78fj40's new shop build...

[78fj40]

One quick note....

I also mentioned in a earlier post about bank teller cabinets. They make great workbenches. If you look at the photo with the two workbenches (the one with the smurf colored one) The tan cabinets with all of the stickers on them are old bank teller cabinets made be Mosler. They are heavy duty cabinets with ball bearing drawers (for that heavy money) I just got some oak butcher block like material for a top and I was good to go. I really wish I had the contacts like I used to get more of this stuff....


Enjoy!

 

[Boosted1]

Great progress you have made. I need some of those Pallet storage racks.

 

[78fj40]

Yeah I really lucked out with those....a steal for what I paid for them....

 

[UN4GTBL]

nice shop!!!

 

[78fj40]

nice shop!!!

Yeah...and I just found out this week that my company is laying off 10% of it's workforce.....and I just took a new job within the company.....

bummer if I was forced to move to find work.......can you say garage sale?

 

[TejasBimmer]

Great build there Norm....sorry to hear you sold your 40...but real nice 4R there. Now you will be the official WAT holder for VA!

I had something similar happen to me, a few years back I was laid off by my company that I worked for nearly 10 years. I too was searching for jobs and had a few offered...but out of state.
I basically took a job that was near by, so that we could stay in the house we are in and in the state we love to be in. THe pay sucked and the travel time sucked too...but we were able to make it.
Now I work for someone new for the past couple years and i am having fun again and enjoying working (weird eh...).

I hope you get to stay in your area and not needing to move. that would **** big time.

 

[M-technik-3]

Very nice setup you have there.

 

[Stang65Fst]

Re: Update with Photos Part 2

Around back:

Where did you get these louvers at? And what is there size?

 

[78fj40]

Re: Update with Photos Part 2

Where did you get these louvers at? And what is there size?

They are for an attic fan. 20"x20" I believe. I wanted something that could ventilate the garage if I was welding/grinding/etc quickly. So I boxed in an attic fan. It's not meant for gas/paint fumes (for you safety guys out there), but can pull out the smoke in the garage without having to keep opening/closing the overhead door when I have the A/C on.

I took the fan and boxed it in on the inside. Removed the temperature power switch and wired it to a switch on the wall. Then I made an insulated cover for the fan box. Here is the inside photo:

 

[78fj40]

Mop & Bucket....

I went to an auction 6 months ago. for $5 I picked up a nice commercial grade mop, bucket, and one of those squeeze thingys to ring out the mop. It's been sitting in the corner of the garage since.

Fast forward to last week. I finally got off my *** and when through all of the boxes and crates of **** I have laying around and made a few dump runs to clean things up so I can get around the garage. You know when things are getting bad when you have **** piled up all over and nothing on the shelves or in the drawers.

So I got everything all cleaned up and organized. Then I noticed the floor. All dirty with signs of used oil, antifreeze, ATF, and gear lube all over the place. So i got out the mop and bucket. Sprayed down the floor with some simple green added some water and went to town with the mop and bucket. It took 3 'clean' buckets to get the whole job done....and I swear I can see 2x better in the garage than I could last week.

Let's see how long the 'new floor finish' look will last!

 

[78fj40]

Well......from my 2nd to last post I told everyone that my company was going to lay off 10%.....things just went downhill. In October of last year (08) they announced plans to shut down one of the two factories here on site. 1500 people were let go including me. I applied for a job with the other factory, and got hired on only to last another few months before the company went Chapter 11 and closed up the other factory as well in February.

I managed to stay on until April 3rd working on inventory for the hand and power tools for the liquidation company to come in and sell everything off.

So now I've been out of work for 2 and 1/2 months looking for a job. I have three prospects out there. Only one requires me to stay in the area. The other two opportunities would mean having to sell my dream garage and move.

Hopefully it ends up in the hands of someone who will use it like I did.

 

[scheu]

Did you end up having to relocate?

 

[78fj40]

Did you end up having to relocate?

Wow....I probably should have updated my status.

I was able to stay locally. There is a new barley to ethanol plant going in about 25 minutes away from my house, and I was able to get a job as their maintenance engineer. I started back in August. Things are still under construction, the plan is for the plant to be on-line by the end of May 2010.

 

[jktruck150]

Any updates? How's the ethanol plant? Nice place, I remember seeing this one a while back, figured I would bring it back up to the top! Any more on the 87 'reconstruction'?

 

[78fj40]

Just thought I would drop a line and let everyone know my status.

It's been a roller coaster of a couple of years, getting laid off (October of '08) and rehired only to get laid off again from the Semiconductor Plant (April '09). So I had three positions lined up, two of them outside of the Richmond area and one local, and I took the local position to work at a ethanol plant nearby (August '09).

The job was good, but unfortunately the investor group decided to pull the plug after making around 200,000 gallons of ethanol and place the faculty into mothballs until they can find a buyer. So I had to find another job and quickly (June '11). So I fell back onto one of the two positions I turned down back in 2009.

I'm now currently working for the Department of the Navy as a Mechanical Systems Engineer. The job is located at the Washington Navy Yard in DC, and I've been renting for the past couple of months and traveling home on weekends.

This leads me up to my current status, having to sell the garage. It's really hard for me to do it, but it needs to be done. I'm working on getting the house ready to be listed, but if anyone knows of someone looking in the Richmond, VA area for a great garage, and a house to boot. Let me know.

I’m keeping my head up about this, already thinking of ways to build my next one and ways to make it better, so keep tuned for a '78fj40 new shop build Part II' coming to a message board sometime soon!!!!!!

If anything comes up for sale, you guys will be the first to know about it!!

Thanks

 

[stangman39]

Sorry to hear that. I enjoyed reading thru your whole building of the garage.
Hope things are brighter moving fwd.

 

[lee68chevelle]

beautiful build with great ideas on the interior. Could you please tell me your roof pitch, is it a 4/12? How tall are your walls? how high is your ceiling where the lift is? Thanks I`m a hopeful, future builder! My plans are for a 32` wide x 30` deep, 4/12 roof, with 10ft. walls and scissor trusses. Eave entry, like yours. Just hoping to have enough ceiling height for a lift someday,, thanks for any info

 

[lee68chevelle]

I`m very sorry, I didn`t read your last post till after I sent you the message. I hope everything works out for you and your family. take care

 

[78fj40]

Dusting off this thread.

I've been working for the Navy for the past 3 years and managed to move the family into our new house in Arlington. The house back in Richmond is currently being rented, but I have managed to keep the garage for storage. I am so glad I installed the separate meter and driveway to the garage. Now for the bad news, the house is scheduled to be sold to my tenant this coming February (2015). I have been slowly moving all of the contents to my new 'garage'. It's a 1930's size detachable unit, but I have been able to cram in a lot into it.

It's very hard to make a transition from a 2500sqft house with a 2 car attached and a 3+ car 30x36 detached garage into a 1100sqft house and single 12x18 garage. I'm making it work.

Will update with some photos of the electrical upgrades and nifty storage ideas I have incorporated.

On the plus side, I'm working on some cool stuff.

 

[78fj40]

Just found out yesterday that the tenant is not exercising his buy out option. The house will be on the market coming soon....

 

[schmee]

I may have missed it, but what kind of air conditioning unit are you using?

 

[78fj40]

I may have missed it, but what kind of air conditioning unit are you using?

No name unit with a mix of components. It was cheap and new at the time. No issues with it so far.