Above 1200 Sq/FT The Salvage Garage

[Strouty]

My GF had a later schedule today, so I got out before her, been at the Hill for a while, just got the trash and recycling down to the road for pickup. I am about to head to the SG, the internet there is down, so I can’t turn up the heat remotely, it wasn’t too cold last night, so hopefully there are still a few extra degrees in there. Today is going to get colder as it goes, right now it is mid 30s, but by this afternoon it will be mid 20s. I hate days like this.

 

[xtremek]

Good luck and stay warm.

 

[sublime68charger]

Temp here is -2 I'll trade for you mid 20's temp any time you want to!

 

[Strouty]

Sorry, I don’t accept negative degrees.

 

[sublime68charger]

Sorry, I don’t accept negative degrees.

up to 1 now! Day's like today glad I have a inside job and pray that I don't have to go out on a fire call at all.

 

[F451]

I just feel that all my tech is taking over and I need to be mindful of it. I think what would be nice is to just plan a time to post updates and pictures. It isn't that GJ itself is taking a huge amount of time, but I feel like I waste a lot of time on the internet in general. I am going to try and go back to my regular notepad and consolidate thoughts, then set a time to get online and try to stick with my plans. Right now things are random and I can very easily head down a rabbit hole that seems endless. I spent over an hour today looking for pants, the ones I have been wearing are crazy money (I bought a bunch on clearance), but I like the style and fit, so rabbit hole achieved. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I may order some that seem to fit the bill, they are much less expensive and offer better size options as well. Enough about my pants.......

Limiting/scheduling screen time is a great idea. Its amazing how much of my time is squandered mindlessly surfing the internet.

Years ago I worked in a small software company (10 people or so) doing tech support, training, consulting, etc. The main software engineer that I relied heavily on to support me was super strict about his time spent away from programming and doing his main job. Checked email very quickly in the morning, then got into his software work. Checked it again around lunch time, and again before heading home.

Limited access to him for tech support questions to once in the morning, once in the afternoon, only exceptions were big emergencies.

The guy was the most focused and productive person I ever worked with. Also the most calm. Just put his head down and worked.

Great guy. I learned a lot from just seeing how he operated. I think about him whenever I get that creeping feeling that I could be doing something more productive (like right now, Lol).

 

[Strouty]

Definitely a balancing act, I suspect there will still be times that I don't do what I should, but no one is perfect.

I think I may have a resolution to the Perk insurance claim by next week, they think they will have some numbers for me today or tomorrow, then we will have to argue back and forth about values and reimbursements, but I can tell the insurance adjuster wants to have things done. I suspect most "simple" claims don't last months and he is probably not liking it still on his plate. At least they have finally decided that getting the parts is too tough and they want to total the truck, I have to decide how much Perk is worth to me as I will have to buy it back, that should be about a third of the ACV (actual cash value), until they come back with some numbers I can't make an educated decision. If they said $100k, I would let Perk go as I think I can buy another truck for $33k pretty easy, if we agree to anything under $50k I would most likely keep Perk. I suspect that the value they come back with will be somewhere between $40k and $60k, if not we will have to do some negotiating. Used truck prices are through the roof right now, so that is somewhat to my advantage, at least if I am keeping Perk, if I have to buy a truck, then it will be a bit tougher.

 

[walrus]

You sell at a loss or corporation shows a loss? I've been in business since 88 and my corporation generally shows a loss. I've made money a couple times but I carry enough losses for years prior to avoid corporate taxes.

 

[csp]

The guy was the most focused and productive person I ever worked with. Also the most calm. Just put his head down and worked.

Yep, the entire concept of "multitasking" is ********. Nothing you do, if your attention is on multiple things, is done as well as if you focused on one at a time.

 

[86turbodsl]

Just in case you weren’t aware, the feds now require eBay, PayPal, Zella etc... etc.... to 1099 you once sales and/or income hit $600/ year. Sad really. We pay income tax, then sales tax on the items we buy ( retail, on-line & eBay ) THEN, we get to pay income tax on our used items again AFTER we pay eBay 12-13%. After 21 years of eBay/papal and a 2,400+ feedback, I’m done. It will ALL be craigslist & FB marketplace moving forward for me w/ payment as cash, money order or PayPal friends & family. I bet you even get 1099’s moving forward w/ your local auction houses.

And that's part of the reason they are pushing so hard for digital currency, they can track EVERYTHING you do. Cash won't be around much longer and at that point, it's pure barter or they got you by the small curlies. Aint gov'mnt grand? FEH.

 

[bowtiguy]

And that's part of the reason they are pushing so hard for digital currency, they can track EVERYTHING you do. Cash won't be around much longer and at that point, it's pure barter or they got you by the small curlies. Aint gov'mnt grand? FEH.

The older I get, the more I realize it’s all about keeping the wealth you’ve earned & paying less tax’s. Based on stroutys’ reply, I have much to learn. I guess it’s time to form an additional llc.

eBay should have fought the hard battle. I did $300k in sales w/ them over 21 years. They tried to be amazon early on. They failed but held on hoping they would be a competitor( kind of like sears and online sales). Now, they are craigslist w/ tax accountability. You KNOW amazon isn’t paying the tax’s they should.

It’s THE most F’d up thing I’ve seen since sliced bread. There are going to be A LOT of people surprised this & next tax season.

Btw strouty, I love the thread. Been following pre photo bucket crash. You’ve made tons of progress organizing. Can’t wait for the first finished burb!

 

[Chrisb62]

Finish burb........what the f**k.........NOT going to happen.
Strouty has great intentions....the bus always seems to hit him square in the face.

Hopefully the weather warms up ..... I really want the storage to get done, because I want to see how you utilize it.
I kid you to prod you into action.....best of luck sir.

 

[Strouty]

The weather outside is frightful right now, single digits to teens for the next few days, then when it does warm up it is only to snow.....

I have to be cautious about what I do at the SG right now, temps this low mean more heat, basically it costs me a lot to heat the place to a working temp. I keep it set at 36 degrees when I am not there and it takes about two hours to get it back to a normal feeling temp, then another hour to feel decent enough that you aren't cold. My furnace uses 1.8 GPH of heating oil and right now it is about $3.25 a gallon and rising. Basically if I want to go over there and work, it costs me $20 just to get the temp up, then whatever I use to keep the temp up, basically $5 an hour, so I try and make it count.

Yesterday I dropped off my 20 ton trailer, they will have it for a few months, but all the suspension is going to get replaced and we are upgrading the jack setup, I am sure there will be other things too. I filled Perk up, probably shouldn't have, $176 and change, ouch.

 

[1Garageman]

^^Heating places to work is a pain in the a$$! I am tempted to get one of these. Instead of heating the working area, just heat myself up.

 

[Strouty]

I have one of the heated sweatshirts, it works pretty well, it is still tough to do things because you are either wearing gloves or your hands are cold. I just try and have a purpose, then I can justify the heat costs. I suspect there will only be another 6 weeks were it is truly cold, then things will warm up enough that the heating process isn't as costly. Basically, once overnight temps are in the 30s, I can actually keep the shop warm enough to go over anytime. Wednesday night was a good example, it was 35 degrees at night and I had been at the shop that day, heat was set to 60 and I turned it back to 36 when I left at about 6PM, the next morning it was still 41 in there, so heating up was not as big of a deal. Once you drop to 30s inside, it takes a lot of heat to raise the temp back to normal. If I leave the shop at 50 all winter it costs me a tank of heating oil every month and that ain't cheap. If I was working there everyday it would be different, but I don't usually go there more than a couple times a week. Of course with all the new shelving that needs to be stored, I have been there more than normal, I suspect that will change and I won't be there as much, except on warmer days or if I need something.

 

[86turbodsl]

Waste oil.... I'm about 150 gallons into winter so far. shop sits around 50 most of the time. I'd be shocked if i had more than 200 bucks in it even with the fetching costs.

 

[Strouty]

I will eventually have a waste oil furnace at the SG too, right now I only have the one at the Hill and it is nice to be able to run your heat for essentially a bit of effort.

 

[86turbodsl]

On tuesday i was going to bid on a local auction house, they had a waste oil air heater, similar to yours, until i noticed that the burner wasn't sitting on the end. I wonder if the guys that bid that thing up to 341 knew it was just a steel box with a blower motor on the end. The auction house does say to check items in person. Many don't.

I'd be a lot happier with waste oil if i didn't clean the burner tube 4x a day. I really need that new one done.

 

[Strouty]

I usually deal with things once a year, so not too bad. Of course now that I have said that.......

 

[86turbodsl]

Let's hope so. Once a year would be great. I know most of my problems are self inflicted.

 

[Strouty]

I might not have self inflicted waste oil furnace issues, but I definitely have lots of self inflicted problems.

I am trying to figure out the next steps in my Tetris garage game, I shouldn't have to worry about bringing Benson back inside until Monday, so I can make a mess of things inside.

My feet are still cold, it is all the Blue Burb's fault, I am still having an issue with the defrost setting, so I can't swap to anything but defrost, no feet heat and it doesn't take much to get cold and stay cold when you aren't up and moving around, once my feet get cold, it takes a long time for them to warm up. They are better than before, but it is only 50 inside right now and the floor is still cold, sucking the heat out of my feet like a vampire. I don't really want to be back over here until things warm up, I feel like I could be more productive at the Hill, so I am going to try and do the best I can today and hope it is enough.

 

[86turbodsl]

That problem right there is why i have heated floors. I'm same way, if my feet get cold, takes hours to warm up.

I want to move south...

 

[Strouty]

I definitely like the heated floors, but I couldn't deal with the heat loss when we opened the overhead door, it took for ever to recover. If I do use the heated floors again at the Hill, I will also use the forced hot air to help with that recovery.

 

[86turbodsl]

I've always heard the opposite on heated floors. Recovery is very fast because of the amount of heat in the slab. Maybe you're just leaving them open too long?

 

[Strouty]

You got to do what you got to do. It has been years since that floor operated, the boiler went to the scrap yard last Spring. I do plan to set it up again, but it is way down on my list. When I build a new shop, I will be using radiant for sure.

Motivation sucking coldness in action. I did eat lunch, so we don't need to worry about that now.

 

[Strouty]

Feet are warm again, motivation is creeping in, I have started Garage Tetris.......

 

[Chrisb62]

If only you had a helper you could trust to just walk away from......how much you paying ?

 

[jack stand]

Radiant slab;
Yeah I barely notice bringing in a 5 ton ice cold machine into the shop after 5-10 minutes. Opening a 12x14 door is un noticeable almost as soon as the door is closed.
My last shop was hot air ceiling hung lp. Even at nascar pit crew speeds recovery was several hours. 16' ceilings are the enemy of hot air heat and ceiling fans (at conservative 50* temps) only make those temperatures being blown down into a cold draft.

Live action shot, and it's 13* outside according to my phone.

 

[ttpete]

Re-subscribed

 

[Strouty]

Well my heat is perfect…..

Got a bunch done, my Buddy showed up around 3 and I had things ready to go.

 

[Strouty]

I still have some work to do, but the Stak rack is not useable for a forklift without a level and side shift, unless you have two people and can line up straight as an arrow. It works very well if you preset some shelves and then put stuff on them.

 

[walrus]

Good luck with the heat today, chilly one to start. Making up for last years warm winter temps around here.

 

[Strouty]

It is zero here, supposed to be almost 20 at some point.

 

[walrus]

Temps are going up here, 1 degree above from 0 I just saw someone post there thermometer in Caribou, they live on Aroostook river so in a valley, -40 at 5am, thats crazy.

 

[xtremek]

Nope. Anything below +5F is just too freaking cold. It was 39* in the shop when I went out to turn the heat on. Even that's too cold for this old man. The shop looks decent considering what you've stuffed into it recently.

 

[Strouty]

I think I can make it so there is room to maneuver and if I need to work on something other than Benson, I can pull it outside to gain the space. Next step would be to remove the pallet rack along the back wall and replace it with the Stak Rack, it looks like 5 bays will fit without an issue, that should create more room for sure. I am going to do some measuring, it may be that it is better to have some combination of pallet rack and Stak Rack just to allow for the wider shelves. This is just a stop gap right now, in the Spring, that is when the real changes will start.

I am going to do some work at the Hill today, the shop needs some cleaning from all the stuff that I unloaded from the Connecticut trip and I think I can make some more room if I move a few cabinets around. Biggest issue is that I don't have a forklift that functions very well, so I need to get that fixed soon. I think my biggest priority is dealing with the Blue Burb, I am not sure if the block heater works or not, I have it plugged in now, so I will find out. The starter solenoid has been acting out, the blower motor and resistor need to be replaced, the climate head may be part of the problem, so that is getting replaced as well, I still have no radio, the mirrors need to be swapped, and I think the injection pump will be ready early next week. Then there is my custom plug setup for the block heater, I have a complex, but cool setup in my head, so maybe that can finally come to fruition, I have all the parts that I need (right up until I need something else). Generally there is a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. It think I will be driving the F-350 most of next week.

 

[walrus]

I put my 6.5 in the shop yesterday. didnt think it would start today. Job got postponed until next week so not going to start it anyway.

 

[Strouty]

I have been starting it the last few mornings without plugging in, it was not happy about it.

 

[lowbucktruck]

I think we all enjoy watching your "storage Jenga" there, Strouty...

 

[Strouty]

I don't try and edit things, what you see is what you get, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I feel far too many people curate what they post these days, it isn't fair to us normal folk, I get all insecure and stuff.