Above 1200 Sq/FT The Salvage Garage

[1Garageman]

"Too much stuff" = Time to sell it!
Yard sale time, or start posting stuff for sale on Craigslist and Facebook!

 

[PelicanPines]

Stro ... you need to refocus and prioritize sometimes...

Today... I found a new Mexican restaurant... My day is done.

 

[RacerRick]

Got to meet RacerRick and his friend today, was very cool to get to discuss shop things IRL rather than remote. I also feel a bit better, as I was told that a working shop should be a bit messy. Spent a good couple hours discussing things, I got to do a show and tell tour, it was fun, now I have to go north and visit his place.

It was nice to meet you. A working shop should always be a bit messy, just like a working desk.

My toys and tools are an order of magnitude smaller than yours, but you are welcome to visit any time!

 

[Strouty]

"Too much stuff" = Time to sell it!
Yard sale time, or start posting stuff for sale on Craigslist and Facebook!

I am going to give Facebook Marketplace a try, I have been buying things there, why not try and sell some??

Stro ... you need to refocus and prioritize sometimes...

Today... I found a new Mexican restaurant... My day is done.

30 minutes to eat the food, 30 seconds to get it out??

It was nice to meet you. A working shop should always be a bit messy, just like a working desk.

My toys and tools are an order of magnitude smaller than yours, but you are welcome to visit any time!

Thanks again, it was nice to meet you and I hope someday to be able to visit your neck of the woods, at least during that 3 month summer you have.

 

[Strouty]

I was so close (yet so far away) from having things moved so the conex could go where I wanted it. Better luck next time, maybe......



Anyways, now the 5 ton is not stuck, but not able to get the moving trailer out of the way. I think I am going to need some help, but I will try and pull the end of the box over a bit with the excavator. I have to be gentle, there are way too many things in the back of that trailer, most could tip over fairly easy, heck, they probably already have.



For some reason I am soaked, yet it isn't raining out?



On a good note, I have a plan, on the other hand, I hardly ever stick to the plan.

 

[Strouty]

Well, I got the trailer wheels to all spin, but now I am just plain stuck. There is about 12" of slime on top of the ground and I have basically made 5 ton mud angels in it. I am going to have to wait until I have a second person so I can pull while they back the truck up, the Mitsu can't pull both, might have been able to if I had the blade, but I am just dragging myself toward the trailer right now. I know it won't take much to get it out once I get a secondary driver. I would have to say I made a good effort, err, mess.....

This is what I started with, made it tough, but the brake that wouldn’t release on the trailer was the real killer.



Moved the trailer a bit with Mitsu, Gabe me some breathing room......



Just enough, to hang myself.....

 

[Strouty]

Friend came over and we got the trailer and 5 ton out, glad to have it done, now I need to smooth things up from the mess I made. Sure wish I had a blade on the Mitsu......

Tomorrow I am picking up the remaining 56 Chevy parts, Dad wanted them out of the camp before 4th of July. Hopefully I can sell them quickly so I don't have to store them too long.

It is very clear to me that I will either have to pair down my collection of stuff or I will need at least one more conex, probably two.

During my afternoon break, I found and bought another thing, but I will wait to show that until it is at the shop, it is cute, but redundant, except better, those are the clues.

 

[PelicanPines]

Love your trailers... omg could I use a short one...

Looks like you did great with the atlas move... congrats.

As for the Mexican place... I'm in a tiny town that sees life three months a year... to get a descent restaurant that is not seasonal... is a huge thing.

I was basically done for the day because I was scheduled to test software for the remainder of the day... I don't count that as work...

 

[Strouty]

I was really concerned that the stuff inside would be all on the floor, in the end, I spilt some hydraulic oil (pump tipped over and leaked out vent), and there were a few empty plastic bins that fell off an upper shelf. I think there was more damage to the outside, ripped off part of the bumper step thing and bent a few other pieces, doors still work the same as before. I am planning on using it to store all my fall auction stuff, it will go to the auction and stay there. I think it will bring the most money at the fall auction because people will be looking for storage. Who knows, it might not do well at all, in the end, it was a good purchase and I got some use out of it, upgrading to the conex style box makes me feel warm and fuzzy, no more mice issues, I hate mice.

 

[Strouty]

One other thing, I need to make better doors for the conex boxes, they just plain ****, I like how well they seal, but to close them and open them is a big process and I would much rather have it simplified. The good thing is once I figure out what I am doing, it should be the exact same thing times however many conex boxes I have.

 

[Strouty]

Off to get the 56 remnants, need to do a bit of welding when I get back to the shop, still need to change the oil in the burb.

 

[PelicanPines]

A guy here... got a rollup storm shutter... mounted it on one door... the just cut a hole in the door.

He HAD to do it because the door had no room to swing... and storm shutters are easy to find here.

He had an issue with leaking BUT solved it with a small overhead awning over the roll.

 

[86turbodsl]

Well, I got the trailer wheels to all spin, but now I am just plain stuck. There is about 12" of slime on top of the ground and I have basically made 5 ton mud angels in it. I am going to have to wait until I have a second person so I can pull while they back the truck up, the Mitsu can't pull both, might have been able to if I had the blade, but I am just dragging myself toward the trailer right now. I know it won't take much to get it out once I get a secondary driver. I would have to say I made a good effort, err, mess.....

This is what I started with, made it tough, but the brake that wouldn’t release on the trailer was the real killer.



Moved the trailer a bit with Mitsu, Gabe me some breathing room......



Just enough, to hang myself.....

That looks like a real mess.

 

[86turbodsl]

I just did a quick CL search. Conex's seem to be about 2K over here. What are you getting yours for? Might be a decent storage method for me at some point.

 

[Strouty]

I am closer to $3k delivered, this is for a 40’ high cube.

 

[86turbodsl]

Yeah, maybe the quotes are for 20' cubes. Seems like the quotes were all "starting at 1999"

 

[Strouty]

That sounds about right, they are pretty nice, as long as you close the doors, mice do not get in. Did I mention I hate mice?

Today my Dad threw a huge wrench (well possibly) in the works, he told me he wants to buy the house next door to his but it would really be for the employee that he has. If that happens, then the house I grew up in is freed up and I may end up moving there. The wrench is that there are already shops up there and I would be using those, so my current shop would not be the primary shop anymore. I had always planned on this, but not for another ten years or so. I don’t want to say no, but the shops are less than ideal for me and the property is really crappy for a business when you compare it to my current property. I am thinking that I could move there, rent my shop, use the shops at the new house, but build a new shop that is bigger and better, this could work out well, but winter time is awful as the driveway is 3/4 of a mile all up hill on the way in and all down hill on the way out, it also has a couple sharp turns in the worst spots. Not too bad for all wheel drive, but it ***** for big trucks. Basically deliveries become severely complicated in the winter and sometimes getting your own vehicles to the top of the hill (where the shops are) can be a significant white knuckled time ****.

 

[86turbodsl]

Keep your current shop. Rent out the other one.

You don't need to compromise your business for dad.

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[Seagoon]

Keep your current shop. Rent out the other one.

You don't need to compromise your business for dad.

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What he said

 

[Strouty]

The other shops (yes multiple) would be 50 feet from the house that I could own.

I am not sure the deal with the house close to my current shop (remeber that deal??) is ever going to happen. I am looking into all my options, this just truncated my timeline significantly, in the end it could be a very good thing, but I do need to assess things to make sure that it is a good thing for me.

 

[bimmer1980]

How long of a drive from the potential house to your existing shop? How does that compare to the drive you do from your house/apartment to the shop?

Candidly, I would have to see some pictures of the potential shops close to the house.... If they are less than ideal, you may be better off keeping the current shop for the interim.

I would look at this as a business decision. How does it help you and the business as well as personal? How does it hurt you? How would it inconvenience you? Lay it all out, assign weighted values to each point and see how it shakes out. Then at least you can make a conscious decision.

While it would nice to have the shop space close to the house, that may or may not help you in your endeavors. If the space requires a bunch of work and upgrades, that would just negate any progress on anything else.....

Frankly, I would be a lot more selective on what you choose so that you have the opportunity to focus on that things that you really want to do..... But to each their own....

 

[PelicanPines]

I never see your life getting 1 bit simpler as time passes... Mine got simpler...

Good luck with either direction you choose to go... If it was me... I would move to the family house... build a new shop and be done with it. That way you build it as you like... and mouse proof where needed.

 

[Strouty]

I will get some pictures, I will also make some general elevation drawings, the house that I am being offered is on a tiered hill, basically we made an area as we needed it, then made another one down further when we ran out of space.

As for travel distance, the new house would increase my travel time by about 15 minutes round trip, so I would have to do about an hour and 20 minutes of traveling total.

One thing that is easy to overlook is that my current shop needs huge upgrades as well, I have been panning on essentially rebuilding it in a long slow process, the two contiguous shops are both high bays, so any truck can fit in height wise, but the depth is only 36', if I reconfigured my current shop I would have a 45' long bay.

If I do move there and build a new shop, it would allow me to make the best of the space, but there is no changing the hill, I will need to contend with slippery winter conditions no matter what. Whereas at the current shop it is all essentially flat and easy to deal with.

As I said before, I had always intended to move to this house, just not in this short period of time. Luckily I have not done anything to my current shop that would cause me a headache if I were to move out sometime this year. With my luck, I will be ready to move in as soon as the snow hits..........

 

[Bob Heine]

Strouty, the decision is yours to make. That said, it seems you would have more control over your life if you took over your father's homestead. You would own the place, not lease it like the shop you are currently using. The house adjacent to your current shop is probably just going to disintegrate while the owner figures out how to take it with her.

If you owned the property at or near the bottom of the hill you could build your dream shop there and fix the delivery access problem (and make the build easier).

You also have the opportunity to preserve the family homestead.

 

[Strouty]

The house itself is larger than our current house, that is a big plus in my book. On the property there is plenty of storage space, there is also a very nice wood shop that is underutilized and I would fix that in a second. It would allow me to also clean up my Dad's mess as this was his original space from the 1970s, he rarely goes there now, but there is a large quonset hut that he will continue to use as storage for equipment that doesn't get used often.

We are in no rush or under any financial crush, so we would continue to live in the current house until we have done a few updates to the "new" house, then we can move in. Once we are out of the old house, I would renovate it as a rental unit. The good thing is that the new and old house are only a 10 minute drive from each other.

I don't have any good business reasons to stay in my current shop, but it could be rented as well, I just need to figure out the best approach for that, I am thinking renting it as storage space versus having the issues that would occur with a working shop and the neighbors. Less drama and more money, that is the best scenario. Other thought would be to put a small house on the lot, then either rent it or sell it.

 

[Strouty]

Strouty, the decision is yours to make. That said, it seems you would have more control over your life if you took over your father's homestead. You would own the place, not lease it like the shop you are currently using. The house adjacent to your current shop is probably just going to disintegrate while the owner figures out how to take it with her.

You couldn't have said it any clearer and it is my thought process as well.


If you owned the property at or near the bottom of the hill you could build your dream shop there and fix the delivery access problem (and make the build easier).

There is over 100 acres currently, but we will be developing it in the next five years.

You also have the opportunity to preserve the family homestead.

The problem with the bottom of the hill is that there is a large stream and from what I have seen so far, you can't build within 150 feet of it, that means no shop at the bottom of the hill, it doesn't mean that I can't do something there, but I need to do my research. I was supposed to have a few more years before anything like this transpired!

 

[Orionrising]

Normal stream setbacks are 75 or 250. 150 would be unusual.

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[cbacres]

Or you could just have your personal shop at home and buy two of everything

I couldn't imagine having to get in the truck to get to my shop, so I'll have to say like the others hopefully you can figuire out a suitable solution to siting a shop on the homestead that getting to won't be such a issue.

At least you live in a place that you can enjoy your childhood home, we sold our child home home and ran!

 

[86turbodsl]

We'd need to see pics and the layout of the property before good advice is given. I'm a big fan of keeping everything together home and business, but your topology sounds like it's untenable in a slippery area.

 

[Strouty]

Next week I will dive into the setback issues, town hall is closed on Fridays and I am not sure exactly where the property lines are yet anyways. My Brother suggested I keep the current shop as a warehouse for my buying and selling, but I think that would be annoying as well. I think it may be cool to setup a paint booth and plasma cutting table, things that take up a huge amount of space, then everything else could be at the new shop. He also said that if I was to build a pallet rack based shop, the racks should be designed to be on the outside, then the walls are still free and clear, I really liked that idea. This is going to be an adventure for sure.

 

[Strouty]

I think I left some food out last night, these things are like gremlins, no food after midnight or they multiply.

 

[Strouty]

I need to decide what to do, my original one appears to have no hours on it, yet it has almost no power in comparison to the new one. The new one has side shift and a taller mast. They are essentially the same machine otherwise. New one has almost 40k hours on it, but is 10 plus years newer, according to my hour meter, it only has about 2k hours. They both go to 99,999.9 and then roll over, but it is hard for me to believe that my original one rolled over 100k hours. My original thought was to straight upgrade to the orange one (I prefer to not think of it as red), sell the white one and be done with it. Now I am thinking that I may try swapping the battery from the orange one to the white one just to see what happens. The white one has a much smaller battery than it should and it is MUCH older. It could be as simple as the battery to get the power back, then if that works, I can swap the entire mast assembly from one to the other. I forgot to mention, the orange one has a leaking rear steering seal, so that is a major consideration for the swap. That would give me the upgraded battery and that alone is worth more than I paid for the orange one. Once I am done, I can sell the white one and probably come close to recouping all my money. Sounds simple in theory, but I know it won't be that simple, I know it will take four times as long and probably cost me money that I hadn't thought of, but in the end it would give me the best of both forklifts with little to no money, just the time and effort. I also thought about just robbing the steering from the white one and a few other trinkets and calling it good, I am not sure what is easier yet. Will need to do some investigating for sure. Swapping the battery should be relatively painless, swapping the mast will most likely take two people and not be painless. Seems like I always get myself into these situations, yet I never learn, why don't you guys warn me about this ****!

 

[Bob Heine]

Seems like I always get myself into these situations, yet I never learn, why don't you guys warn me about this ****!

Strouty, warn you about what? Everything you wrote made perfect sense to me. I'm positive it won't take any time or money.

 

[Strouty]

At least I appear to be in good company!

I paid $1200 for the new forklift, I paid $800 for the old one. A new refurbished battery is $2500 for the forklift, so I am not hurt financially in any way. The old battery works, just won't be good for anyone that needs to have the forklift work an 8 hour shift. The cool thing is the new one came with a parts manual that has the breakdown of all the components.

Unfortunately both units have pretty equal pluses and minuses, so there is no clear path forward, this too seems to be a recurring theme in my life...............

 

[Strouty]

I solved the fork lift problem, it was much easier than anticipated, I am keeping both. The white one will stay at the old shop and the orange one will go to the new shop. Problems solved.........

 

[Craptain]

Makes perfect sense. There's always a simple solution. But sometimes we look for too complex a solution.

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[Strouty]

Well it saves me all the effort I was talking about going through and it means that I won’t be forkliftless at the old shop, I see that as a win win situation, especially for my back.

 

[cbacres]

So it's two shops and two of everything!

Means you need to buy more Listas

 

[Strouty]

Don't encourage me!

I got to measure the shops, they are connected by a common wall, the floors are different heights, about 8". First shop is 23 by 34 (inside dimensions) and the second one is 20 by 34. So overall it is 1462 square feet, my current shop is 1800 square feet, so I am down by about 350 square feet. The new shops are taller, closer to 16', so there is the possibility of making use of the storage space better than it currently is. There is a concrete frost wall all around, it sticks out further than the actual walls, so you can't set things flush to the wall very easily. The two heights may not be an issue if I make a decent camp so the forklift can go between them, but I would much prefer having the floor all one level. I had used this as my shop once before, probably 12 years ago, I was not as sophisticated as I am now, so I just used it as is. I did get frustrated with the door ways that went between the two shops, there was a 8" raised piece of concrete you had to step up over, then it created a bigger drop off, getting things between the two shops was ridiculous, Dad refused to do anything about it, so I paid a Guy to saw cut the concrete out of the way, that made a huge difference and was the best $500 I ever spent (at the time). Pictures to follow.

 

[cbacres]

You have two choices, ramp down or ramp up!

Having a divided space could be laid out to keeping storage on one side and open work area n the other, dedicated machine and welding areas, the combinations are endless.