For some of you that have been following along, you may think that wrapping up the shutter doors and worktops and pain and such that this is pretty much the end of the finish work (in the work area, anyway) but I have threw myself a curveball (think about the complexity of that phrase
) and made the decision a few days back to densify the floor. I’ve never done it before and after some research, folks made it look pretty easy and I was doing pretty decent on time.
How hard can it be? Let’s see.
First off, the shop needed everything removed. That turned out to be a bigger project than you’d assume. Even after getting rid of so much stuff, I still have too much.
I needed to make a cart for the Model A engine I had sitting on the floor. I kept it in the garage to keep it near the roadster project. I didn’t want to damage it moving it to and from storage. I bought a piece of 2x6 and some casters and used scrap 2x4s for the cross slats.
At some point in the rush, I got the doors completed and hung. Originally the center wheels/trolleys were straight and after getting the doors squared, they were now just a scant too long. I considered a few different options and settled on this. Sure it looks a little weird but this was by-far the simplest solution. It looks silly but I don’t think I mind it. Function over form, for the time being. I’d like to know what you think, leave them crooked or fix it and get them vertical?
I put up some “kick plates” on the base of the painted wall so that I didn’t mess them up over time. I figured doing that before I ran a grinder/buffer around the floor was a good idea. I had the sheet metal shop cut me a couple pieces a couple days prior.
Like everything else, I knocked the shine off of them. These are glued on. Eventually, I’ll put some nails in them mainly for aesthetics. The adhesive I used isn’t allowing these to come off without a fight.
I put the worktops on before I pushed the boxes out. Here's one.
Then, it was time to move everything out. The only items left in the shop were the engine, the bench (which I put on a dolly so it could be moved around), and the compressor.
It took far longer than I expected to clean out the garage and looking back, I would’ve done it differently. I left myself a big mess to deal with later.
Before we could even get to the “fun” part, we needed to clean all the loose dirt, dust, etc., from the floor. I had a helper eager to get to work. In fact, whenever he comes into the shop he says, “What can I do?” If there was one trait I could hang onto as he grows, it would be that one. I really do hope continues to want to be out there.
Another plus is that hit fits into small spaces REALLY WELL!
Soon after he had the place cleaned up, it was time to scrub the floor. I’d never used one of these devilish machines. After I turned it on, I became instantly regretful. Like, seriously, all of the stuff I’ve broken or done to myself, this is the recent one that will have a little longer lasting sting. The machine manhandled me and knocked into the dolly, sending the engine to the floor and messing up a good deal of parts.
That’s all I could see after a quick look. I’m hoping I didn’t do anything worse than what you can see. It was such a violent hit. I wouldn’t be surprise if there’s anything else broken. I’m still pretty mad at myself so I haven’t looked too closely.
I left the engine on the floor for a bit and moved on. I had no interest in dragging the hoist back in and dealing with it. Later when Linh came in to check on it, she helped me out and we got it back on and strapped.
I resumed scrubbing and then grinding. After a little practice, the machine became easier to use. Unfortunately, the cost of my foolishness is a payment of time and money on that once-perfect engine. So, this feeling may dissipate but it’ll rear its ugly head when I’m working on it in a couple months. Don’t you hate making more work for yourself?
The grinding: Wow, it leaves you with quite a bit of material to deal with. I washed it out with the hose. Now, I have silt all outside the garage door, further messing up the driveway. Seriously, I keep doing things that will make extra work down the road. This weekend was chock full of that stuff.
More pics… it was way late.
Tool box corner: Cleaning/grinding that entry slope was a challenge.
Years of spills, dirt, grime, etc., were removed from the floor. There were cracks I didn’t even know were there, hidden under dirt and dust.
It’s a smooth 70-something year old floor.
I really liked the tan color of the damp floor but I’m not crazy enough to pull all this stuff out again to epoxy put a finish on it.
This was how far I kept the door open and I would hose out all the slurry into the driveway. I was worried the neighbors would hear me but the next day I asked and they said they didn’t hear a thing.
Haha, it’s clean but boy-oh-boy is it ugly… even compared to the floor a few hours previous to this photo. I didn’t know most of those cracks existed.
I vacuumed up gallons of water but there was no way I was getting the densifier down. It was close to 3 a.m. and all my stuff was out in the driveway. I don’t live in a bad neighborhood but I also don’t leave items out for folks. So, I grabbed a blanket and took my dirty self into my truck and took a 3 hour nap beside all the contents of the garage. I was so beat I thought I wouldn’t hear someone if they came around but I didn’t sleep all that well so I would have, for sure.
At sunrise (a few minutes to 6) I woke up, headed into the house, showered and caught a couple hours of sleep. It was Father’s day and I’d successfully killed my plans by taking much longer than expected. Still, waking up to my wife and kids and homemade cards with beautiful sentiments within them was exactly what I needed.
I know all this work is temporary but sometimes when you’re in the thick of it and you’re really pushing yourself, you question why it is that you’ve taken this on. Thankfully, thoughts like that are seldom and fleeting. I got back into it, trying new things and making mistakes. Thankfully, the Dad’s day ice cream cake was there to help.
