Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT DeeDubz Powerstroke shop

[Dan in Pasadena]

Very late in coming back to this thread.

I didn't read all the responses but did you make sure to ask the neighbor if everything you're doing on your own property suits HIS preferences? I'm being sarcastic of course but wow, the stones on that guy!

 

[DeeDubz]

Very late in coming back to this thread.

I didn't read all the responses but did you make sure to ask the neighbor if everything you're doing on your own property suits HIS preferences? I'm being sarcastic of course but wow, the stones on that guy!

He lost the war sadly and keeps to his side of the fence. A few months back my wife an I were out by the shop and caught him creeping over the fence. I yelled out "Can I help you?" He said no and retreated.

Im not sure i mentioned this little story about him ill try and be brief. The guy looks like Lyod christmas from Dumb and dumber. Except hes in his late 50s. During the building commissions public comment he went on a rant about how my garage will devalue his house, increase his electric bill ect. But the thing that i thought was funny is he said " back in the day we used to settle this man to man". I thought he was trying to peck a fight. I just want him to go home safely to his family. At the conclusion of the meeting we walked out the same door to the parking lot where both of our cars were closely parked. I kinda thought he might say something or try to get under my skin but nothing was said. He left with his wife.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

The man to man comment sounds pretty juvenile to me. He actually WANTS to get into a physical fight or an unresolvable argument? What’s the point in either of those options.

 

[don long]

DeeDubz
I just found your thread and want to catch up. I'll find time tonight to read through it. I've glanced at your pic's and like what you are doin out there.

 

[DeeDubz]

After four days of digging trench Im about 80% done. Friday morning I got off work and went straight to work. I was able to install the drain pipe. I had to make a couple of runs to the local hardware store. I also ran some electrical in the trench as well. The wife has a light string that goes around the pool fence. Theres a power outlet by the pool equipment that can be turned on by our pool app.

This morning Im going to get some more 3/4" PVC to finish the electrical to the other side of the pool equipment. I might add another drain. Prior to the pool being built every time it rained It flooded my back yard. My house sits lower than the street. But my property is tiered. I still have about 80 ft of trench dig on the other side of the black gate. That will go pretty easy. Im gonna rent a trencher. It should only take me a day. But it will have to wait till I get back in town.

After a long day the wife took me out to our local watering hole and got me a few yrs. To end the night I smoked a Cohiba.

 

[DeeDubz]

I finished the hard part of the drain issue. I still need to level out the dirt a bit but ill wait for cooler weather an after a good rain. Eventually were gonna add 3/4 inch rock where there is dirt in the pool area as well as a brick wall around the equipment to keep the noise down. You can see the electrical conduit next the gate and my wifes lights that hang on the iron fence. The water in the pool is 70degrees. A little coo to swim in.

 

[don long]

Nice set up and good progress.

 

[DeeDubz]

Nothing really new to report on the shop. Ive been working quite a bit lately so I could get some time off to attend a conference in Atlanta with my wife. We ended up staying downtown Atlanta at the OMNI connected to the CNN center. We showed up on a Monday and had a few days to see the sights. Id had never been to Atlanta before. The people were super nice. I was surprised how clean it was down town. Not too many bums and it seemed things were pretty clean. The conference didnt really set things up very well as far as logistics. The hotel lobby store ran out of bottled water the first day, they didnt get a shipment till the end of the week.
I was surprised how many restaurants were closed. The lobby bar didnt open till 430 daily. There was a star bux across the street from our hotel. They didnt open till thursday. Most of the restaurants that were located around the OMNI were closed during the week. The only thing that was open was the CNN food court inside the OMNI. There were only about 5 fast food places open. A lot of the businesses were closed. It was never packed. I found it ironic that inside the CNN center there were more ARMED security guards than patrons. I thought that CNN was anti 2a. The wife an I attend a few classes, when we had some down time we did some top golf and checked out the aquarium.
Like all vacations they must come to an end. The flight home we were able to fly with some old friends that attend the conference. They have us passes to the delta lounge. It was awesome free beer free food. Most of the restaurants in the terminal were packed.
The wife an I sat in an exit row. The flight attendant asked if we would be willing to help out in the event of an emergency. I replied yes... but my shirt said something different. I didnt wear that on purpose either.

 

[DeeDubz]

Finally I have some days off. My employer doesn't care to give me many days off. Within the last couple of weeks I only had 3 days off *working 24hr shifts*. Luckily this morning I drove out of the parking lot at work and headed home to an empty house. The kids at school and the wife was at work. Ive been meaning to replace a side door to my wifes garage. Its old and doesn't provide much security. I'll take some pictures of it today.
I headed to home depot and bought a steel door 30x80 exterior door, along with shims, liquid nail, 2x4s and a ryobi multi tool.

All of my power tools are ryobi. When my wife an I were early into our marriage we didnt have a **** ton of money to dump on tools. We had purchased our first home and I was in need of power tools. I bought a set of ryobi power tools at home depot. I started off with a drill, flash light, skill saw and sawzall. Today I have over 14 ryobi tools. Im past the point of switching tools. A few yrs ago I built a power tool holder in my shop. I painted it red about a yr ago. Fast forward today I wanted to support ryobi so I bought a gallon of lime green paint and painted my tool shelf. I had to put a few coats to cover all the red. I still need to clean up my mess.

 

[DeeDubz]

Its been nice being at home and being able to catch up around the compound. I found some old pictures of the side door for the wifes garage. Im pretty sure its an original door from the house (50s). It had a pretty big gab on the top. The duck tape on the door was my attempt to try and get my over priced fluffy dog to figure out a doggy door. It wasn't successful so Im not going to add it to the door.

The pre hung door install went pretty well. It took me about 20 mins to install. The door open and shuts perfect. Not bad for my first time. All I have left is to put some trim up and install a dead bolt. I think im going to add a smart dead bolt.

After I cleaned up my mess I figured Id continue with my lime green paint theme. After applying a few coats im overall pretty happy with the color. After the painting my son wanted me to build him an airplane. I had some left over wood laying around. I did my best to make it look like a plane. He even got to use my new Ryobi multi tool to sand off the ruff edges.

 

[DeeDubz]

Today I was able to finish up the side door to the wifes garage. I had to make a trip to home depot to get a dead bolt and some trim. The dead bolt I went with is a Schlage Connect Camelot. I was hoping to be able to connect this to my ring app but I need a ring security system in order to be able to open it on the app. Some of the stucco along the door wasn't even. Luckily I had a couple of mason grinding wheels. I smoothed it out the best I could then sprayed some foam on both sides to fill the gaps.

After all of that I had a few hrs till the wife got home so I changed my oil and fuel filters on the f250.

 

[don long]

Nice work on replacing the old door. Interesting how a little molding will hide the crude work of others.

 

[DeeDubz]

Nice work on replacing the old door. Interesting how a little molding will hide the crude work of others.

Thanks Don, Carpentry isn't really in my wheel house. It was nice to be able to get the job done without paying someone. Im sure they would have done a wayyyy better job than me. But all an all it cost me under 500 to get it done. The lock was almost the same price as the door. I need to replace the top piece on the outside of the door. I need to get a piece of trim that lines up with the two other pieces. It drives the wife crazy. I thought it was good enough. We dont really use that door very often and it faces the back of the house. No one really sees it...

 

[DeeDubz]

Last week I was able to burn a day and go on a dat with the wife. We went to a soiree at the wifes work that hosted Brett Waterman (Restored HGTV). It was nice to get to meet him and hear his story. You'd be surprised at his background. He actually started in tech and graduated ucla. A friend of ours, their parents had their house on restored. It was an old Victorian style house in Redlands.

The next day I figured it was a good time to change the oil in my air compressor. I made a mess.

Thats all i got for now

 

[DeeDubz]

Today I had some time to organize in the shop. I needed to upgrade my storage. So I decided to use what wood and steel I had laying around to accommodate my storage solution. After that I introduced my new feeders to my chickens. But before all of that I had to say hello to Andre....

 

[don long]

I like the caution yellow up on the new shelf.
Chickens are a panic to watch. My wife loves them (50) and 5 turkeys

 

[DeeDubz]

The paint goes with my Ryobi tool theme. I thought 10 was a lot but 50! and 5 turkeys! how do you keep up? I dont eat eggs very often. Its hard to give them away.

 

[DeeDubz]

Im off work for a few weeks. Old injury I have to take it easy that means no heavy lifting or jiu jitsu. Ive been meaning make an angle grinder holder for a while. Ive been storing them in a tool box. The drawer that I used to store them in is pretty small sometimes when I open it it will hang up. Fixed that issue. Then I decided to make another shelve. I ran out of supplies so I have to wait until I go to the depot.

 

[DeeDubz]

The family an I decided to head down to San Diego to take the kids to see the USS Midway and hit Sea world the next day. My oldest is pretty obsessed with the military. It was a pretty cool museum. This is my second time going. My youngest got tired of the walking after a few hours. The one part of the tour I hadn't gone on was the Bridge tour. So me and the oldest took the 20min tour. If your tall or on the heavy side its pretty difficult to negotiate.
We stayed at the gaslamp district. Our view from the hotel you could see all the Navy ships coming into port. Kids had fun seeing the sights of down town. We stayed right next to petco park.
Next day I had off I was able to build some more storage in the shop. I think im starting to get a little tooo carried away with the ryobi paint.

 

[DeeDubz]

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Our Turkey turned out pretty good. The Traeger is an awesome smoker. While the bird was on the smoker my wife heard what sounded like water flowing. She was right. I was able to isolate the water leak to the 3/4 pvc running to the shop/pool equipment. I turned the valve off and started to dig. It looks like its been leaking for awhile. This is a project I can put off for a few days. I didnt wanna ignore my family. After that I had time to install the Christmas lights and inflatables.

 

[DeeDubz]

The water leak saga continues. I ended up finding what I thought was the main leak. I dug about 6 ft of trench to find it. It was an adapter that was slipping off. The pipe was about 4 ft from the concrete. It was leaking at the sleeve. There was barley any pipe in the adapter on one side. Thats why it was leaking. I just pulled on the pipe and it slipped off the sleeve.

While I waited for the water to drain out of the trench I decided to rehang my Fat tire neon sign. I took a 2x4 and some L brackets for the support. I used self tapping screws into the stud. When I get home from work IM going to run the cord along the stud to make it look a little cleaner.

I have to add a few Christmas lights on the house. I tried to get my oldest to help hang them. It was hard for him to staple the lights using a manual stanley stapler. So i upgraded and got a Ryobi battery powered stapler. The thing buries the staples. I had to put it on its lowest setting.

Back to the water leak. I finished up the repair of the pvc pipe. I cut out a section and replaced it. I forgot to take pictures. I waited a few hours before I charged the system. No leaks... As I was cleaning up my tools I noticed the water valve to the pool was turned off. I dont remember turning it off and I doubt the wife did it. So I turn it on and find leak number two. The apollo pvb4a is leaking. I didnt have enough time to dig into that. It will have to wait till I get home. I think it had been leaking and my pool cleaner probably shut it off and didnt tell me. I think it just needs to be cleaned.

 

[Bob Heine]

The apollo pvb4a is leaking.

Might be something simple. A tiny lizard crawled up in mine and got caught (probably getting a drink, swelling up and unable to back out). I zip-tied a small piece of fiberglass screen under the cover and haven't had a repeat.

 

[DeeDubz]

Might be something simple. A tiny lizard crawled up in mine and got caught (probably getting a drink, swelling up and unable to back out). I zip-tied a small piece of fiberglass screen under the cover and haven't had a repeat.

I wonder if some dirt got in there. I was pretty careful not to get any dirt in the pipe. Ill have a look tomorrow

 

[NickH]

Hey DeeDubz, just catching up on your build thread, nice shop! It's crazy how strict a lot of the country is with building regulations, inspections, etc. It's nothing like that here where I live, I actually expected MORE inspections than the 2 or 3 that I had throughout the process. Keep up the good work!

 

[DeeDubz]

Today I wanted to make a little shelf for some of the clutter I have on my beer fridge. I had some very important stuff there that I wanted to put on display. I had a few extra 2x4s laying around plus brackets... what the hell. A few of the items I have. A Coors light can. That was the last beer I shared with my dad. A couple of beer buckets I acquired from vegas. A cowboy boot beer glass. The original Pioneer Hotel and casino beer bottle. The american flag my best friend gave me. He was over seas in Afghanistan serving our country and brought this flag back for me. It was on board a F16 (I think) that flew a few missions that dropped some bombs. I have a certificate Im going to hang with it that tells me that pilot and the mission. Still a work in progress. To be continued.

Water leak saga has been fixed! I removed the components of the valve an after inspection. It looks like there is no damage. After a few minutes of reassembling and disassembling the reason it was leaking was it was installed incorrectly. I found that on of the diaphragms wasn't in place properly. After trail an error I got it to stop to leak. The only thing I can think of to why it would be like that is the pool guy. Theres only one reason why it would be improperly installed. If someone took it apart and didnt install it correctly. It wasn't me an it wasn't my wife. Next time I see the pool guy im gonna hit him up about that valve. Also the section I replaced.. no leaks. Im putting this in win column.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

That "Fat Tire" sign is really neat!

 

[DeeDubz]

That "Fat Tire" sign is really neat!

My Motherinlaw got that for me a long time ago. It was in my original garage. A small two car. I want to add another sign. I put the sign on a motion detector. It was never on unless I plugged it in.

 

[DeeDubz]

I picked up a picture frame for the cert that goes along with the flag. Also decided to put some color on this shelf. Should have everything up on it today. Just letting the paint dry.

 

[DeeDubz]

Finally got the shelf done. I got all the stuff off the top of my fridge. It only cost me a couple of 2x4s and some spare L brackets I had laying around the shop. Im happy I got the war flag on display. The wife told me I should get another Neon sign to put next to the fat tire sign. While the wife and the older boy were gone I had a visitor. My youngest loves to roll around on my small chair. I wanted to make a larger arrow for a sign I have in the shop. Its a fireman with an arrow pointing at the *exit*. The arrow thats on it right now Is pretty small. i figured I could fab on with some scrap metal. Before I got dark I painted it, I'll post pics later.

 

[DeeDubz]

I finished the Arrow for the exit sign. Ive been at work the last couple of days. Hopefully I can get into the shop today.

 

[DeeDubz]

I finally got some days off. The first day I had off I went to the local ford dealer to pick up a new output shaft seal for my transfer case. The old seal wasn't leaking yet but It was starting to crack around the seal. It was only a matter of time before it started to fail. This am while the kids and wife were gone I dropped the drive shaft and worked on getting the seal off. I didnt realize how tight the bolts going to the differential were. I had a long handled 12 mm wrench. I couldn't get them to turn. I tried a small CP 3/8 inch impact wrench. Didnt do anything. So I upgraded to a 1/2" and that did the trick. A couple of swings with the mallet The back part of the shaft broke free. I had marked everything so I knew what position it went in. The old seal didnt wanna come out very easy. I had a couple of marks on the transfer case where the seal seats. I used some sand paper and flat blade to smooth them out. I put the seal on and then test drove. No leaks. I'll consider this in a the win column.

 

[DeeDubz]

While browsing the garage gallery I saw a member had made a metal rose using some metal and bent washers. I stole his idea. I fired up the Lincoln mig and tried my best to copy. I dont think mine turned out as good as his. Oh well This one is going to my moms. Im gonna make another one for my wife when I get time to make it.
Today my oldest an I are headed out to see my mom. Were gonna go do some shooting and pick up a couple of things with the flatbed. Im gonna try and bring back this big press my dad had made a long time ago. Also my Triumph is just sitting collecting dust. I need to get working on it to getting it running.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Read through your thread recently. Nice work on the shop, looks like it and your various projects are coming together nicely! That metal rose turned out pretty great, I'll have to give that a go at some point.

Cool to see another Jocko fan here. Good.

 

[DeeDubz]

Read through your thread recently. Nice work on the shop, looks like it and your various projects are coming together nicely! That metal rose turned out pretty great, I'll have to give that a go at some point.

Cool to see another Jocko fan here. Good.

Thanks, I still have more stuff to add. But im running low on real estate. Im gonna try and whip up another rose for my wife today. I'll post about it later. Big time Jocko fan, Ive read most of his books, listen to the podcast I dabble in jiu jitsu * when im not injured*.

 

[DeeDubz]

Over the weekend myself and my oldest boy went to go visit my mom out of state. I took the flat bed trailer to bring back some stuff for the shop. We did a little shooting then it was time to go to work. My dad had a few items that my mom wanted out of her garage. A drill press, a press some steel some wood ect. My dads 77 Triumph has been sitting in the garage for 4 runs. My dad wanted me to have it when he passed. My goal is when I get time to get that thing running. Im not a road bike guy.
One of my moms friends had a pretty legit trophy room. I was pretty surprised to see that she had gotten a mountain lion. Some of the trophies i didnt really agree with. My dad taught me what you kill you eat. I couldn't just shoot those animals not to eat them. Maybe the mountain lion... Those things are all over the place in CA. Its pretty much destroyed the beer population. I Didnt get a chance to empty the truck bed yet. I got a much of hardware an stuff my mom wanted gone. My dad was a hoarder in a good way I guess. He never through away screws, bolts, nuts ect. He also liked to collect cardboard and old metal coffee cans. It pissed my mom off to no end. He like to keep the cardboard for things to hold or to lay on the ground to keep oil off fresh new looking concrete. My dad taught me at a young age not to get a drip of oil on his concrete. Its stuck with me to this day.
Thanks for the wife she helped me pull that big press off the trailer. The thing weights a couple hundred pounds. Ill post more later.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Big time Jocko fan, Ive read most of his books, listen to the podcast I dabble in jiu jitsu * when im not injured*.

You and me both man!

I want to get into BJJ, just have to find the time. He inspired me to get into better shape and lift on a regular basis. My brother introduced me to him and his call of "get after it" kept us working out through the lockdowns. We'd text each other every morning "GET AFTER IT." And a gym aftermath photo. Kept us accountable.

I agree with you about hunting. I eat what I shoot, taking even an animal life isn't something minor. That being said, I know of people eating mountain lion and bear. Bear is supposedly fantastic. Not heard a lot about the lion. The monkey is kinda freaky. Nice grabs on the tools and bike.

 

[DeeDubz]

Its been almost a week since Ive been able to get anything done in the shop. With the holidays and work all my projects ill have to wait. I had one day this week to try to un clutter my shop. I only had a few hours. So I was able to put all the steel up in my rafters. The wood will have to wait another day. I was in a scramble to make a metal rose for the wife. I dont think it turned out as good as the first one I did. Im gonna try and build another one later down the road. I doubt Ill be able to get anything done until after the first of the yr. Work and vacation are preventing that.

 

[DeeDubz]

Ive been working most of the holidays. We planned a Disneyland trip a few yrs back prior to covid. They shut the park down during covid so had to reschedule. We picked the two best days to go... it rained both days. It was in the mid 50s and the park was crowded. We stay at the Grand hotel. Neat little hotel but wayyy over priced. I dont see myself going back there anytime soon.

After working NYE and New yrs I was paroled. Got home started moving things around in the shop. The inlaws are in town for a week so I felt it was best to make some changes and hide out in the man cave. I had a small snap on tool box under my white bench. I needed to move it to make room for my part organizers. I was using that to store welding rod. All my rod is being stored in the hold brown fridge with the drill press on top. I had to empty out both boxes so I could stack them. After that I had to shuffle some benches around to make room for the drill press and welding equipment. I still have to find a spot for the hydraulic press.

While I was at work my wife called and said the ice maker in our 1 yr old LG fridge quit working. So I had some time to work do some studying on youtube university. We reset the ice maker and unplugged it with no success. I found a video about switch wires on the mother board.

It sounds like the ice maker water line was frozen and just needed to be heated. In the video it shows switching the wire or moving it over one hole. I didnt take any pictures. My wife helped pull the wire out. So now the wife can have cocktail ice.

 

[DeeDubz]

A little bit of an update going into the weekend. The little Fridge hack the wife an I tried didnt hold up. The fridge made one set of ice in the tray and that was it. After that I couldn't get the reset to work. So I called LG and they sent a tech the following day. The Heating element in the ice maker wasn't working. However they dont just replace the heating element. They replace the ice auger/ maker. It cost about 500 bucks to fix it. But my queen needs ice for her cocktails.
Ive been sick for a few days. Its not covid, I got tested twice. It sure felt like covid sure did slow me down. The silver lining was my in laws left when they found out I was sick. No more cleaning up after them and feeding them. So I had time to mess around in the shop. I brought back a bunch of parts and tools from my dads old shop. I just needed to find room to store all of it. My shop has been a mess for a few weeks. But its starting to get better. I figured I ad some more shelving. I have some extra wood laying around.
This week I have a few days off before I head back to work. The wifes car is going into the dealer monday for some recalls. We ll be down to one car. Wife will be taking my truck to work. Ill be stuck at home. No big deal Ill be able to get some of my projects done.

 

[Jayman17]

I really like that lower Mac rollaway you have. What year is it?

Jay