sorry for my absence

tod evans

Member
Messages
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Location
ozarks
i`ve been going through some personal problems....marty came up and spent 3-weeks helping me build an apartment in the shop.....thanks tons to both marty and denise for their support...
please bear with me for a bit longer as i go through the process of child custody etc.-etc.
good thoughts, vibes and or prayers will be greatly appreiciated!

p.s. look for marty to be liquidating my retail inventory soon.

tod
 
Tod, life is going up and down, keep up my friend!!!
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
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Hey Tod! Sorry to hear you're going through some tough times. I've missed seeing you here and figured something was going on. Hope everything turns out for the best!
 
Tod.
I can only add that I look forward to seeing you back when time permits. My prayers are with you as well.

Wes
 
Tod,

Hang in there. Things *will* get better. I'm sure it's hard to see that right now, but I've gone through something like that... and so later, when my older brother went through it, I was able to tell him there *is* light on the other side of difficult times.

On the lighter side, sometimes I play world of warcraft. When you talk to some of the characters, they smack their chest with their fist and say: "Strength and Honor!" It sounds foolish and forced in normal times, but in dark times, there's some wisdom there... ;)

On a more serious note, you may not be much into verse. I understand. But here's one that helped me when I was going through it:

http://www.breakoutofthebox.com/darktime.htm

Who among us knows what our destiny is? Stuff happens, in spite of our best efforts. But if there's one thing I've learned, the dark times are often precursors to unimagined good things.

Hang on. It *does* get better!

Thanks,

Bill
 
What we got accomplished...

Well, I've finally (sort of) recovered :doh: from three (seven day) weeks of 16+ hour days of construction in Arkansas, so I can finally post some pics and text of what tod and I got accomplished in his shop...

What we needed to do was to come up with a layout that would have the least impact on work flow, wouldn't require relocating any of tod's large tools (dust collection, three phase, etc.), and would still accommodate a two bedroom apartment, with a full kitchen with washer and dryer, a full bathroom accessible from both the apartment and the shop, and some sort of 'living room'. So before I headed to Arkansas, I had tod run around the shop getting measurements and tool placements.

Armed with figures and photos, I spent some time in Sketchup and came up with the following:

New layout.jpg

That was the EASY PART! :eek:

When I got there, the first thing we had to do was start organizing and moving stuff around. After making/finding room, we moved several hundred board feet of various species of lumber...all to allow us to get to tod's 5' x 16' veneering table. Once we could get to and around the table, we had to partially disassemble it for its move. The new plan called for tod's 'retail showroom' to be turned into a 'veneering room'.

Here's the veneer table in its old location:

before.jpg

...and here it is in it's new home:

veneer room.jpg

With space cleared, it was time to demolish the two existing bathrooms. One which tod used as storage, the other with only a commode and sink was the 'shop' bathroom. We tore out the existing fixtures and partition walls:

demo started.jpg.....demo continued.jpg

...which allowed us to get to the existing plumbing in the slab. Then things got 'interesting'..:eek::doh::dunno:

We had provisioning for a toilet and a sink, but needed to accommodate much more:

plumbing before.jpg

We needed a toilet, sink and tub/shower, in the bathroom. We needed a washer/drain in the kitchen, along with a normal kitchen sink/dishwasher drain. All of this also had to be properly vented...through the existing 3" ABS pipe that went up through the 'storage' bathroom! :doh:

After much head scratching, debating, arguing, etc., we decided we needed to find out exactly what was under the slab so we could come up with a plan. Off went tod to the rental place to get a jackhammer!:D

A few hours, cut and bruised hands, and loads of sweat later, we had uncovered what we needed to see:

plumbing demo.jpg

It seems that the bathroom tod had been using for storage was originally designed to accommodate a commode, but one had never been installed...so we didn't realize that extra 4" ABS pipe was going to be under the slab. :dunno:

Ok, now that we saw what we had to work with, it was time for much more head scratching, debating, designing, with a little less arguing thrown in. We finally came up with a design that would work...albeit a complicated/convoluted one:

new plumbing layout.jpg

A few trips to the borg got us all the fittings and pipe we needed. Ooops, a few more trips were needed once we realized we had forgotten a few details! :doh: And then of course, as Murphy made sure, another trip to the borg to get the final few fittings we didn't think we'd need. :rofl: (That last trip we way over-bought so that we wouldn't run out....at least not on this phase of the plumbing! :rolleyes:)

On one of the last of the plumbing runs to the borg, we picked up a tub and surround, along with the fixtures and fittings we'd need to get it all installed. I brought the Pex leftover from my shop build, along with a few dozen Pex fittings and my crimpers and cutters.

We got to work and finally got to this stage:

tub installed and plumbed.jpg

With the tub in place, tod started putting down ceramic tile:

tile started.jpg

Ok, so almost ONE WEEK after I got there, we finally had the beginnings of a functional bathroom! :thumb:

It was time to move out and on with the remainder of the apartment.

Since I'm at the post limit on pictures, I'll start another post to complete the story...

Stay tuned...
- Marty -
 
tod's shop re-design part two....


Ok, so we had the basis for a functional bathroom done, along with provisioning for the plumbing to the kitchen...it was time to start framing the walls as they're shown in the Sketchup model. After about a hundred or so 2x4's, we had the exterior partition walls up that would define the living space. We then had to remove and frame out the existing garage door. Since it was a large opening, (9'x10'), it was the perfect place for a large air conditioner and window:

garage door gone.jpg.......garage door gone from outside.jpg

Next it was on to the ceiling. The existing ceiling was old, sagging in spots, and covered with 'popcorn' texturing. We decided furring the ceiling out with 2x4's would solve all these problems. It would give us large screwing surfaces for installing new sheetrock, it would level out the sagging, and it would cover the falling popcorn!

To minimize the taping and mudding tod was going to have to do, we opted to install 4x12 sheets of 1/2" sheetrock on the ceiling. That decision was the easy part. We then had to come up with a method whereby the two of us could EASILY and PAINLESSLY install these twelve footers. What we (tod mostly) came up worked flawlessly:

cieling sr install jig.jpg

We took two pairs of 2x4's (to make two sets of jigs), cut them to length just short of ceiling height, drilled oversized holes through the tops of them and inserted large bolts and washers. We then attached one of each set of 'legs' to the existing bare stud walls...allowing the other set of legs to pivot upwards towards the cieling. The length of the vertical 2x4 was such that the 2x4 that pivoted towards the ceiling was one inch from the furring strips when horizontal.

We then screwed some 'stops' onto the pivoting 2x4 to act place the sheetrock at the appropriate distance:

twelve foot sheetrock going on cieling.jpg

Once the sheetrock was on the jig, all tod and I had to do was grab the bottom of the pivoting 2x4 and walk up ladders. Once we got the sheetrock up into position, we braced the pivoting end of the jigs and moved a walkboard into position. It was then a simple matter for tod to push the sheetrock up the final inch into place and drive screws! Simple, cheap, effective, and usable throughout the entire living space! :thumb:

With the ceiling done, it was time for the remaining partition walls that would define the two bedrooms. While tod was busy framing them out and installing them, I got to work on the remaining plumbing for the kitchen:

kitchen plumbing done.jpg

Oh yeah, we also roughed in all the electric as we went. It still has to be hooked up in the attic, and receptacles and switches have to be installed, but all the 'stuff' in the walls is in place!

Well, with the end of week three approaching, we were finally at a spot where all the heavy and up-high stuff was done. There's still loads and loads of work that tod has to do, but it's all stuff he can handle easily enough on his own. It was time for me to head back to Georgia...to get some rest and get back to the final stage of "IT".

Here's what I left tod with:

The bathroom is fully functional:

bathroom done.jpg

And all the interior walls and ceiling is in place...with wiring stubbed out where needed:

view from bathroom.jpg

view from west end.jpg

Oh yeah...one other thing we HAD to do while I was still there was to get tod's MONSTEROUS headboard carried into the master bedroom:

master bedroom with headboard.jpg

Moving that beast is NOT a one person job!!! :eek:

And finally, here's a view from in the shop, looking at the new living space:

view from shop.jpg

By giving up his retail space, we were able to give him a comfortably large living space, without seriously impacting the workings of the shop!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! :thumb: :D

Oh, and speaking of tod's retail space, please watch for a new thread(s) coming in the next few days where I'll be placing his remaining retail inventory up for sale.

Oh, and I can't forget...

THANK YOU DENISE for being so understanding while I went off to help a dear friend! ;)

Thanks for reading...and for giving your support to tod while he deals with this latest challenge!

- Marty -
 
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