Coolmeadow Creations Shop Rehab

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi all!

Well, I did get in about 4 1/2 hours this afternoon. Too damp out to do anything on the exterior. Just as well, I would have needed to go to town to get materials to work with, and that would have consumed a good portion of the time I got to spend. Started to do that errand last night, but wasn't sure if the Borgs would be open late or not, plus knew it was supposed to rain. So, a demolishing I did go. Pulled down the remainder of the original exterior wall that is now in the finishing room. Cut out, and partially framed in for the french door between the shop and the finishing room. (see picture 1), but needed 3 more 2X4 to finish.

There is a lot of material on the shop walls that is plastic laminate wood grain that someone used as wainscoating (sp?). I had an idea what it might be (see picture 2), but couldn't verify it until I took a piece down during the demo today.(see close up in picture 3) YEP!!!! SLATWALL!!!! Now someone was mighty stupid along the way to use this stuff as wall board, and put up peg board above it...on 2 walls!!!!!! There is a little shed about 10 X 12 or so that also has some of this on the walls, all mounted with the slats running vertically. All I can think of is that they got it cheap, and didn't know what it was. I won't have any full size sheets to work with, but there are several 3' X 4' sections that I can piece together to hold jigs and tools specific to a certain power tool. I would have rather had it paintable, but this should be ok. And I'm sure it can be painted if need be. Hope everyone had a productive weekend, and or got some needed rest. Jim.

(edit) I saw the pictures were a little large, causing the pictures and text to run off the side. Corrected for easier viewing.

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi all!
It's a little after 5:00 Sunday afternoon. I got a little work in this weekend. Wish it hadn't been my Saturday to work at my normal job because the weather has been simply BEAUTIFUL!! Worked for about 1 1/2 hours Sat. during daylight deciding how to do the french door between the 2 rooms. The 10" header is a little low for a door. So I decided to cut about 1" off of it across the width of the door, after I finished up the wall studs on each side. Now I find the floor isn't level, surprise surprise. I'll compensate by cutting the bottom of the doors at an angle to match the slope (5/8" across 62") so the doors will be mounted square and level on the other 3 sides.
After supper Sat. evening, I spent 2 1/2 hrs in the shop taking all the boards I had previously pulled off the wall, and pulled the nails and staples out of them to get them ready for disposal. It was a pretty good size pile, but enjoyable getting to crank up the music and get used to being in the shop.
Today was spent pulling the rest of the interior walls down, and pulling nails and staples as I went this time. Took a break after lunch and helped the LOML bag some of the leaves out front to get ready for trash this week. With 30 something trees on just less than an acre, this could be a full time job!
With this weekend's demo work, I can now see that this structure started out as a carport, open on 3 sides, with the back wall closed off for a storage area. And, the storage structure was originally painted pink. After that it went to a dark teal/green, then finally to the dark tan it is now. It now makes sense why the concrete for this part is higher than the rest of the area. You'll be able to see the 4 X 6 poles in the center of the wall, and possible at the corners that are exposed in today's pictures. There is a 1 X 6 nailed to the bottom of the 2 X 10 headers that run the perimeter of the structure. It is on TOP of the 4 X 6 posts....easy enough to cut with the PC Tiger saw, but it just amazes me why they did this.
Which brings me to a question. On the picture from last week's post that showed the doorway, you can see the 1 X 6 on top of the studs. This week's picture of that opening shows that I took this 1 X 6 out. Should I have put a 2 X 4 top plate on the studs so that it would be between the studs and the header? I guess I will be redoing all of the studs, and going back to 16" centers. The 4 X 6 post on the west wall is right in the middle of my box bay window!! I really wanted it to be in the middle of the wall, but I guess I could go to one side or the other.
Thanks again for your thoughts and ideas. Jim.

ps. Picture 1 shows the french door opening.
Picture 2 shows the storage original structure of the carport. Notice the pink paint at the openings!

[Jim O'Dell]

These are the other 3 shots from today. # 1 is from the shop to the french door opening, # 2 is further to the right showing the rest of the wall. # 3 is the west wall, before I finished pulling everything off. Jim

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi all!
Well, here's this week's update. Not much to report. I had the whole weekend off and expected great things. Wife took a trip to Florida early Sat am, so I had dog duty. Takes about 2 1/2 hours to do the food for 7 and clean up (note: we do not feed comercial dog food, but that's a story for the off topic slot). So about 10:30 I made my list and went to HD to get supplies. 30 pieces of Hardiplank siding, some 1 X 4 Hardipboard, brick moulding, etc. Took a while to load the cart, then load the van. When I got home, there was nobody to help unload!! Hardiplank is heavy!! 12' long sheets are hard to handle by yourself. So I started by bagging all the leaves in the driveway to the shop. about 5 bags worth. Then I cleaned out part of the shop for the materials. Built a filter box for the output of the shop vac to help cut down the dust from cutting the Hardiboard material. Unloaded the van and stacked all the material. Exercised the dogs a few times, fixed and ate lunch somewhere in there, and cut my first piece of Hardiplank about 4:00. There's no way I can put this stuff up by myself, LOML just leaving Florida to come home...I'm through for the day
Today didn't get out of the upper 30's according to the thermometer on my back porch. Probably wouldn't have mattered. The picture below is what my wife went to Florida for. It could have been a beautiful day, and I wouldn't have gotten much more done. Somehow, I'm not at all bummed out about the weekend!!! There will be others for building the shop. Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi all!

Well, I took off work a little early today to try to enjoy a little of the beautiful weather we are having this week and work some on the shop. It was mid 70's today!! But it's turning colder after midnight tonight. Got all but 1 piece of trim cut for the windows, cut out the opening for the PTAC to be installed, then boarded it back up. But this way I can trim around the opening so that when I finally get to do the siding, I will have that in place to work up to. I work a 1/2 day tomorrow morning, so will get the last piece of window trim on my way home, finish the window trim and trim the opening I cut. Then I should be ready for the siding. I had a little extra time before it got dark, so I pulled some more of the slat wall material down in the storage area. What I found almost made me cry. On the edge of one roughly 2' X 3' piece of slat wall was written, [25 pcs oak slatwall 41" X 96"] Who ever put this material up as wall board cut 8' lengths of slatwall down to use as wainscoating (sp?). Oh well, I hope at this point that I can find a way to make use of what I can salvage. Maybe put several pieces together to make a larger section, or picture frame the smaller pieces. Any ideas???? Unfortuanately, some of the oak laminate is coming off as I try to pull the nails out that he used to attach it to the studs. Some that was on the floor is water damaged and that part will have to be cut off.
I hope all of you will have some quality time in your shops this weekend. Be sure to spend some time with your loved ones as well. Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Update, 01/23/05

Hi all!
Well, it looked pretty outside today, no wind blowing, but I lasted about 20 minutes in the shop before breakfast trying to decide what to tackle today. Just too cold. So I spent some quality time with my wife and the dogs this am. Then I did a little research on cyclones and priced some things out. I'm looking at the ClearvVue a little bit. It's Bill Pentz's design and recomended parts. Do any of you know of anyone with one of these? I'd be interested in how it is working and holding up so far. I haven't ruled anything out yet, but this one, the WoodSucker II. and the New Grizzly 3hp unit all look pretty good on price.
It finally warmed up to the upper 30's by 11:00 or so. I finished the trim around the windows and the PTAC, then caulked them good. After lunch, it still wasn't warm enough to try to tackle the siding. I'm going to have to rely on help from the LOML, and I didn't want to push things with the weather. I don't work next weekend, but she has things to do both days, so watch the weather be beautiful!!!
I did go ahead and tear down the slatwall off of the inside of the original storage area, and pull down all but about 4' of that wall. Sure helps the shop look bigger and gives me a better idea of what I'll have. Probably should have started cutting up the scrap wood that I've pulled off the walls and get it loaded into the van for disposal at work. But maybe I'll work on that one evening this week if it's not too cold.
The two pictures attached are of the north end of the shop, with the wall torn down. The part on the left that I left intact is full of old paint cans that were left here (wish I had made their disposal part of the deal on the house) and I've got the lighting fixtures I bought at 75% off at the Borg moving sale last month. I'll leave it alone until I get all the scrap wood hauled off.
Have a good week. Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi!
Well, I did get some things done on the shop this weekend. Weather looked like rain Sat afternoon, and all day Sunday. I had to work Sat. am at my regular job, so took off about 3:30 Friday to take advantage of the beautiful weather. Got the first 2 courses of siding done on all 3 sides of the addition before it got too dark to work. Sat. after work and lunch, I got the next 3 pieces cut for around the door and windows and PTAC and LOML helped me get them up. Then the short pieces on either side of the openings I was able to do myself. Sun am brought the rain, and I decided to go to HD about 1100 to get the electrical boxes to have something to do. While doing that, it cleared off. Got lunch and started back on the 3 top cuts around the door and windows. Got it all finished, and was able to do the top caps before it got totally dark. Now I need to caulk and paint these 3 sides before going on to the next piece of wall. All in all, a fairly productive weekend. I'm including 3 pictures to show the work.
Thanks for looking. Jim.

[Tyler Howell]

Hey Jim,

Looks like you're plugging right along there. Can't go wrong with the good help in the earlier post

[Jim O'Dell]

Well, I didn't post last week. I got most of the caulking done, but that was about it. It needed a second application to fill in the deep sections where it shrunk. I finished that up last night (Sat. my weekend to work again.) This morning, I got up and started painting. It's all done on the addition. I painted the entry door, but it is going to take another coat. It is dark brown/red in color. Doesn't show up real good on the picture attached. I'll try to get another next weekend after the 2nd coat of paint, and with some morning light shining on it. I'll paint the eaves and facia boards at the end when all the siding is up and painted. They will be painted a medium tan, and later the trim on the house will be painted the same color. Also the fake shutters on the house will be painted the color I've used on the body of the shop. The door color is one of the colors in the brick on the house, so hopefully the shop will look like it belongs here.
Now I can start that next piece of wall! Feels like I've been stuck in neutral for a while, even though I know I've been making progress. Thanks for looking! Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi all!!

What a beautiful weekend here in the Metroplex! Yesterday got up over 80, but it didn't feel bad. Today probably the mid 60's. Both days not a cloud in the sky.
It's been a few weeks since I've updated this thread. But I have been busy on the rehab. Three weeks ago, I finished the wall to the left of the door in the picture in the last post. You can see it was a light yellow color. It's finished, even painted. Last weekend I pulled the electric meter out from the wall, built a base for it, and reinstalled to the base. Then I put up the 1" foam, and Tyvek wrap on the 20' section of north wall. I had to disconnect my temporary power from the house in preparation for the siding to go up. Yesterday I got the first 2 courses of siding on, the electrical junction box installed, and some new wire run to approximately where this will be reinstalled as an outside flood light that is controlled from the house, and the window framed in and installed. Today I finished the siding at about 6:00, then cleaned up before taking the pictures. I still need to caulk and paint, but that should happen easily next weekend. I may take a vacation day Friday, caulk, then start the west wall while the caulk dries. Paint on Saturday afternoon (have to work Sat. am) and then work some more on the west wall as time permits and on Sunday.
Thanks for looking in. The first photo shows the window, the second is from a little futher out in the yard showing the whole north wall. Hope everyone else had a productive weekend. Jim.

[Tim Morton]

Looking good! This is the first time seeing this rehab. Looks like you have your hands full huh? I see you have a guard dog to keep out the rif raf!!

[Jim O'Dell]

Ok guys 'n gals, here's the latest.

I got the rest of the West wall demo'd 3 weekends ago, reframed, and framed the rough opening for the box bay window for my miter saw to set into. 2 weeks ago was a woodworking nightmare, as I went to Oklahoma for my SIL's wedding. It was a rainey day anyway, so probably couldn't have done a whole lot on the exterior. Sunday was just as bad, starting out with snow, turning to rain, and colder than I wanted to be out while damp. So I wiped the computer clean and started it over (a seemingly never ending chore)
This past weekend, I started by taking off work 1 hour early Friday. Got the base moulding up on the West wall, prepped the box bay opening a little more, and put up 2 sheets of the sheathing. Worked Sat. am, and fought off the urge to go to the local air base's air show to watch the Blue Angels. Did get to see a couple day's practicing though. I work about 1 1/2 mile from the south end of the runway. But I did get part of the box bay window framed in. Sunday I got the box bay window framing finished, the rest of the sheathing put up, the Tyvek wrap installed and the windows installed. At the end of the day, I cut the roof sheathing, and covered it with tar paper for a temporary shield should it rain. I was pleased with how it came out. My wife told me today that she likes the way the box bay window looks!!
Next weekend I will put up the corner boards and start putting siding up. Then I need to finalize the roofing for the box bay. I still need help with the south wall, for door construction ideas. I started a separate thread on that. There are a couple ideas, but I'm not satisfied I have all your ideas yet ;-))).
There are 2 pictures this week. Both of the West wall at 2 different angles. Disregard the pile of wood trash!!
Thanks for reading. Jim

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi all! Just when I think I've got this building figured out, Pop Goes The Weasel!! I got the west side caulked yesterday (Sat) after work, and painted today while the LOML was delivering a rescue to a new home down by Austin (hey, do you think she'd mind one of the trips that way stopping by MM and bringing me back a ....YEAH, SHE'D MIND). This afternoon after replacing the broken glass in her studio that another rescue forgot about on his way to chase a squirrell, I started pulling down the gable end that had the wood siding. I thought that there would be a header across this side just like the east and west walls. NOPE! I can't believe there isn't a header across the 10' garage door opening. There will be when I get through, though. Maybe it's because of the style of roof rafters that were used, but I'm sorry, it was shoddy workmanship, IMHO.
2 pictures again. 1 is of the finished painted west wall, 2 is a very out of focus picture (sorry) of the south wall with the gable opened up. Thanks for reading and listening to me moan. I've got a 3 day weekend next week. I hope to have everything on the south wall done except the doors. Jim.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

It's a lot of work Jim but it looks like you're doing a fine job! Keep at it and soon you'll have a great shop to ww in!

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Looks great Jim! Wish I had room to add that much real estate to the shop.