MusicMan's Detailing Studio - here we go

[MusicMan]

Hi!

As few of You can remember, my last project was about super-small one car garage. Now it's used only as storage, because i finally made a decision to go "on my own" - i'm starting my own business, to connect my passion with my work.

With a good friend of mine, knowing each other for years and sharing same passion, we both left our jobs to start doing somethin "better". So here we go

We're both in auto detailing for quite a while. There will be a detailing studio and shop, so we will provide services and sell detailing products and cosmetics to other passionates.

We've found a nicely located building, bout 80m2 size, ideal for our purposes. The thing was, it is a disaster inside, with roof leakage, not even one straight wall inside and one wall which we definitely don't want. So i though, why not giving a shot and try to document our cozy place make-over?

That is how we want it to look - sizing is not quite exact, but gives an overall look.

So, the photos how it looked as we took it:

The front of the building - not impressive, but we'll paint it again and there'll be our logo covering whole gate. There will be light sign on the roof as well, about 170cm long and 60cm height.

As we go inside, view on our left side

"Sale section"

My friend and partner in this whole thing, Tomek.
And a nice, 20cm thick brick wall in the background - must go!

Second "room" and "lovely" made electric instalation

"Toilet"

Floor. Kind of. Must go as well

So, it's time to WORK!

DAY 1

We've started with taking off whole roof isolation - and fibreboard and glass wool. Everything was awfully made by the previous owners, everything was loose, wool was not strapped but foiled and nailed to the wooden borders. Not very healthy while disassembling, glass wool particles were flying all over the place....

We've had to take all the isolation because the roof was poorly made and there was water leaking from it all over the place, as you can see, it didn't look nice:

As the roof was made by the owner few weeks ago, we thought we are good to go.

Unfortunately, there still (after over a week with no rain!) was a water "inside" the wool, as you can see here - and belive me, it was one of the driest spots:

Half way there, only wool left

Nice and clean

We've spent the rest of the day tearing this wool down and taking off the nails (a lot!) from the borders, as we want to use them when we'll make a new ceiling.

Tomorrow I'll post our todays work - what we all love the most - some wall taking-down action.

Good Night Guys,
Adam

 

[HotRodKush]

Looks like a solid start!

 

[jvitez]

Jo napot kivanok Lengyel ur!

You've got a lot of work ahead of you, but congratulations on making the plunge to start your own business. If you love what you do, every day is a holiday! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Jpfreak33]

Awesome! I cant wait to see more progress, great start!

 

[fiveoh]

Looks like a lot of work, cant wait to see the finished product! What brand of detailing products do you use?

 

[Jononon]

Looking good so far, but "cesspool" got lost in translation...right?

 

[ZRX61]

Looking good so far, but "cesspool" got lost in translation...right?

I sure hope so...

 

[Big N8]

Looks like a solid building too.
Keep us posted.

 

[MusicMan]

Looks like a lot of work, cant wait to see the finished product! What brand of detailing products do you use?

So am I! Can't wait for the every little step coming next
What we're going to use and sell will be: Poorboy's World, Collinite, Finish Kare, R222 (known as P21 in USA), RaceGlaze, Brilliant Polishes, 303, Optimum, Chemical Guys, 3M, Lusso, Sonus and Svisswax. And many others which make accesories etc. So if anyone has any questions about detailing techniques or products, feel free to ask!

Looking good so far, but "cesspool" got lost in translation...right?

It's not lost in translation We have very restricted law about water economy, there's no way that you can wash your car on the street or yard - pollution and chemicals cannot get in the city drains. You can get a 100$ ticket for washing YOUR car in YOUR yard. Welcome in Poland.

So basically, there are two ways to get rid of water which we will use with chemicals to wash cars - you can build a small sewage treatment plant or you can build kind of a "cesspool" (not the best word unfortunately) made from certified plastic where water will be storaged and taken 1 or 2 times a month with specialized car - have no idea how it's called in english, but you know what kind of car i mean, big one with huge tank and pump to take out the water. Out storage will hold 2600litres. It will be placed in this pit which you can see at the photos. This way it's 5x cheaper then sewage treatment plant method, but we have to pay monthly for taking our stuff away.

 

[MusicMan]

DAY 3

UP!

Quick update, I'm totally exhausted, but fast preview what we've mangaged to do - pictures says everything, more will come tomorrow. Enjoy!

Edit: more pictures

"Now STOP! HAMMERTIME!"

Here we go, you've gotta start somwhere, right? ;-) There were cables all over and thru the wall, guys who were installing security system were definitely "not the sharpest knives in the toolbox". In the pictures our family friend who helps us with the toughest jobs.

As we progress.... Tomek at work.

Most of it down... but hey, who's that handsome black haired guy? Yupp, that's the MusicMan himsefl!

Battlefield...

Panoramas - Updated!

 

[mojo_13]

Wow congrats on going out on your own. I can't wait to see the finished product. How long until you guys hope to be up and running?

 

[Rando]

Paint will tranform that place good start and way to take the plung good luck

 

[thomask]

Good luck to you!

 

[fiveoh]

So am I! Can't wait for the every little step coming next
What we're going to use and sell will be: Poorboy's World, Collinite, Finish Kare, R222 (known as P21 in USA), RaceGlaze, Brilliant Polishes, 303, Optimum, Chemical Guys, 3M, Lusso, Sonus and Svisswax. And many others which make accesories etc. So if anyone has any questions about detailing techniques or products, feel free to ask!



It's not lost in translation We have very restricted law about water economy, there's no way that you can wash your car on the street or yard - pollution and chemicals cannot get in the city drains. You can get a 100$ ticket for washing YOUR car in YOUR yard. Welcome in Poland.

So basically, there are two ways to get rid of water which we will use with chemicals to wash cars - you can build a small sewage treatment plant or you can build kind of a "cesspool" (not the best word unfortunately) made from certified plastic where water will be storaged and taken 1 or 2 times a month with specialized car - have no idea how it's called in english, but you know what kind of car i mean, big one with huge tank and pump to take out the water. Out storage will hold 2600litres. It will be placed in this pit which you can see at the photos. This way it's 5x cheaper then sewage treatment plant method, but we have to pay monthly for taking our stuff away.

Your names adam and you dont use adams polishes? Shame. That's my fav brand.

 

[MusicMan]

Your names adam and you dont use adams polishes? Shame. That's my fav brand.

Haha, I like the brand, but the only contact with it are videos from guy nicknamed "Junkman" on the youtube. We have no resellers or distributors in here, but maybe someday? ;-)

 

[Alf Torp]

My girlfriend is from Mikolow in Silesia, so... Bardzo Dobre!

 

[Jokeman]

Your names adam and you dont use adams polishes? Shame. That's my fav brand.

Menzerna polishes are much much better.

 

[MusicMan]

Ok, it's been a while - a lot of work and some music stuff to do as well - nickname oblige

"DAY 3" post is updated - have a look if you're interested. During the night I'll put some pictures of todays work.

 

[Jononon]

Looks like the work's going well, but PLEASE put a trench plate over that trench

 

[padronanniversary]

i hope you bought the place dirt cheap, or have some dirt cheap rent. Man, that just seems like so much work

 

[MusicMan]

Looks like the work's going well, but PLEASE put a trench plate over that trench

Problem is, that ground water is gathering inside the trench - we have just dried it up, so it was open all the time when we were out. When we work, we have this blue doors which you can see at the photos - slightly short, but works fine. We're going to order new trench plate as soon as we will know how big it will finally stay. But thanks for care!

i hope you bought the place dirt cheap, or have some dirt cheap rent. Man, that just seems like so much work

It's not the cheapest place on the market, but it's also not that bad. There were very few locals to choose from when we we're looking, so "if you don't have what you like, you like what you have" . It won't be easy to make it as we want it, especially when we're watching every $, but I know that I'm doing it for myself, so it's a lot better.

DAY 4

Today we decided, that we're going to try to reduce our expenses on the roof isolation, by re-using some of the old glass wool. We've made a selection to pick good pieces and wrap them in pairs (about 10-12cm now) in new foil bags. Those will go back to the ceiling and cover about 20m2, and the rest will be isolated with new, 10cm thick styrofoam. Glass wool leftovers will be used to isolate old, closed backdoor to our place and water storage.

As you can see we also started to preparing the walls - old, oil type paint is extremally annoying and it takes way too much time. Tomorrow we need to get some rest, because on monday we are going to take away all that waste that is laying around, and move on with the walls and electricity.

 

[Jononon]

Tomorrow we need to get some rest

Well deserved, it's coming on nicely.

 

[bmwpower]

Sweet place! Couple of comments:
- Can you go without the changing room? Might buy you some valuable space.
- Can you make the entry way larger, ie put in a wider door or doors? Pulling in and out of there is gonna be hairy as is.

 

[MusicMan]

Well deserved, it's coming on nicely.

Thanks! I really appreciate your support.

Sweet place! Couple of comments:
- Can you go without the changing room? Might buy you some valuable space.
- Can you make the entry way larger, ie put in a wider door or doors? Pulling in and out of there is gonna be hairy as is.

Hi there! About the changing room - we've called it like that, because we have no other idea to use this place then changing an storing brooms . There's a backdoor with 2 steps to basement in there, so theres very little place there. Also, walls of this "room" are in the best shape from all, so we don't want to destroy them. But belive me, that I wanted to do it, cause i want to find some place for small table and chairs (maybe high bar-like) for detailing coffee talks

I also wanted to change the entry - but I'm afraid that I don't have enough funds for that. I would be awesome to have wider one, but first of all - it's not our building, and the rent is not the best. Now we're investing really a lot (for us) of money in it, and we cant be 100% sure that we will not be forced to move out after 2 years. Entrance now is 270cm wide and about 250cm high, so it's not the smallest. We'll try to make it look somehow nicer and safer.

 

[AndrewBigA]

Now we're investing really a lot (for us) of money in it, and we cant be 100% sure that we will not be forced to move out after 2 years. Entrance now is 270cm wide and about 250cm high, so it's not the smallest. We'll try to make it look somehow nicer and safer.

i dont think it was a smart move for you to dump all that money into the garage when you only have a 2 year lease & your unsure if you can stay there past those 2 years.

can you lock up a long term lease? if you can do that, it would make all the money spent fixing her up well worth it.

i wish you lots of luck but i disagree with fixing up a place that needs so much work when you are not 100% sure that you will be there after your 2 year lease is up.

i had the same thing with my garage when i moved in.
i first signed a 2 year lease. i fixed it up a bit on a low budget, with doing most of the work myself & with the help of some friends.

i fixed up the place to make it clean & good enough to get me through the first year of being there. (my first lease was for 2 years)

i started to fall in love with my space & decided to see what would happen if i asked the landlord about extending my lease agrement.

he told me "stay as long as you want". once he told me that i asked him for a 2 year extension.

im now in the middle of fixing up the garage for the last time with the plan that i can stay for as long as i want. so, any money i put into the place doesnt matter to me at all because i have the peace of mind that i wont get pushed out the door by another renter that might offer more money for the garage.

i wish you alot of luck. i just saw a huge red warning flag after reading the lines that i quoted from your post.

 

[MusicMan]

Ok, here we go with the update!

It was a while, but well used. We've really made a lot since we moved in this place.

AndrewBigA - dont worry, I know what it's all about. We are not worried that we will have to leave this place after 2 year lease, i only said that because you know, you can never be 100% sure about future. We also don't want to sign 3yr lease, because as we are dealing with company, it would also mean that there will be no way to leave the place earlier if anything would go wrong. To be honest, for me there is no such an option as "it's not gonna work", but papers are papers ;-). Once again, thank you for sharing your story and your care, i really appreciate it!

But now, let the things keep going, shall we?

What we've managed to do:

We had "doors to nowhere" in the "changing room" and this:


We can't just throw glass wool away, it has to be utilised, and it's quite expensive. So i used it.

Yupp, they were about 30-40cm deep, so i was able to hide all what's on the picture and more.

Next stop - electricity

How it was:

Now, much better! Empty wall and place, where this stuff belongs.

How it is now. Still needs cleanup, but there will be time for that. Everything safe now, and whole place will be rewired.

We also ripped off all old flooring, it was coming off really bad, we had to use our lovely 6kg hammers again ;-)

We finished with 5 tons of rubble. Man, I was exhausted!

Overall look at our place - looks much bigger and brighter, isn't i?
Excuse bricks and wood laying all around - we try to use again as much waste as we can - wood will be taken by our friend to burn it.

There's also a updated panorama at first page, check it out!

Now we're cleaning the place up and after the weekend we're starting the ceiling - more to come!

 

[thomask]

Musicman,

Looking real good, lots of heavy sweat equity I see.

Will you have commercial clients or private customers or both?

Do you have any pics of some of your previous detail work on vehicles to share?

They call that vehicle with the tank to pick up your waste water a "honey wagon" over here.

FYI That's what we would call a play on words.

 

[mgroshong]

Lots of work going into this place, keep it up it's looking good. Yeah it's quite different outside the us it seems. Not being able to wash your own car and all.

 

[MusicMan]

Musicman,

Looking real good, lots of heavy sweat equity I see.

Will you have commercial clients or private customers or both?

Do you have any pics of some of your previous detail work on vehicles to share?

They call that vehicle with the tank to pick up your waste water a "honey wagon" over here.

FYI That's what we would call a play on words.

Thanks!

We'll have both, private and commercial clients. I'm also in Polish American cars "community" so there will hopefully be some of that. I have some pics of our previous work, but i'm on the new pc right now, because my last hdd is burned and waiting for the data recovery. But I'll post something here for sure! Maybe even my friends 1970 Challenger R/T, which is waiting for our opening day?

Anyway, we're still fixing the roof, to be 200% sure, that there will be no suprises when we'll put new isolation and make new ceiling. I'll do some photos at monday, cause it looks much better now, everything is cleaned up nicely.

Meantime, i've just made some shopping yesterday, God, I was happy!
New stuff, new quality! I was happy as child opening the christmas presents.

Bigger things - vacuum cleaner, rotary buffers and pressure washer.

General "STUFF" for studio use, about 70% completed (a LOT smaller stuff is in the box on the right, and few 5l containers are not included), the rest will come with the "sale" stuff ... which amount will be almost this same

And close up for what i like the most!

 

[e-tek]

GREAT thread!!! Thanks for posting - all the way from....your computer I mean Poland!! Lots of hard work went into that renovation - good on ya, must be good people!

How long have you been detailing? Was that your FULL-time job beforethis, or did you quit something else to do this? Nice new equipment!! Always fun to buy - right? Didn't you have any equipment before this? I'm guessing you did since you're experienced. Looking forward to seeing your finished space, first customers and first jobs!!

 

[mojo_13]

Festool buffer? I bet its a great tool, I've only used there woodworking tools but they are top notch and always feel great in your hands. Progress looks good can't wait to see more.

 

[MusicMan]

E-tek - Thank you! I'm glad that you like it!

I'm "in" "cleaning better" since i got my drivers licence and i was taking care of my brothers car. In pure Detaling by big "D" for about a year and a half. That's when i bought my first car - American Car, 1981 Buick Skylark Limited. Then i realised that popular stuff will not let me achieve results i wanted - ultimate shine and spotless interior. Then i got carried away...

I'm a young person - I'm 21 right now. But already experienced in many planes and travelled the world to work for my music equipment. For detailing, I left my previous work - head of the biggest music store in this part of country, 600 square meters size. There was unfortunately not much "rock'n'roll" left, it is a part of huge company which is about money and dont give a **** about music itself.

My previous equipment was low quality, with tend to breakdowns, but as we came with idea to "DO IT" we saw no point in buying stuff until we're gonna start, so we can buy a good stuff then. I also participated in Europe Uninon Dotation program -took two months of paper work and some meetings, but i managed to get "thru" and recieved some money for "a good start".

So i treated myself with few nice waxes and Festool bufffer i always wanted - it's unbeliveable, no comparision to ANYTHING, even with the Makita 9227CB which i also bought. Light, smooth, perfectly shaped and works just lovely. And dont forget the green cable...

Already tested, two cars made meanwhile. Example?


And here's update!

I love the way how it starts to look clean - even with no lamps attached, it's so much brighter now! I hope that we will finish ceiling in this week. Sorry for the poor cellphone photos, but i dont always remember to take my camera.

Delivery

Isolation going in

Overall look

 

[Grizz1963]

Amazing amount of work you have done so far.

Good luck and success with all the rest.

 

[MusicMan]

Grizz1963 - thank you!

Another update!

We're still working on ceiling - today I'm going to post some new pics with the progress, but here's what we've made so far.

Started with fixing the walls and hiding cables

Ceiling - WEIRD angles ONLY, i have no idea what was builders idea, but for sure he was not the brightest mind...

But... we've almost made it!

One thing we have big problem with, is water which is gathering inside the trench. Few days of heavy rain, and we have this:

It's almost 10cm of water inside. We've already poured it out, but still thinking how to isolate this "home made" trench from ground water.

And kind of a off topic - we've made a 3 day brake to do one customers car. If you're interested, you can go and have a look at this project here:

1987 Mercedes Sec 560

You can use google translator or simply ask me anything, if you'll have any questions about it. Hope you'll like it!

 

[mojo_13]

Is the water seeping in from the ground or is it coming from inside your shop? They make a "paint" that people use for basements that you put on the walls to keep water from coming in. Basically making it a big rubber liner. May be something to look into, there are quite a few brands but a few major ones. I can look for the product name if you are interested.

 

[MusicMan]

UPDATE!

Hi!

Guys, it's been a while since my last update - but it was worth it. Time well spend, that's for sure!

We've made a HUGE progress since last, i have a lot of photos, but i'll try to put it together somehow. And i will take some new today, because those are already outdated, haha, we're going fast!

Grinding (i'm not sure if it's proper word for that, but who cares) plaster

Plastering in process

Hiding the gas pipe, also made for a better overall look

Toys... we all love them

It took a while - hole made for ventilation, we have nice 60W fan waiting to be mounted there

Making a "new wall". What we have there, was wavy wall and gate to owners workshop which is not heated anytime, and will never be opened as its welded - he have another entrance made. Gate is not very airtight, so i decided to isolate it from us and build a fake wall in front of it.

As it started to getting cold, we called the ARTILLERY!

Preparing the place for chimney - heatproof line of bricks with some kind of plaster dedicated for it. It took us 3 hours to clean the old chimney which was not used for a few years, and propably never cleaned. But when the smoke showed up over our place and the fire started to dance in our stove we were really happy

Plastering the rest of the wall - i marked the ventilation hole with a red circle

DONE!

Door surroundings waiting for corners and plaster

That's it for tonight

 

[Ripped]

I don't envy you. You guys have accomplished a lot, so far. Looking good.

Good luck with it the rest of the way.

 

[larryv]

Keep the pictures coming. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

[MusicMan]

Quick update

Walls are ready for painting and tiles - even and smooth. I belive they are almost dry already, as we were heating all day long.

And we have started finishing the shop part - at the end of the the day we've poured self leveling conrete/screeder (can't find the word but you know what i'm talking about)

And tommorrow is a BIG day - we're going for a big shopping of building supplies And we plan to hang the lights to make work more comfortable.

 

[Curt_pnw]

Nice work so far! Subscribed.