and scrub brushes all day and night. I think I'm beyond what Advil will help. Tonight, it's time to break out the prescription meds. I save the strong stuff for special occasions, but I think tonight is one of them

More tomorrow -

Hi Vaughn,
I was just thumbing through threads, and found this one. You picture of your back looks just like mine. Mine was from staph that got into the bone. Not much fun. Jack

[Vaughn McMillan]

After another day of crawling on my knees patching divots with Bondo and sanding the patches, I finally got the paint down on the floor.

I used the Rustoleum epoxy garage floor paint, and two gallons was easily enough to paint my 2-car garage. The paint comes with a bag of epoxy paint chips to sprinkle on the floor. You paint a 4' x 4' square (or thereabouts), then sprinkle the magic pixie dust on the wet paint. When it's all dry, you vacuum up the loose stuff. It adds some traction, and also hides imperfections and dirt.

Here's how it looks up close:



And a couple of room shots:



Glad to have this part past me. It needs 12 to 16 hours of curing time before it can get light foot traffic, and 24 to 48 before being subjected to heavy loads, so it'll be a couple of days before I can start moving stuff back in. Tomorrow, I'll take the day off from the shop and get the Christmas lights hung on the outside of the house for LOML.

Thanks for following along so far. Knowing that I had buddies from all over watching over my shoulder helped keep me motivated through all the hard stuff. It's all gravy from here on out.

Stay tuned...

[Vaughn McMillan]

Hi Vaughn,
I was just thumbing through threads, and found this one. You picture of your back looks just like mine. Mine was from staph that got into the bone. Not much fun. Jack

I'm sure you can relate, Jack. There are several other folks here with similar (or worse) modifications. Modern medicine is pretty amazing. 75 years ago they would have just taken up out back behind the barn and shot us.

Mine was from the sudden stop at the end of a 30 foot fall. My L3 became L3.1, 3.2, ... 3.9 and so on. They kept the biggest piece and built a new vertebra around it. It's a pain sometimes, but it beats going behind the barn and getting shot. And I count my blessings every day that I can walk.