Texaco Station Renovation - Moving In

[Bad67300]

I haven't made much headway on the living room. Life BS has gotten in the way. That being said, I did get some more trim work done. Too boring to really take much for pics. Decided I needed to step away from construction a little and get a couple things hung up in the bath room.

Since it's a gas station bathroom, it definitely needed a condom machine. Had this one for a while, but it didn't work. So, I disassembled it, "lubed" it up, blasted and painted the black wall bracket, and got it on the wall. Also did some clean up of old paint off the Ex Lax thermometer. Just need to replace the small plexiglass cover of the tube so the temperature can be read. These sort of take-a-break projects to keep from burning out on the rest of the place.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

I am glad to see that I am not the only person to put a restored condom machine in my shop! Yours looks good.

 

[santagary]

Wow... you have a one in a million wife and your range of skills, abilities, patience and craftsmanship are unparalleled!!!:thumbsup:

 

[Bad67300]

I haven't posted progress in a while because mainly there's been regression instead of progression. In late March I got the call that someone had driven a vehicle through a building at my property. I prayed it wasn't the house, and upon ariving, prayers were answered except it was one of the shops.

A gentleman had a seizure while driving (this wasn't his first, so he shouldn't have been driving) and blew through an intersection doing 106mph. Just missed a minivan with a woman and two children. Hit a highway sign, and launched off a berm on my property, carring 30 yards of air before hitting just below the roof line on my building - with 16 foot sidewalls. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

He sustained significant injuries, was airlifted out, but thankfully survived. The damage to my property was significant - flatbed trailer with building materials loaded on it that he just barely missed but the highway sign smoked, main building, attached building knocked completely off slab, and damage to contents. He did hit the building in probably the best place relative to not damaging more contents.

His insurance company was denying responsibility because it was a "unknown health issue", and I was prepping for a battle. They wouldn't even send an adjustor. They just recently accepted responsibility, so I can move forward with repairs. I did cover the hole in the main building to keep the majority of snow/rain out.

Here's some pictures of the damage and what I'll be concentrating efforts on to get it buttoned back up. So, likely not much progress on the house. Can post pictures of the repairs as I have a few ideas of how to improve what was there, and now I've got some insurance $ to help!

 

[HOTFR8]

WOW. Glad his insurance is going to pay up.

 

[Finallygotit]

Holy ****, that's......... I have no words.


Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck!

 

[BuffettFan]

Wow!
Can't believe the guy lived, especially not being belted in.
Was his insurance State Farm, by any chance?

 

[Nick Danger]

Holy cow! I'm glad nobody was there.

 

[slik560]

Jail time after hospital time.

 

[theundermount]

insurance companies eh always trying to pass off the buck to someone else while collected billions in profits every year. glad you are getting things taken car of

 

[Bad67300]

Wow!
Can't believe the guy lived, especially not being belted in.
Was his insurance State Farm, by any chance?

Close and cut of the same ilk. American Family. The person I spoke to was a real piece of work. Kept saying they're not responsible if it was health related. I told her everytime they will pay or it's going to get ugly. The highway patrol thought it was alcohol related since there were beer cans all over inside the pickup, and the guy is known to be a serious alcoholic.

 

[Bad67300]

Holy cow! I'm glad nobody was there.

It must have sounded like a bomb going off. Wish I had a camara on that side of the property. Eye witness said it looked like something out of the movies how much air he carried before hitting the building. My one neighbor heard it and he thought there had been an explosion inside.

 

[Bad67300]

insurance companies eh always trying to pass off the buck to someone else while collected billions in profits every year. glad you are getting things taken car of

Greedy bastards. No problem collecting a premium but when it comes time to pay it's like blood from a turnip. My insurance is going to pay then subrogate to American Family. No out of pocket for me and I've been assured my rates won't go up.

 

[Bad67300]

Holy ****, that's......... I have no words.


Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Good luck!

Thanks! Did not need this extra work, but going to make the best of it. Going to take the opportunity to make the addition to the building a little larger. Like my dad used to do, when you run out of room you don't get rid of stuff.....you just build another building!

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Since you are being attacked by flying cars, have you started to research anti-aircraft batteries?

 

[PugetDude]

Wow. Not what I expected to read when I checked this thread for updates...
Glad you're all OK and that your insurance company is going to make you whole.

 

[iced98lx]

Good lord, glad everyone is OK but that is very scary. Good luck with the impending insurance battle, you always loose money, it's just a guessing game of how much now.

 

[Bears Fan]

wow!!!

 

[don long]

When I was in the Towing business we saw that kind of thing often. It is amazing how much damage an air borne vehicle can cause. nice that he missed the roof.

 

[captain14]

Greedy bastards. No problem collecting a premium but when it comes time to pay it's like blood from a turnip. My insurance is going to pay then subrogate to American Family. No out of pocket for me and I've been assured my rates won't go up.

Don’t forget they want their money on time or the policy is suspended. But when it’s their turn to pay they have all kinds of excuses.

 

[slik560]

I always remind myself that insurance companies are in business to collect premiums-not pay claims. Some have an internal policy to deny every claim at least once. If a carrier ever starts to try bulldoze you on a claim, notify your state insurance commission office.

 

[andyvh1959]

Yup, for all their altruistic claims of being concerned about your well being, it only applies as long as you are healthy, not a liability, and not making claims to get coverage. Their main focus is making money. I was surprised once when during a review of coverages with my SF agent I commented that among my car and pickup, my motorcycles and even including the miles I drive my company vehicle (the company covers the insurance), I am on the road about 40,000 miles per year. The surprise was his response to say that may put me in a higher premium rate. Excuse me? How about my perfect driving record for over four decades, no crashes, no claims. I get frustrated when I see the BS ads about "install this device and we'll help you be a safer driver, and you may get 30% savings." How about my perfect driving record? That should get me at least the same discount without my insurer tracking my driving.

 

[Bad67300]

When I was in the Towing business we saw that kind of thing often. It is amazing how much damage an air borne vehicle can cause. nice that he missed the roof.

Yeah, it could have been much worse on so many levels - if he was going to hit this building, he it the best place that actually resulted in the least amount of damage to contents. The fact he came so close to the top of a 16' foot sidewall is crazy, but missing the roof was awesome. Most importantly, he didn't kill anyone including himself.

 

[Bad67300]

I always remind myself that insurance companies are in business to collect premiums-not pay claims. Some have an internal policy to deny every claim at least once. If a carrier ever starts to try bulldoze you on a claim, notify your state insurance commission office.

Thanks, and great advice. Good news is I know the state insurance commissioner personally. Really hope it doesn't come to that, but I'll file a complaint if needed.

I've gotten a couple calls from my insurance company about sending me a check right away. Told them not so fast. Their adjustor is low on the estimate - he's at like $13k. Granted there's some non-recoverable depreciation in the calculation, but that amount isn't going to fix the building.

Guessing the next part of the battle will now be how much will be paid.

 

[slik560]

Rule #2 in the property/casualty insurance biz: "Settle fast for half"

 

[Bad67300]

It's been a while and way overdue for an update. Good news is the insurance company caved. They paid full damage for the building and trailer outside that was damaged. Still outstanding is some damage to a few contents and some building materials that were on the trailer outside.

I spent some time doing demolition and clean up of the addition that was destroyed. Next is deciding how to rebuild the addition and whether to hire it done or do it myself. It was stick built with 2x4 framing. Woefully inadequate, so if it's going back stick built it will be 2x6. Also considering making it larger and making the addition pole built.

 

[Bad67300]

A few other little updates that have been done. Made a lamp for one of the bathrooms out of a couple cool little porcelain shades.

And hung a neon Aztec clock and fired up a Seeburg 100c jukebox in the kitchen, just to make it feel a little more like home!

The next project I've started on it sheetrocking the basement. Not particularly fun nor exciting, so haven't taken any pictures. Not as young as I used to and 12' sheets a killers! Thankfully they are only 1/2". The basement is ICF constructed and I've never worked with that before so that's a little bit of a learning experience. Will take some pics when it's closer to looking like something.

Also, I'm considering a major revamp of the "bay" area living room. Before doing anymore finish work, seriously considering breaking up all the old concrete and putting in-floor heat in while also addressing some water drainage problems at the doors. Unplanned effort and cost, but now is the time to do it.

 

[ambenz]

Haven't heard anything in over a year, can we get an update?

 

[Bad67300]

Hi all. Progress on the project has been spotty. Through a combination of work, going through my dad's estate, a couple business ventures, processing the big D, and lots of smaller distractions, and well the last year has been kind of crazy. Mix in frustration with a couple contractors who don't return calls or show up when promised to handle work that I either can't or don't have tome to complete. I had to actually look back and see what I last posted to know what I haven't shared. Building is all fixed, I did put in-floor heat into the living room, and poured quite a bit of other concrete around the place. Will download pics and give an update very soon.

 

[captain14]

Did you do all the repair work after the collision? That’s a lot of time taken away from other projects you have going on!

 

[MacTexas]

Just found this thread and read every post. Down for the next update.

 

[930dreamer]

I missed this one also, that wreck is pure madness.

 

[Bad67300]

Ok, starting with the shop repair from the accident, we were able to find matching steel after some looking even though the building is about 20 years old and was put up by an outfit that's no longer in business. Matches really well and you can see from this first pic how far had to be replaced. This was the side that was impacted by the pickup. I also recently poured the concrete along the building to control weeds, erosion from rain coming off the building, and that it was relatively reasonable to have done - all the concrete I've recent done was $6.50 sq/ft for 4" and $7.50 sq/ft for 5.5". That may be high compared to other parts of the country, but in my neck of the woods it's a pretty good deal.

Rather than replace the added on storage building that was knocked off the foundation and destroyed, I elected to buy a 20' shipping container. Much cheaper, more usable storage, rodent proof, re-sellable, and no property taxes. Win, win, win! Don't really mind the look of them either - like the industrial, gas station vibe so I poured another pad and will be securing another container shortly. https://imageshack.com/i/poElfxWtj

And as a bonus, the trashed chain link fence won't need to be replaced. I have steel fence panels that will fill the space between the containers and will attached to remaining good chain link fence to the back corner of the container that will be placed shortly.

 

[Bad67300]

Here's some more of the concrete I did this summer around the place. I call it weed and mud control. It just really cleans the place up and makes it so much easier to move snow. There will be ALOT more to pour in the next year or two.

 

[Bad67300]

With the insurance money I saved from doing some of the building repair myself and buying the container rather than rebuilding the lean-to, there was enough left over to basically pay for a new slab in the bay area (living room), including in-floor heat. I also wanted to put in some floor drains where the doors will be since they face the northwest. When it rains and the wind blows, water would come in under the existing door because the floor should have been an inch or so higher. Also, the outside concrete that is actually the floor of a former welding shop slopes towards the doors. The first step in rectifying that was to cut out the old floor and slightly elevate it.

This first pic shows I did actually finish the sheetrocking and taping. Put the plastic up to try to save it from the wet saw we'd be using to cut the old floor out.

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Repairs are looking great! Glad to see the progress.

 

[Bad67300]

My dad moved this station to the existing location after the welding shop that had been here was leveled by a tornado. This was probably close to 35 years ago and I helped when I was home from college on some of it. I vaguely remember there being an issue with what to do about the old building slab. We broke some of it out, but there was some that was so tough we couldn't do it with the equipment we had. My dad wanted to get this building up higher for better drainage so he elected to put sand down and pour one slab on top of the other.

Well, that hadn't been a problem till we started breaking out the slab he had poured in the bay area. Closest to the sliding door, the newer slab was 4" plus 3" of sand/fill on top of the old slab. However, the closer we went to where the garages doors are, the slab he poured tapered down to like only 2". The problem then was there would be absolutely no room for the styrofoam and the in-floor heat. So, we decided to break out both slabs. Ugh.....

BTW, the old slab was 16" in places, used wire mesh instead of rebar, and had cast iron pipes every 16" as it had also some sort of in-floor heat from back in the day. Between both slabs and the dirt in between it was about 40 tons of material.

This is the first slab. Under that dirt lurks the monster slab of the original welding shop.

Here's the old original slab after breaking the top one out.

You can see how thin the slab gets getting closer to where the garage doors will be. Out the man door on the right the Bobcat is sitting on part of the old welding shop's original floor. That's going to be replaced in the spring. It really has a crown on it that sends water towards the doors.

 

[Bad67300]

In floor heat and a new slab with a trench drain that runs the entire length close to the garage doors. Since this is my living room, there won't be cars routinely pulled in and out. But I had planned to have at least one parked in it, perhaps with a drive on hoist. Wanted to make sure if any water did blow in under the doors it would hit the drain first before getting too far into the room. Also you can see there's an in-floor outlet for each bay - figured I'd want some power in the middle of the room so better to have it in the floor than run an extension cord on the floor or have it hanging down.

 

[Bad67300]

Apparently didn't take much for pictures throughout the texturing and painting process. Not very exciting but always good to see the end result! Picked the color based on it being as close to the original porcelain. The trim around the windows is done but haven't completed the baseboard yet. I'm somewhat dreading what needs to be done first. Really don't like crack/seam, whatever you want to call it where the old slab was removed. Couldn't get any closer to the walls and I had some concerns about weakening the old slab where the walls of the building sit. So, I'm going to be using a self leveling compound to fill up to the seam which hopefully will hide it some.

Decided to use a good, quality floor paint as opposed to concrete staining or epoxy. Room is really only going to get walk traffic and I like the idea of being able to easily repaint areas that might get worn or chipped. The color will be a gray, probably lighter. I hope to be able to do that in the next couple weeks.

Absolutely had to see what parking a couple hot rods and the '46 Indian in the living room are going to feel like. Jury is still out on the hoist - it makes the room feel so much smaller. But there will for sure be at least on parked in here when the room is done.

That gets you caught up to about a month ago. Next update will include replacing the upper front windows (the originals were single pane) with good thermal, cool solar bronze dual pane windows.

 

[Bad67300]

Oh yeah, here's a project that distracted me for a while. Got to have these from time-to-time when taking a break from working on the place. Have a slight addiction to gas pumps and this National A38 was just begging to get done. Decided rather than restore it I'd see if I could get through the 3 or so coats of brush on paint to the original stuff. If it was horrible, I could always repaint it. It really turned out great. Perfect patina!

The ad glass is original to the pump and I have NOS Flying A stickers to go on the doors. Also have a nozzle and need to order a hose to finish it up.