Citrogarage

[lucajack2cv]

That camelback drill press is a beauty. My cousin have one in the shop on farm, that our grandfather bought used in the 1950s, probably it's prewar. Cousin says I can have it the same day he finds a modern one that suits his needs better. I'm waiting!

Wow, a drill of the 30's made in CCCP... It should be a terrific device!


Meanwhile the laying of wooden blocks advances gradually and the surface finished already allows some functions, such change tires:

The following slides illustrate the standardized procedure for cleaning the wood blocks that have spent several winters stacked outdoor:

The winner tool is this Makita planer allows to remove decades of grime and grease in the form of compact chip, avoiding to spray too much poisonous dust in the air:

Sides and bottom just need a light and fast brushing, so for those grooves on the upper side where the planer does not arrive. At this point it is possible to sand with paper 40 gr/mq without the paper becomes immediately a mixture of grease..

Fortunately except the superficial greasing, these blocks was intended to a local closed since the beginning so have not received protective treatments similar to those of the railway sleepers or telephone poles based on creosote, tar or folmaldeide: this fact technically allows to avoid to consider them as a special waste.. Anyway the conditions of protective clothing after a couple of cleaning sessions make evident that the operation is not healthy at all..

In the evening, two or three rows of blocks can be added to the floor extending the wooden horizon..

This is the surface, before and after sanding the slits:

Probably a final smooth will be required because the perfect shim of the blocks is really impossible, I hope that the operation does not erase the wear and tear that makes a good 50% of the charme of this floor. At that point also decide if varnishing or less, there's a lot of time to think about it!

Ciao, Lj

 

[BUGTHUG]

That looks great. I have a question about the placement of the flooring, shouldn't the seams be stagard instead of running in a straight bond? The reason I ask, is in the U.S., we would probably lay that floor were the ends don't all aling up. Just asking, I've never seen such timber in that dimension, ours would probably be 8 - 10 feet in length, yours looks to be about 3 feet long. OK, back to work

 

[lucajack2cv]

A good question Bugthug, I used 6-8 feet long wooden boards with not-aligned ends (an old craftman suggested me to overlap about 1/3 board lenght to compensate longitudinal torsion) for glued home floors (page 11 of this topic) :

Actually, nobody knows the original placement of this (about 2.7*1.4*0.4 feet) wooden blocks in their original industrial building (a legend I'd like to trust refers to Fiat Mirafiori factory built between 1936 and 1939 in Torino but at this moment I've not real proofs to confirme it). So the reason of this placement in parallel rows is simply the discovery that the 2.7 feet module perfect fits the width of the old stabble, without necessity to cut any block.

 

[Olliecampbell]

They look great, such lovely worn finish to them.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Luca, some of the stuff you have posted in your thread is awesome, the dedication you have to your home and garage is almost unbelievable. Some of your projects appear to take vast amounts of time and some skills.


May I ask what you do for a living that allows for such time or skills earned ?

 

[CrustyD3mon]

looking fantastic that wood floor....

 

[turbowoodworker]

That floor has to win the "Tough *** Floor" Award from GJ. I've never seen anything so indestructible. Pound away.

 

[Bib Overalls]

I was in an old machine shop in New York once. It had floors made out of wood blocks, most likely white oak, standing vertically. I don't know how tall they were or what surface they were bearing on. Most likely sand. The elderly machinist told me they were at least 100 years old and that they were set upright because wood does not shrink or expand with the grain. This kept the floor level and provided a good footing for the machines. Over the years a lot of oil and other grime soaked in and walking feet had worn them smooth. It looked like black ceramic tile.

I don't think you will have any problems laying out your garage floor like that. The wood is undoubtedly well seasoned and stable. It is going to look like a million bucks ($1,000,000) when you are finished.

 

[lucajack2cv]

..May I ask what you do for a living that allows for such time or skills earned ?

Nuttsgt, no problem I’m glad to answer to your question: I work as architect since 2001 in a private professional studio and from 2005 in public administration designing schools, roads and I'm lucky to "put hands" even on the historical buildings heritage of my town.. From 6.00 pm and during w.e. you know what else I'm doing!
My family had the opportunity to buy this half-ruined farm in 2002

My father and I (he's a geometer/surveyor/planner since the Sixties with great experience and passion in restoration of historical buildings) and our builder of confiance (a guy full of skills called Alessandro) passed the following years doing the first indispensable works (essentially the roofs):

in June 2008 me and Rosanna took decision to live together in this place I used to park my old cars. Said-done, we settle in an old caravan in the yard and passed the summer to restore one single room and repair an old bathroom. In late novembrer we moved inside and our country life and first works at Citrogarage home began..

In 2010 and 2012 André and Nina come to bring joy and to add work..

En avant Citroen, Citrolife goes on!

 

[lucajack2cv]

I wrote I'm not sure the wooden blocks of the new atelier come from the old Mirafiori Fiat factory in Turin.. but I'm almost sure to have in Citrogarage a souvenir of the largest and most important automobile factory of ** century in this country, now probably arrived at the final point of its history..

Fiat Mirafiori was built in that (once was) countyside around Turin from 1936 occuping a one million square meters area (300.000 covered) and inaugurated by the italian dictator at in a terrific papier-mache scenography including an anvil-shaped desk surmonted by an array of microphones..

The working men at that time in Mirafiori were 22.000 not 50.000 but over all their mass was mainly composed of socialists and communists so the answer at Mussolini's speech was particulary and unusually low at the point that the Duce left the stage. The owner of the factory and its director (senator Agnelli and engineer Valletta, both wearing the black fascist uniform) prayed him to come back on the stage.

After the speach, during the convertible-car tour in the immensity of the factory, Mussolini commented with few words: <<it's too big>> considering the impossibility to control such an articulated building almost full of potential subversives..

.. He was not far from truth: march, 5 1943 (exactly 70 years ago) with fascism still reigning, a complete strike stopped the production of Mirafiori contrasting the already begun occupation of north of Italy by the german army.

After WWII this factory became the heart of the industrial reconstruction and the subsequent italian economic boom of '50 and '60: its surface doubled. In these shots we can see the assembly line of popular fiat 500 and 600:

;-) Looking at the floors, you may find something familiar with a peculiar Citrogarage sidewalk..

..Unfortunatly destroyed during Citrogarage flood in 2009 (the wooden pavè rised with the water and floated away) but such an important historical element will be soon restored!

 

[NUTTSGT]

An architect, well that makes sense why you can see the future of your remodel. Keep up the good work.

 

[Bib Overalls]

I'm surprised the Fiat factory survived the war. It must have been a target for Allied bombers. Is it being taken down?

 

[dittle fart around]

I was in an old machine shop in New York once. It had floors made out of wood blocks, most likely white oak, standing vertically. I don't know how tall they were or what surface they were bearing on. Most likely sand. The elderly machinist told me they were at least 100 years old and that they were set upright because wood does not shrink or expand with the grain. This kept the floor level and provided a good footing for the machines. Over the years a lot of oil and other grime soaked in and walking feet had worn them smooth. It looked like black ceramic tile.

View media item 20516
Here's the wood block look being used for streets at Mare Island Naval Base in Vallejo California. The photo is dated Dec 22nd 1899

 

[lucajack2cv]

great image Dittle fart around!

I'm surprised the Fiat factory survived the war. It must have been a target for Allied bombers. Is it being taken down?

Yes it was. Italy entered in WWII june, 10 1940. According with these reserches..

http://www.museotorino.it/view/s/3e3890366caa4e939b5c03c1f1960415

http://www.mirafiori-accordielotte.org/1940-47/introduzione/

http://www.albyphoto.it/articoli/torino-sotto-le-bombe/

http://www.comune.torino.it/archiviostorico/mostre/antologia_immagini_2004/teca5.html

... in June, 11-12 Mirafiori was the first italian target of RAF raids continued until the fall of fascism (july, 25 1943) and during the german occupation of north italy with the passage to the allied side of the south (september, 8 1943) and finally stopped in 1944 with industries completely destroyed (not only fiat Mirafiori but the other fiat factory called Lingotto and Lancia and others).

Nazis definitely left Turin and Milan on april, 25 1945 and Fiat recostruction was completed in 1947-48. Fiat cars 1100 and 500 are produced again..

 

[lucajack2cv]

Meanwhile the placement of wooden blocks inside the garage goes on, here's the carving of an inspection drain hole..

Et voilà:

 

[Wingnut65]

I agree with the others... that floor will be indestructible. Drive on it, pound on it, whatever and it will still be here for more generations to use.

You've given some great history of Fiat and parts of Italy that many of us did not know. And thanks for telling the story again of your family and your history at the Citrogarage.

Architect! I knew we had something in common. Same here, but I am focusing on senior living facilities and other commercial work.

Keep up the great work, Luca

 

[lucajack2cv]

View media item 20516
Here's the wood block look being used for streets at Mare Island Naval Base in Vallejo California. The photo is dated Dec 22nd 1899

Wowowow.. Here's the "Nicolson Paving System"

http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/wood-block-alleys/#more-297

http://blog.chicagohistory.org/index.php/2012/04/history-beneath-the-streets/

http://www.landmarks-stl.org/news/t...one_step_in_the_evolution_of_st_louis-paving/

 

[Imcrazy]

We saw a wooden block floor in a printing press factory in Germany. I asked about it and they said that with a floor like that they can easily reconfigure the floor should they need to move lathes,mills or other machines around.

However the main reason they said they used it was to help save parts if they were dropped on the floor. If they had worked for hours on a complicated machine part that fell and hit a concrete floor it was scrap.

Seemed logical to me.

 

[tskills10]

Really cool place you've got going there. And I found the history lesson of great interest, loved the old pictures.

 

[Fatandre]

This thread is just pure art.
Hands down to you sir

 

[lucajack2cv]

Little progression with the interior garage painting..

The main door..

forbidden to parkinsonians..

Other side..

 

[lucajack2cv]

The 45° inclined striped painting of the door frame (as signage of a narrowing or prominent obstacle) was tipical in italian garages during '30-'60ies. Sometimes this use still survives..

Easter holidays have been useful to proceed in the paving. A large batch of blocks, cleaned and leveled, is ready to lay down..

Innovative system for fast shim-blades removing is adopted..

And several handlings after..

Time to prepare cuts for pillars and drain-covers..

April 1st is a good day for a general sum of the weight handled until now: 52 lines of 8 wooden elements in a line makes 416 wooden blocks layed down. Each one is 38 Kg weigh, it means 15,8 metric tons. Actually, each block is handled not one but at least five times so we can consider a total movement of about 80 tons on a single back.. mine.. You can imagine that I'm rather glad to see the end is finally near!

 

[Olliecampbell]

As always that looks great. I love the stripes!

 

[bidouchon]

hello,
will sand and equalise the blocks after posing ?
nice dancefloor

 

[CrustyD3mon]

amazing looking floor...

 

[Bogdan M.]

I have an enourmous respect for what you have achieved and I am in love with your garage.
It seams that you have a natural talent to transform old things by keeping their patina and taking advantage of it.

 

[Jagmandave]

Is there an electrical conduit coming out of the ground in the main doorway?

If so, what is it for?

 

[bidouchon]

a special gift for you, 3 pictures taken today's afternoon in my town at firemen's place:

and just for the fun for our american friends:

enjoy

 

[Dennis Cavallino]

Wonderful upgrades again. Inspirational as always.

How's your Nina doing? Our Nina is 14 months old right now and she walks and talks a lot. It sounds like Japanese, which is quite amusing, but I learned her to call me 'papa' like Italians do.

 

[madoc1]

luca, thx. so much for this thread. just finished reading it took a while-kept getting side tracked in all your interesting history side bars. maybe you will be a published histiorian some day. you could start with a book about your home and its restoration. what is the third large building attached to the right of the garage? an extension of the garage, just enclosed upstairs? as others have said, love the work and your diligence.

jim in texas

 

[madoc1]

luca, any updates?

 

[Bib Overalls]

luca, any updates?

X2 Everything you do is interesting.

 

[lucajack2cv]

Thanks for all your words garagefriends, first of all an answer to Nina's papa

Wonderful upgrades again. Inspirational as always.

How's your Nina doing? Our Nina is 14 months old right now and she walks and talks a lot. It sounds like Japanese, which is quite amusing, but I learned her to call me 'papa' like Italians do.

Our Nina was 1 year old 3 days ago, pa-pa ma-ma and ba-bau (for dogs) are her only words at the moment and she's almost ready to walk


In the past weeks, right on the end of winter, I had to stop garageworks in order to solve a domestic problem: the yellow refrigerator that stands behind a very-young André has fallen into failure after less than a couple of years of service..

It suddenly makes urgent a substitute, readily identified in the well-working Fiat-Westinghouse that waited patiently at a refreshed body to befit it's round forms and to guarante decorum and hygiene..

Here the butter..

and here the Fiat..

The expectations are encouraging, of course I would have preferred I can handle scientifically, with the necessary calm and benefiting from a restoration workshop comfortable and equipped .. However once again the operation should be damn hurry and in the dust of the courtyard, but so be it.

The food-sarcophagus then revises the light ..

The word sarcophagus is unfortunately not so out of place. These gizmos with snap-handle had the bad reputation of being fatal to the children playing at the Apollo mission at the time of space-age and of the wild-landfill ..

Other deadly pitfalls await the modern ice-box restorer: Removed seals and body panels, the public enemy number one, Asbesto, makes his sad appearance..

Best solution seems to me to avoid spreading it all around my house so I pack tightly all immediatly with the intention of not re-open it again.

Via the frieze, knobs and various small panels, the small light switch ..

When reassembling, would be better to put some new tape on the electrical connections..

Time to preserve the identifying plaques and then to start with the patient body preparation:

To be continued!

 

[4xdog]

Luca, most of the time -- almost ALL of the time, in fact -- I love your re-purposing of vintage industrial artifacts.

But not this refrigerator. I don't like the idea to re-use an old refrigerator like that at all. The technology has just moved on too far to consider it a practical option.

Maybe it's time to think about transferring the Fiat badge to a new one and just admitting sometimes it's best to turn the page...

Don

 

[jeff51]

Cool - I like the Fiat fridge. I have two fridges from that era that have been in continuous use for 65 years. Not energy efficient, but if you are fixing the known safety issues, why not?

 

[NUTTSGT]

Still one of the coolest threads on the site.

 

[Dennis Cavallino]

Litterally cool now.

 

[lucajack2cv]

Thanks 4xdogs, you're not wrong, of course my obstination in using old artifacts is innatural and often inpratical, my intention is anyway to accept all these discomforts in order to mantain in daily-use the memory of some obsolete solutions, of course in best possible safety conditions.

With refrigerators, I'm used to living with energy inefficenty and also necessity of almost-weekly defrost: here's my grandma Yuman refrigerator, purchased in early sixties and still in use at the groundfloor, during defrost of the one in the first floor kitchen:

Here's the butter..

and here's the Fender:

This is the little yellow faulty Indes..

.. and we're back to the 220 liters Fiat-Westinghouse, finally painted:

The next day begin the replacements of components. A stamp made with the calendar on the thermostat decreed the year 1957. The other contraption, an American-made timer .. I do not understand what exaclty is.. It has a sort of dual clock as well as a lever with 4-5 positions, all I do not know for what purpose. As long as I am convinced that that no Italian housewife ever served in any age and I operate a drastic simplification putting it back where it was but excluding it from the electrical system.

Reluctantly, strip away even the original plug to avoid some tragic fatality. Replaced with modern cable and plug:

Finally, I draw a stick jealously preserved for decades of "fat stucco ", a material known almost exclusively to old body builders that will allow me to fill the small compartment of the communication between the compressor room and the frigidaire where transiting the copper sheath of the thermostat and the threads of the small light inside:

 

[lucajack2cv]

From an old newspaper, the original advertising..

The painting of the front door was unsatisfactory, pimpled and pockmarked. We face the polishing that begins with the careful sanding 2500 with soap and water ..

The next night, thanks to my brother Marco who will alternate polishing the door to that of the bodies of two of his guitars, the miracle:

So next morning..

Finally.. Today is the day!

I was reminded of an Italian film of the mid-seventies when an inhabitant of an italian favela invites the nearby to admire the new refrigerator that finally afford .. Opening it, with the pride of the new-come consumer we can see that inside there is only one bottle of water. We are not at that point but it is true that the powerful 220liters seems almost empty ..

Daily use..

And final touch!

 

[Dennis Cavallino]

Wow!! This is better than the Smeg-hysteria I see a lot. Good job!