West Side Story

[rattle_snake]

The minute I got the garage done (mostly done), my wife wants to use it for a party. Dang, now I have to park the Nova elsewhere until next week.

Well lucky for you, you have 3 other garages to choose from. Who has options like that?

 

[PurdueSD]

Maybe you posted this already and i missed it.

I see you are obviously concerned with internet coverage and speed. So, mind if i ask,What are you using for an ISP? -down a gravel road tells me you don't have access to dsl or cable.

I only ask because, we moved to the country last year and have no high speed options. It has been an (ahem) adjustment to say the least. 30gigs of cellular modem doesn't go very far.

My research led me to believe satellite internet was a bad option.

 

[Skeetobite]

Maybe you posted this already and i missed it.

I see you are obviously concerned with internet coverage and speed. So, mind if i ask,What are you using for an ISP? -down a gravel road tells me you don't have access to dsl or cable.

I only ask because, we moved to the country last year and have no high speed options. It has been an (ahem) adjustment to say the least. 30gigs of cellular modem doesn't go very far.

My research led me to believe satellite internet was a bad option.

Hi PurdueSD.

When we bought the property there was no cable or internet. Satellite is useless unless you are sending text messages only.

I contracted with Comcast to make a 1/2 mile run to the property. They created a new node, ran 1/4 mile aerial and then bored 1/4 mile underground. It was big $$$ but since I own and operate internet businesses, it was a "must have". I had them place 2 pedestals on the property so if I decide to extend to the out-buildings in the future it is ready to go.

DSL was available here but was unreliable and the customer service was a joke. I have a 7 mile wireless system installed on the boat. I disassembled it on a trip to florida and temporarily installed it at the house until the cable was installed. Amazingly, when I fired it up 54 access points came up! It's a bit shady, but I just picked the most reliable one, opened a VPN to my server in California and did all my work via secured remote desktop. Nobody knew, but I don't recommend highjacking WiFi from your neighbors.

In the end I'm the only person on this node, so I don't have to worry about people hogging bandwidth upstream from me.

FYI - the higher speed packages are not necessarily about the speed, but about bandwidth. With the broader bandwidth (higher speed), you can have multiple streams, online gaming, run servers, etc. without much lag on any one device.

I know that's more than you asked for, but It's what I have ;-)

 

[Skeetobite]

A couple of other miscellaneous projects so far this summer:

I prefer to do as much of the maintenance and upkeep around here as I can, but exterior painting is not for me!

Exterior paint of all non-brick surfaces, window casings and garage doors. New caulk on 100% of the joints. All steel lintels sanded, applied rust inhibitor and oil based paint. This was a huge job.

Splash of color on the front door. No, that's not me ;-)

Finally got around to replacing 40 exterior soffit lights. They were always getting wasp nests built in them, and then the bulbs would burn out due to overheating.

Swapping the lights was easy, but the volume almost killed me. I think I did a full mile or more up and down that ladder :-(

To avoid the industrial look that LED lights often produce, I found sealed 2,700K fixtures that very closely approximate incandescent bulbs.

Before this change, the exterior lights consumed 2,400 watts and didn't produce much light. While producing much more light, these 40 fixtures consume just 360 watts combined!

Finally, after converting to natural gas and calling for a pick up nearly 2 years ago... the gas company decided to tear up my lawn and retrieve the 1,000 gallon tank. The tank lived inside that brick enclosure.

 

[dubber]

Simply can't envision the scope of your projects. Nice updates and totally understandable outsourcing some of those jobs.

 

[Skeetobite]

Simply can't envision the scope of your projects. Nice updates and totally understandable outsourcing some of those jobs.

Yeah. Biggest lesson for us so far has been "Scale". More and bigger everything. More furnaces (6 total), bigger lawn mower. Stuff like that. You can't just throw a fire pit ring on the ground; it has to be some enormous undertaking to create something that fits the property and costs a year's wages.

I cut the grass, do all of the interior paint and maintenance. I let other people weed, trim the shrubs and mess with the irrigation. Could easily spend 40 hours per week on this place.

 

[Skeetobite]

Started moving some furniture in but had to stop so my wife could have her party. The party turned out well and nobody spilled anything ;-)


The face of the TV shelf will be black. Tested out white on a dare but hated it.

These crazy chairs have led lighting under them, electric recline and they shake when bombs go off in your movie. Seems extreme, but I got them on the cheap from a local resale shop so it's all good.

Napping couch, a must have!

We were able to easily accommodate 50 people in this space. Turned out to be a good call using the Secret Lab since it was pouring rain all day. Thank God thats over. Now I can get back to finishing it up!

 

[madoc1]

nice work on everything, especially the Secret Lab and the nova engine. what are the specs on that? also, would you share the name of the under eave sealed lights? we have the same type of problem, only with dirt daubers. thx.

jim

 

[Skeetobite]

nice work on everything, especially the Secret Lab and the nova engine. what are the specs on that? also, would you share the name of the under eave sealed lights? we have the same type of problem, only with dirt daubers. thx.

jim

Thanks Jim.

We ordered the lights online through one of the big box stores. If you click that link, it will take yo to the product page.

The Nova has a small block 350. Machined the heads, forged pistons, SS brake system and exhaust. A ton of upgrades. I have a build thread here. Planning more work, aluminum heads, etc. Just up to my **** in alligators lately, so she has just been driven as is. Makes around 400HP as she sits.

 

[dubber]

Sweet being able to use the new space for a test drive. Was it well received?

 

[Skeetobite]

Sweet being able to use the new space for a test drive. Was it well received?

Yeah. Ha ha, they gave it a resounding thumbs up! Funny thing, everyone commented on the floor the most. Even my brother in law, who has a negative streak the size of the Nile River, gave me a small nod. Felt good after a lot of hard work finishing it.

Detailing the Nova and moving her home today. Decided I'm going to repaint the office area in the same color, but with flat paint. Changed the halogen bulbs in the track lighting to LED yesterday which made a big difference.

Updated pics to follow once it is wrapped up.

 

[madoc1]

thx for the lite info *****.

jim

 

[JC23]

Just found this one. Normally, I'd throw you a great big YOU ****!

But as my jaw keeps hitting the ground while I check out your palatial estate, I can't ******** talk...

You done burned up all three of me eyes! Nice work!

 

[Skeetobite]

Just found this one. Normally, I'd throw you a great big YOU ****!

But as my jaw keeps hitting the ground while I check out your palatial estate, I can't ******** talk...

You done burned up all three of me eyes! Nice work!

Ha ha! Thanks JC23, we're really enjoying it.

 

[Skeetobite]

Been busy doing the things that let me pay the bills. I'll get back to updating this thread soon.

Saw some questions in another thread about home networking so I made an update to my tech thread. Here's an updated pic of how I get internet out to this building:

Explained on the second page of this thread

 

[Skeetobite]

More action in the Secret Lab!

My son and a buddy are home school kids. This year they wanted to explore Hydroponics as an elective high school class.

We had no idea what we were doing, so it made sense to just dive in head first - ha ha!

Did quite a bit of research and then sat down to design a system. They insisted I get them lab coats. Pretty funny, now they want name tags with their online gamer tags. Well, ok

Gathering materials for the build.

Discovered there was no way we could control the humidity or tote enough water to the secret lab that we would need over the winter.

So, we tore out the basement kitchen and installed it there. My wife had a fit, but came around pretty quickly once we fired it up.

Six weeks in to the project. Made a few mistakes, learning a lot and having a blast.

Big lessons: Some of the plants aren't very happy because the light is too far away. We harvested a couple of our initial test plants, which were perfect. Decided that a vertical wall mounted system is not optimal for lettuce since it is growing sideways toward the light. Eventually it will fall over due to it's own weight. Next week we're tearing it apart and building a horizontal system to replace it.

We added a manifold so we can drip feed each plant while it grows a root system down into the nutrient rich water flow. Very cool results in our opinion.

Also, my wife keeps putting her crazy plants under the lights.

 

[Skeetobite]

For the car guys: latest addition to the fleet. This is the Cadillac CT6 Platinum 3.0TT. All I can say so far is "wow".

 

[jsherid1]

Really like the progress you have made and I hear you on the whole "big property means big work" thing, there is always something and it always turns into a bigger and more involved project than you think. Would love your thoughts on the CT6 as that is probably what I will get to replace my '16 CTS in a year or so (the CTS-V wagon is staying).

 

[Locker537]

Super cool thread, projects, and of course garages.

 

[Skeetobite]

Really like the progress you have made and I hear you on the whole "big property means big work" thing, there is always something and it always turns into a bigger and more involved project than you think. Would love your thoughts on the CT6 as that is probably what I will get to replace my '16 CTS in a year or so (the CTS-V wagon is staying).

Thanks Jim. I decided to hire a part time grounds and maintenance guy this year. Coming from broke **** poor and doing everything myself to an estate like this has been a shocker for us. I love to do the work but just don't have the time, so things are always falling behind.

On the CT6, I can say one thing for certain; this is by far the most luxurious, mechanically and electronically advanced production vehicle ever produced in the United States. I've gone through 12 vehicles in the last 5 years (it's a sickness). With 404HP and 1,000 lbs. lighter than the current CTS, it's a rocket ship. No, it's nowhere near the performance of the CTS-V, but that's not what it's about with this one. Easily faster and outperforms the Ford Taurus - SHO I had a few years ago.

There are tons of reviews on this thing and I would say they are fairly accurate. Just know that there are plenty of Euro reviewers that have an agenda, so always consider the source.

I think I'll do a "First 5,000 miles" consumer review and post it on GJ. When or if you get ready to make a decision, PM me and I'll give you honest feedback about the car up to that point.

 

[Skeetobite]

Super cool thread, projects, and of course garages.

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

 

[Finallygotit]

Subscribed!

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Wow...that is something else. All of it!

 

[Skeetobite]

Well, we're back in construction mode in the Secret Lab! That didn't last long ;-)

Enclosing the office area to better control heat and humidity during the winter months. Adding dedicated circuits for the electronic equipment. Breaking out the light switches to operate independent of the main area. Adding 3 new fixtures and if we have time; adding a full width soffit in the parking area with down lights to wash the back wall.

I hate giving up the big open look and feel, but the static was going to ruin my equipment. Not to mention my tender little fingers - ha ha!

I'll add pictures as something interesting happens.

Question:
Somewhere I once saw a type of ceiling mounting post for garage door tracks. It's like a round cylinder the penetrates the ceiling for mounting and then the track bolts to it. I can't find that thing to save my life. Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

[wasfast]

Like this? http://www.thundermounts.com/produc...586.p3plqscsfapp003?productId=16&categoryId=1

Clopay also has a nice mount for the opener:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GWD67AA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

My personal solution was to buy some 1" x 1" cold rolled steel tubing, paint it white then penetrate the ceiling drywall and lag the lengths to the attic joists. All you see is the 1" square tube. I think it's far better than the erector set looking arrangements commonly done.

 

[Skeetobite]

Like this? http://www.thundermounts.com/produc...586.p3plqscsfapp003?productId=16&categoryId=1

Clopay also has a nice mount for the opener:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GWD67AA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

My personal solution was to buy some 1" x 1" cold rolled steel tubing, paint it white then penetrate the ceiling drywall and lag the lengths to the attic joists. All you see is the 1" square tube. I think it's far better than the erector set looking arrangements commonly done.

Yep, that's the one I was thinking of. Pretty expensive. I like your idea and will research that as a solutions.

Thanks a lot!

 

[wasfast]

This is the upper shelf version but the garage track looks the same basically.
http://tinypic.com/r/2z7eoea/9

 

[Skeetobite]

This is the upper shelf version but the garage track looks the same basically.
http://tinypic.com/r/2z7eoea/9

Thanks much. I think that's the way I will go.

 

[-Brent-]

What's the story with that lot in front of your house? That'd be a nice property to grab.

As far as the garages, I actually really like that there aren't driveways to them. Obviously, it would be a pain if they were accessed frequently but the green space is quite nice.

As well, those patios are great. I'm considering some landscaping changes on my property (I'd like more trees) and a patio similar to your style would really fit well.

Anyway, you've got a really great place. I like that you're making it your own and I am eager to see what it becomes.

 

[Skeetobite]

Hi Brent.

The lot in front of us is another 5 acre parcel. It has a house on it, just not in the picture.

I have right of first refusal on the 10 acre parcel next door, which is behind the detached garages. I doubt that guy will sell in my lifetime though.

 

[Skeetobite]

Still plodding along with updates to the Secret Lab.

Garage side of the new wall is closed in. The mud work is close enough to give it some primer and then tweak the finish.

Ran all of the cables and closed in the office side. Squared the pre-hung doors.

Office side primed, tweaked and cutting in. Man, I hate cutting in paint-

Kept the same wall color, but switched to flat paint. Since I can spend up to 18 hours per day programming in here, I couldn't stand the light reflecting off the walls. Also added an additional light above my desk area and a remote button to open the garage door for this room.

Relocated the TV and recycled the corner mount system. Yes, I had to do some serious thinking ahead and my head still hurts.

With the articulating mount, I can turn the TV toward my desk. I ran 2 HDMI cables, coax and hardwire network connections.

Coming together. Added a return air vent (lower right). This probably wont be enough to keep the doors from whistling, so I'll add another directly in the furnace area to draw more from the garage area.

 

[ap2002]

awesome garages you have, subscribed.....

 

[Skeetobite]

awesome garages you have, subscribed.....

Thanks ap2002. More updates coming soon...

 

[Skeetobite]

Been pretty busy lately, so only a few updates to mention this time around.

Decided I needed more light in the parking area of this garage.

Starting Hydroponics 2.0 in here this winter. This is the grow table and trays. It's 8.5' X 16.5'. Still a lot of work to do before I can fire it up. I'll add more pictures about this project as it moves along.

Made 275 gallons of RO water for the plants.

Quite a bit scheduled to happen in this garage in the coming week. I'll try to add more updates as we move along instead of adding everything all at once!

P.S. - Finally got around to getting a night picture of the LED light conversion. Still need to convert the security lights... some day.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Been pretty busy lately, so only a few updates to mention this time around.

Decided I needed more light in the parking area of this garage.

Starting Hydroponics 2.0 in here this winter. This is the grow table and trays. It's 8.5' X 16.5'. Still a lot of work to do before I can fire it up. I'll add more pictures about this project as it moves along.

Made 275 gallons of RO water for the plants.

Quite a bit scheduled to happen in this garage in the coming week. I'll try to add more updates as we move along instead of adding everything all at once!

That is a heavy duty soffit for just lighting!

So your new hydroponics systems looks great! What will your lighting setup be? But why RO water for the system? Is your water that bad? You probably could have just run the water through a carbon whole house filter and been fine, you have to add the nutrients to the water anyway. What brand of nutrients do you use?

I was heavily into hydroponics for breeding chili peppers in college. I have a lot of the pieces I need to set up another NFT system like yours, but I don't have the room right now. I may set up a small system in our sunroom to grow dark leafy greens.

A couple years ago I went to the Worm's Way open house and customer appreciation day in Bloomington, IN. I won a 50% off coupon in the door prizes so I picked up a 6-bulb T5 light fixture. I also won a starter kit from Technaflora. But my biggest score was a complete Platinum Series Kit from CYCO. The rep just gave it to me at the end of the day and threw in a bottle of their Ryzofuel! It's 11 liters of their products, plus a 250mL bottle of Grow XL and the 500mL of the Ryzo. I was going to buy it, but right when I pulled out my credit card, the rep said it was on the house. Other swag included a 3gal & 5gal Smart Pots, Clonex, Great White & Orca from Plant Success, and (3) 100mL samples of EUROPONIC products. All said and done I brought home over $1100 of goodies for just over $300. I missed the customer appreciation day this year, but I'm planning on driving up for next year's.

Worm's Way also had a sweet aquaponic setup that I took pictures of so I can copy it. They had Tilapia growing in a 200 gallon Rubbermaid farm tub with two 30 or 50 gallon Rubbermaid tubs partially over the big tub. It was a simple flood and drain setup, but the fish were growing quickly. I had planned to set it up in my basement, but the Tilapia have to have sunlight to survive so we would need a greenhouse.

EDIT: Bloomington, IN would be a 5-6 hour drive for you from SE MI, but if your needing supplies it might be worth the drive since you could probably score some freebies and IIRC, everything was 20-30% off that day only. It's always been on a Saturday in August too.

 

[Skeetobite]

That is a heavy duty soffit for just lighting!

So your new hydroponics systems looks great! What will your lighting setup be? But why RO water for the system? Is your water that bad? You probably could have just run the water through a carbon whole house filter and been fine, you have to add the nutrients to the water anyway. What brand of nutrients do you use?

I was heavily into hydroponics for breeding chili peppers in college. I have a lot of the pieces I need to set up another NFT system like yours, but I don't have the room right now. I may set up a small system in our sunroom to grow dark leafy greens.

A couple years ago I went to the Worm's Way open house and customer appreciation day in Bloomington, IN. I won a 50% off coupon in the door prizes so I picked up a 6-bulb T5 light fixture. I also won a starter kit from Technaflora. But my biggest score was a complete Platinum Series Kit from CYCO. The rep just gave it to me at the end of the day and threw in a bottle of their Ryzofuel! It's 11 liters of their products, plus a 250mL bottle of Grow XL and the 500mL of the Ryzo. I was going to buy it, but right when I pulled out my credit card, the rep said it was on the house. Other swag included a 3gal & 5gal Smart Pots, Clonex, Great White & Orca from Plant Success, and (3) 100mL samples of EUROPONIC products. All said and done I brought home over $1100 of goodies for just over $300. I missed the customer appreciation day this year, but I'm planning on driving up for next year's.

Worm's Way also had a sweet aquaponic setup that I took pictures of so I can copy it. They had Tilapia growing in a 200 gallon Rubbermaid farm tub with two 30 or 50 gallon Rubbermaid tubs partially over the big tub. It was a simple flood and drain setup, but the fish were growing quickly. I had planned to set it up in my basement, but the Tilapia have to have sunlight to survive so we would need a greenhouse.

EDIT: Bloomington, IN would be a 5-6 hour drive for you from SE MI, but if your needing supplies it might be worth the drive since you could probably score some freebies and IIRC, everything was 20-30% off that day only. It's always been on a Saturday in August too.

Hey, thanks for the reply.

Ha ha, I knew when I posted this last night that I should have put a note about the soffit design! We were worried it would warp over that distance and we also found a 5/8" drop over 34'. Decided to just build it in modular box sections and throw them up individually. FYI - 100% of the lighting in this building is LED.

So, the RO water....

We're on a well out here. The water is great for drinking but the total dissolved solids (TDS) is way high. After softening, we still have high TDS and the water now has salt in it, which is horrible for the plants. I've just found it easier to start with a blank slate for the water chemistry and add back what I need as far as nutrients. This RO system gives us a starting point of 0.04 TDS.

I will post some info about the water tote and process after this reply.

For lighting I am sticking with mostly blue spectrum T5. Will be doing quite a bit of testing and data collection with this upgraded system to find the right light amount, color etc.

For nutrients I'm using 8-15-36 (powder) with some CalMag Plus added in. So, mixing everything onsite instead of buying liquid. We were using FloraGrow from General Hydroponics. but I am not impressed by their product.

Just about all hydroponic nutrients sold today assume you are starting with RO water. I had to order special nutrients to use with straight well water.

Thanks for the tip on Worm's Way. Sounds like it may be worth the road trip to check it out.

 

[Skeetobite]

To follow up on the subject of using RO water for hydroponics...

Most commercially available nutrients for hydroponics are based on the grower using RO water. Variations for hard water, well water, city water, etc. can be found.

I found it is easiest to start with clean water, add back the nutrients and then adjust the pH.

So, I found a food grade water tote on craigslist for about $60. After cleaning and sanitizing it, it was ready to go. But, one of the biggest problems is algae growth in the water system so I painted it black to block the light and then white to make it pretty. I figured the cage would look good in blue, so I painted that too.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

Ha ha, I knew when I posted this last night that I should have put a note about the soffit design! We were worried it would warp over that distance and we also found a 5/8" drop over 34'. Decided to just build it in modular box sections and throw them up individually. FYI - 100% of the lighting in this building is LED.

So, the RO water....

We're on a well out here. The water is great for drinking but the total dissolved solids (TDS) is way high. After softening, we still have high TDS and the water now has salt in it, which is horrible for the plants. I've just found it easier to start with a blank slate for the water chemistry and add back what I need as far as nutrients. This RO system gives us a starting point of 0.04 TDS.

I will post some info about the water tote and process after this reply.

For lighting I am sticking with mostly blue spectrum T5. Will be doing quite a bit of testing and data collection with this upgraded system to find the right light amount, color etc.

For nutrients I'm using 8-15-36 (powder) with some CalMag Plus added in. So, mixing everything onsite instead of buying liquid. We were using FloraGrow from General Hydroponics. but I am not impressed by their product.

Just about all hydroponic nutrients sold today assume you are starting with RO water. I had to order special nutrients to use with straight well water.

Thanks for the tip on Worm's Way. Sounds like it may be worth the road trip to check it out.

To follow up on the subject of using RO water for hydroponics...

Most commercially available nutrients for hydroponics are based on the grower using RO water. Variations for hard water, well water, city water, etc. can be found.

I found it is easiest to start with clean water, add back the nutrients and then adjust the pH.

So, I found a food grade water tote on craigslist for about $60. After cleaning and sanitizing it, it was ready to go. But, one of the biggest problems is algae growth in the water system so I painted it black to block the light and then white to make it pretty. I figured the cage would look good in blue, so I painted that too.

Ah, that makes sense for well water. Our city water is pretty hard, but after filtering it's not bad, but I haven't tested it's TDS yet since I'm not running a system. RO is definitely starting with a clean slate, it's just expensive.

Very cool that your are doing data collection. Do you do any supplemental CO2? I had my system semi-automated, but my next ones will be fully automated with data collection.

I was never impressed with GH product either. The Cyco Nutrients products are highly concentrated so the liter bottles go a long way for residential vegetable growing. If it's a commercial medical setup since your in MI, I'm sure your process is cheaper.

The ISO tote looks great too. Those things are awesome, especially if you have a fork truck so you can stack them. I plan to pick up a few myself at our next place, so I'll be stealing your paint idea. My goal is grow food year round, both plant based and fish. I have no desire to run a commercial setup for either veggies or medical purposes, but I may get back into breeding chili peppers since I really enjoyed that.

 

[PurdueSD]

Awesome place man! Congrats!

 

[Skeetobite]

Awesome place man! Congrats!

Thanks much!