Coolmeadow Creations Shop Rehab

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, won't be long and you will be done and calling it home! Nice job Jim.

Corey

[Jim O'Dell]

WOW,has it really been 4 months since I updated here? Man, that stinks. That means I haven't been doing much.
I've kinda let things sit on the back burner while I did stuff around the house. I've worked on the sprinkler system until I was ready to scream. After what seems like forever, when actually was probably 3 months, I've got that working again. Had to retreive a pump my dad took to his place over a year ago to see if it was any good. I watered the front this evening. Hopefully this pump will work for a while.
Anyway, the shop. A few months back, I mentioned in a DC thread that I was installing PVC pipe above the ceiling. Bill Pentz mentioned that having PVC above the ceiling where you couldn't see it was not good. (Bill actually said it much more diplomatically than that) Metal would have been better there. Well, I had already invested a bunch in PVC, so I had to think of another way to get around it. What I came up with was building a tunnel, if you will, that is open to the room below where I can keep an eye on the pipe in case I create a spark and it starts a fire in the pipe. I started with a domed tunnel using roof valley flashing. Good idea, but too hard to properly implement. So after several weekends and evenings of cutting my hands, and cussing, I tore it out and rebuilt with wood. It was much easier to handle where the main pipe Y's off to two different sides of the shop. It also allowed me to build some structure for my lights to mount back to. I'll probably have to reshoot the pictures. One is real fuzzy and the other may not show enough to tell what it is. The white parts are the reflectors I built for the flourescent lights.
If you remember I cried early in my rehab thread about what the previous owner had done with the slat wall material he must have gotten a good deal on. For those that missed it, he cut it and turned it vertical and used as wainscotting. Water on the floor damaged much of it. I saved as much as I could to try to use. One of the edges I took a picture of showed how many sheets were available. Well, I found the rest of it. Don't know why I hadn't noticed it before, but I went into the little shed west of the shop to look for some 1/4" plywood, and there it was. A 12 X 14 shed with the walls covered in plastic oak veneered slatwall, all turned on it's collective sides. Ever want to dig someone up from his grave and shoot him???? Guess I'll eventually see how much of it is damaged. Maybe there ares some larger sections I can use.
(edit: I went back and reread some of my earlier postings...evidently I had a senoir moment when I wrote the above paragraph. I had seen this before and just forgot it. Maybe that's why my wife looked at me funny when I mentioned it to her!)
I'm happy with how my weekend panned out. Unfortunately, it's back to work tomorrow. Have a good week!
Picture 1 and 2 are of the shop, and the other three are of the slatwall in the shed. Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, here are a couple picture updates. Hopefully they will show a little better with the ducting dry fitted in place. I think I got my hanging system decided on. I might go get some supplies in the am and work on that tomorrow. Have a great remainder of the weekend! Jim.

[Marty Walsh]

Looks like a tight fit Jim. Sure keeps it organized and out of the way. Nice job...

- Marty -

[Jim O'Dell]

Thanks, Marty. I wish I had the head room that you are building in! Then I wouldn't have spent the last 5 months working out this detail. But it's still fun. Jim.

[Marty Walsh]

Jim,

I won't have a headroom issue, that's for sure. I'm planning to run as much as I can up in the attic space, only coming through the ceiling for drops.

I see you're going to have all that pipe connected to a Clearvue...hope you don't get dizzy watching the dust swirl 'round...

- Marty -

[Jim O'Dell]

That's what the closet door is supposed to take care of! I actually looked into some clear pipe, but it was over 100.00 for 10'. Saw dust is not that fun to watch!!! Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, things have been going slowly again. I'm still working on the cyclone ducting. I had the TS duct done except for the hood and the flex hose. Got the hood outlet enlarged from the 2 1/2" hose for the shop vac, to the 6" hook up for the cyclone today. It will take several layers of silicone to solidify it in place. (Picture 1) I also made a bridge clamp out of a regular band clamp and some spare metal. $1.50 instead of $7.00 to $9.00 each. I think it will work. Need to cut some flex and work it over the pipe to make sure. (Picture 2) Then I got a better idea for hanging my blast gate that will serve a dual role as the quick disconnect for the TS down pipe so I can move things out of the way and get my van under cover in case hail is forcasted. I had used bungee cords at first, but wasn't happy with the stability of it. In the change I used a different blast gate, and the down pipe is slightly too short. I needed one more pipe to finish everything anyway, so I will re-cut this from the new pipe. (Picture 3) I used the now too short pipe to plug into the spot to the left of the box bay window, but it won't stay put for pictures and I didn't have anything to prop it up with, so it's not in the picture showing the pipe going to that wall. (Picture 4)
I should have bought a round electrical box while at HD today for the work light I will put in the DC closet, but forgot to. I did work on a way to seal off the back of the contractor saw, and got the parts for that. It will take a while to fabricate, and may not work. But I'm hopeful for a really ingenious solution. We'lll see.

Well, that's it for my weekend. Hope you've had a good one! Jim

[Ben Grunow]

An addition to any shop is always welcome and you are halfway there!

Looks great and enjoying the pics. Looks like the inside corner where the planter is might be a good place for a yard drain and leader pipe drain (looks to me like the grade is low in the corner) to carry roof water and surface water away from the new space. This might not have been a prob when it was a patio but you could have water standing against your new wall if it rains hard enuf.

Hope the grade is the other way an it is just the pic that makes it look like potential problem. Good luck.

[Jim O'Dell]

Ben, are you still on page one?? I couldn't figure out your comment for a second. Had to go back and look at the other pages. You're talking about the 2 blue planter pots? It's really not low there. In fact there is a sprinkler system head directly in the corner. And the soil drains very well, in fact almost too good. Thanks for looking in. Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Me again! Well, my aim for this weekend was to get the major sections of the duct work finished. I took everything apart last weekend. I decided to paint the duct as most of it was discolored. (as talked about on it's own thread) Did that during the week in the evenings. I worked Friday evening after work for about 1.5 hours and got the 7' inlet piece set into the inlet transition, put the first 6-6-6 wye in pointing down for the TS, got a 45 ell on, and mounted my blast gate that serves as a quick disconnect to remove the down pipe so I can get the van in the shop when the need arises. I had to work Sat am. ate lunch, then put together the next pipe and it's 6-6-6 wye, but didn't place into the first wye yet.
Then the fun starts. LOML and I decided we needed to do some tree trimming. So worked for about 3.5 hours cutting dead wood out of trees, and trimming up some other branches that were haning too low in the circle drive hitting car tops as they drove through. Went to the back yard and decided to cut a 9 to 10' big branch off the side of one tree haning over the fence. There was only a little green growth at the end of the limb making a puff ball of sourts. Looked really weird and would only get into the power lines if left to grow. I cut about 2' off the end so it would swing to my side of the fence and not take out that section. Worked beautifully!
Then I went to the trunk to get rid of the rest of the limb. Got about 2/3 the way through and ran out of gas in the chainsaw. Let it cool down before filling, as I always over fill and spill some. Worked with the electric pole saw on the other end of the yard, filled the chainsaw up, and went to finish up. I'm on the 4th rung of a 6' aluminum ladder. I get to the point that the limb comes down, but I failed to undercut the limb, so it pulls a strip of bark down the trunk about a foot. In so doing, it swings the falling limb right into the ladder. Somehow I pitch the saw away from me, although I don't recall how. The ladder flies out from under me, I go airborne, and land horizontal on the 8 to 10" diameter limb, on my left side, that has landed on and twisted the ladder legs at the base. My body didn't bend well sideways. Knocked the air out of me. I sit up, look at the chainsaw to make sure it was away from me, then lay on my back to try to catch my breath. I partially sit up and look at the area, again at the saw, then look at my wife, who is strolling, strolling mind you , from the other end of the yard to my location. 'She kind of excitedly asked how to turn off the chainsaw, looks over the area, asked about my glasses, I pointed to where I thought they would have gone, and she grabs them, looks at them, hands them to me and says, 'Your one lucky puppy! I'll go get a wet wash cloth to wipe the cuts down. Better have some anti-bacterial soap on it. I'll get some Arnica for the swelling" And walks into the house. I'm about to catch my breath about now, and breathe deeply a couple times to make sure I didn't have any real pain to suggest broken rib(s). It felt ok, but I knew I had bruised them badly. Saw a big knot coming up on my arm, about 2.25 -2.5" above the wrist. Moved my wrist and arm around, ok there. Then I look at my poor ladder, decide to kick the limb off of it. First attempt and the limb rolls back at me. Catch it with my feet and push, scoot up under it, push, scoot up under it, scoot..."What are you doing?!?!?" comes bellowing from behind me. (UHOOOOOH) So I kick it one more time. Rolls back and bangs me in my shin. I just lay back down and shake my head and said. "Guess I won't finish the ductwork this weekend, huh?"
I was very fortuanate not to have had an encounter of the ugliest type with the chainsaw as I fell. Guardian Angels watching over me, as Amy Grant sang once upon a time. It hurt to watch the Stars hockey game last night, every hit I felt. This morning I'm laying around. Trying to get up and move around some to start working out the soreness. I'm actually not as sore this morning as I thought I'd be, but it's bad enough. Bending over and twisting the upper body are what hurt the most. I think I'll be able to go to work tomorrow, unless the second day after turns out to be worse than the first, which often happens.
So be careful this fall as you work outside. I thought I had planned my escape and was far enough from the tree that this couldn't happen. I was wrong. Don't you be!!! Obligatory pictures attached. Jim

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Ouch....sounds like you lucked out though since the chain saw was nowhere near you. Also sounds like what I call an 'ender' to the day's activities!

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, it was the last thing we planned on doing anyway. Unfortuanately it was the ender to the whole weekend. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful. Just dissapointed I didn't get the ducting finished. Jim.

[Jim Becker]

Ouch! I'm glad you're OK, Jim...that was a very close call, my friend...

[Norman Hitt]

Double OUCH!!!! Glad you got away from that chain saw though. About the same thing happened to my cousin (over close to Paris, Tx) last year.... nearly broke his nose, and said his glasses looked like a pretzel. I think he's given up tree trimming now, but said something about suggesting "Chain Saw Throwing" be added as a new Olympic Sport. Just goes to prove what I've said for years, "them Honey-do's" are DANGEROUS. Hope the sore spots go away quickly.