Nice! Lifts are where it’s at. Looking great.
Nice! Lifts are where it’s at. Looking great.
mazdeuce said:What's on the lift? You must have put SOMETHING on it by now. The dogs? Your wife?
I already had a whole plan to have one dog on each arm, but when I got home Chief was already on the lift, because of course let's put our heaviest vehicle up first 
. So this would have to do.
I knew you'd climb up there. 
For anyone who follows this but not the rally car- this thread has been dormant because the shop is being put to good use! Here's a photo from a little while ago, things are more disassembled now:
I do want to say, for anyone who has weak wiring and struggles to use a welder/impact/etc on a 15 amp circuit- PUT IN A 30 AMP CIRCUIT! I procrastinated for a while on getting the new outlet wired up, but everything is better on 30 amps- the welder welds hotter, the impact loosens everything, and the breaker doesn't trip. It's the best.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
Just remember a 30A breaker needs #10 wire. #12 (yellow romex) is undersized and #15 (white Romex) is courting disaster.
In reply to Ian F :
It's #10, don't worry- it sure is stiff to run though!
What's your general feeling about the new shop/old shop? Any thoughts on space use yet? I'm always planning the next shop in my head.
Married a potter...we now have 5 separate 240V circuits out in the project barn. 2 for her kilns, 1 for her studio room heater, 1 for the air compressor/my grossly undersized heater, and only 1 is for welding!
Love your new shop. It is just the coolest.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
The general feeling is that it's pretty great, and I'm still reeling at how much space I have and the excellence of finally working with a lift. The heat works well enough to keep it at 45F overnight pretty efficiently, and the giant windows in the "back triangle" where I have the lift heat the room up nicely once the sun comes out. The LED lights are nice and bright. Having a bathroom out there is great, although I wish the sink was a big industrial one instead of typical bathroom sized. There was one very small roof leak, which I fixed with caulk.
For space usage, if building from scratch I would want the floors to all align with eachother first and foremost- I don't mind having the separated parking, music/dog room, storage, and work areas but it would be nice to be able to roll things between them without a step up/step down. Having the areas separate is actually a benefit, at least right now, because they're not bleeding into eachother- removed parts that aren't going back on any time soon can go on the shelf, in a different room, and be out of my way. Parked cars and bikes aren't in danger of catching shrapnel or overspray.
I'm not sure where the parts car is going to go, but having it in the work area is OK for now. I should build a workbench back there at some point- I currently use the landing at the top of the steps as a work surface, which alone is a huge improvement since I've never had a real workbench before. I think it would be super cool to make use of the high ceiling by having a mezzanine in there- workbench and heavy tools underneath, infrequently used tools up top. I also keep thinking about putting steps up to the roof somewhere, since it's flat and would be an awesome place to hang out when it's warmer. Come to think of it, I've also pitched the idea of replacing the roof over the carport with an elevated deck- I never had a tree house as a kid, I wonder if that has something to do with it 
I feel you about not being able to wheel things around. I'm currently stuck inside the building with anything actually heavy like the engines I'm working on. I'd love to have the option of taking them outside to power wash, but it's not practical. I think my next space needs a covered apron with a smooth transition that will let me roll engines or whole cars on dollies outside to wash or blast.
Do you have hot water in your bathroom?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:. Parked cars and bikes aren't in danger of catching shrapnel or overspray.
I like this. ;-)
I agree with the work area with storage loft idea. I have a similar idea/dream for my shop.
Damnit...one of my neighbors put a work bench on the curb the other day - I looked at it and said, "WTF would I do with that??" and didn't grab it. If it's still there I'll grab it for you. Just a basic home-made wood thing, but looked serviceable and the price is right.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
The bathroom has a hot water heater, but I haven't explored how well it works. I figure I can leave it off until it gets warm enough out to have a major spill not be a disaster.
So you're entering our shop contest, right?
I still need to take good photos!
You have one more day! By the way I've been following along but not sure if I've chimed in yet. I'm solidly in the "You're living my dream" camp. Keep us updated!
I wrote up exactly 300 words, picked some photos, and was going to sleep on it and then polish it further- but I decided that wasn't very true to the way I do things, so I gave it a quick once-over and hit send.
I'm flattered that you guys, and especially Ed who gets berkeleying paid to go to racetracks, think I'm living the dream. I do too, at least during the fun parts
It got a little colder in the shop this weekend, thanks to a thermostat problem. I replaced it with a new one:
The old one is super cool looking, but only works if you tap it in just the right place- I bet it's a crappy contact somewhere, which should be fixable if I decide I miss looking at it, but fixing that sort of thing sounds like a job for when it's not 15F every night.
Ooh- I wonder if it’s old enough to have the little vial of mercury in it?
While I was at work this week, Sara called me and let me know that the washing machine had peed all over the floor. We eventually determined that the drain pipe had frozen somewhere, and the blockage made a tsunami come out of the top of the drain pipe when the water got dumped after the rinse cycle- not fun, but of all the pipes which could freeze definitely not the worst. I can fix this!
Where does the drain go? Under the addition to our house, which unlike the main portion of the house has no basement. So I pulled the sheet metal cover off the side of the foundation and found this:
Apparently there's a pit to hell directly beneath where I take a dump every morning. Once I was done listening to the screams of the damned, I moved to the side and found the pipe (bottom of shot):
I heat gunned it a little, went back in, and:
Yes, that is evidence that our washing machine's drain is also a portal to hell, but also that the water drained! It still drained slowly, though, so I took the hot water line off the back of the machine and did this:
After filling the pipe with hot water a few times, it flowed at full speed again- I tested it by running the washing machine on "large load" and draining it, then put the panel back on the house:
Hooray! Not sure what else to do other than not wash clothes when it's in the negatives out, though.
Wrap it in heat tape and only plug it in when it's super cold and you do laundry.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Wrap it in heat tape and only plug it in when it's super cold and you do laundry.
Mobile home heat tapes have a thermostat built on, so you can leave it plugged in for the season. Above ~36F, the tape shuts itself off.
I somehow wasn't aware of heat tape's existence- that will definitely be the plan if this becomes more of a problem. Thanks for the tip!
Yep, that's the fix! Heat trace will definitely help.
I'm runnin' three heat tapes/pipe insulation.....two down the the breeze way from the grosh into the house and the one above the kitchen/b'fast nook at the north end of the house.....$$$$$ well spent not to mention the peace of mind.......
With the massive temperature swings and large amount of rain we've been getting lately, the roof on the shop has sprung a few leaks. It's a low-slope roof and has a pretty old layer of rolled roofing on it- the internet, as well as a few people I've talked to, seems to indicate that I can put new rolled roofing right over the existing stuff. Is there any reason I shouldn't try to do this myself? Thoughts from people more experienced with this sort of thing? Anyone want to weigh in on standard mineral roofing vs self adhesive vs EPDM?
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