My life for my planet! Doing what I can to make sure our future generations can enjoy the same beautiful Nature that helps make my life complete.

Finally the construction of my shop has begun!

We re-financed our property around 5-years ago so we could have a new home and a shop. Well, we have the new home and have been enjoying it more than we expected but the shop is another story.

We had ten HUGE STUMPS to get rid of to start so I grabbed a shovel and got to work.Unlike folks that have money to hire someone to remove stumps I had the pleasure of doing it by hand myself. I have learned from experience that the best way to do it is to dig under the stump until all the roots are exposed then build a fire underneath it. I had tried just building a fire around a stump in hopes that it would turn to ashes but after days of burning on one stump found that was not gonna work. Once the holes were dug and the fires were lit it took three-days of burning for each.

With this bum disabled back of mine I have had to really change the way I do things. I try (try with emphasis) to limit myself to about 20-minutes of work at a time then 30-40 minutes of rest. I have learned to use other parts of my body so I will have less of a chance hurting myself more. When I am using a shovel I get in a half-way squatting position so I can support my arms on mylegs so there is little pressure on my spine... leverage is a dear friend of mine! At my pace it took a good week for each stump but it was a labor of love...with each shovel I was closer to having my shop!

Now after the stumps were history it was time to go grab a "Little Nickle" it's a free ad paper that I had seen for years and always daydreamed when seeing like 50 different ads for different types of shops about someday having my own. Now....I had $$ and it was time to get serious.I talked to probably 30 of the outfits selling buildings and was getting pretty excited that with usin' the $$ I had left that I would have monthly payments around $50! Heck that was cool! Then this one outfit all-of-a-sudden was 1/3the cost of others and there would be no payments...just buy it!

Man did I ever run across a "Slick Dick" Salesman. Telling me their simple to erect kit was much less expensive to build than those "Pole Buildings" (turns out with the extra concrete to be as much if not more!) this is a quanset building "they are structurally way stronger. Told me I could hang an I-Beam so I could have a trolley and a winch overhead along with lots of other BS! Turns out I can't even hang a light from it...I have to build anything seperate from the floor up!  He had me sold almost from the start. The more he rattled on...the more gullible I became. The main trip was this was gonna be more than twice the size I originally planned on and cost way less! I was in heaven!

Well, I made a deposit over the phone with my debit card and was told in 10-days my building would arrive with the engineered drawings (his first deception) and easy Erection guide. Yeee-HAW! My building was on its way! The semi-truck coming down the road made me so doggone happy, I almost cried!

I started going through all the parts to make sure everything was there and the excitement suddenly took a turn when I discovered there were no endwalls! I got on the phone in a heartbeat to let the salesgoon know he didn't ship my endwalls! He said "Mr.Knight... did you not know the building came without the endwalls? They are optional! You should have ordered them with the building it is going to cost a lot to ship them seperate"

Suddenly I realized I had been "horn-dogged" by a pro! I was so angry! I told him where he could put his endwalls because this was rediculous! He told me I was buying a building... not a building missing the ends 40' wide and about 15' at the tallest point. 80' of wall is kind of a big thing if you ask me!

I figured forget the liar...I will build my own outa wood, and that is how its gonna go.

Then to add "insult to injury" it turns out that the "Engineered Approved Drawings" were "Manufacturer approved Drawings!!!" The Permit Center would not accept them! Well turns out the SalesGoon would happilly sell me the drawings for $800! He said "I would have gave you a 20% discount if you had ordered them with the building!" I told him he had said it came with Engineer Approved Drawings and he said...he was sorry...he got his words messed up!

BOOM! That put the brakes on immediatly... he might as well have said $1M for the drawings...no way my budget could have $80 to work with let alone $800!

Well now, a few years later after building some equity we re-financed again!

I called the outfit that swindled me on the building to purchase the drawings and talked to a new person on the phone and asked about "Engineer Approved Drawings" and he told me they also had a letter I could purchase that was a letter from an Engineer approving the drawing for around $300. I told him I would check with the Permit Center to see if they would accept such a letter.

I called the Permit Center immediatly and asked about the letter... the fella I spoke with was really helpful and asked "what was the problem with your original drawings that you would need an approval letter for?" I told him they were rejected because they were manufacturer approved drawings and not engineer approved drawings. He told me to bring them in and he would check them out himself.  Hmmmm...you bet! I told him I could be there first thing in the morning and was there at 7:45am waiting for the door to open! By 8:05 I was shakin' hands with the fella I spoke with. He looked the drawings over and said "I don't have any problems with these!" I coulda hugged the dude! But contained myself (heh heh.) Yeee-Haw! I paid my permit fee deposit and headed out the door. Six-week waiting period was what I was told to expect...well 5-weeks later I get a letter from the permit center saying "there is a problem with the design of your lateral supports, once these are corrected by a certified engineer re-submit the drawings for approval!" What the heck!?!?!? There was an email address listed luckily, and I figured email would be a good way to document any further discussions with them. I emailed the fella who wrote the letter...he was not the fella I met and I told him my fiasco so far. An hour later I had a response from the fella I had met. He apologized sincerely and to help ease the mistake told me of a former work buddy of his who as a favor to him would help me out with getting the drawing I needed. That was really cool! I had called every single Engineer in the Yellow Pages and all were booked solid for at least six-months! The quotes I was given were all in the $1200 range. The fella I got hooked up wih cost me $400. That worked out really cool especialy since the engineer drawings from the salesgoon were the same drawings they originally sent with a different stamp (permit center would not approve letter from out of state engineer anyway.) that would have been rejected and cost me another expensive lesson.

I now have my Permit and the fun has begun!

I called one of my best buddies in the world  to see if I could hire him for a few days and help me get things laid out. He told me he would love to help (I swear half my friends are just as excited as I am about my shop!) but would not accept any money. He said if I picked him up Friday night and bought him back home Sunday night there was nobody he would rather spend time with. I am extremely blessed with good friends many for over 35-years we seem to almost all be the same way when it comes to helping friends. As the old saying goes "a friend in need... is a friend indeed." We feel it a privilage and an honor to help each other as it helps give a person a feeling of self-worth to be able to help others. I am a strong believer in kharma (sp?) never studied the religious side but have witnessed it first hand... I believe the more good you do....the more good that comes back to you. My friends have proven that endlessly. Clyde (my Bro') came up and helped me get the corners laid out and staked between about 30-beers (Consumed by Clyde... none for me) through the day... it was a nice accomplishment although without the beers would have been much less time involved... seems Clyde has taken a liking to Tracy our dear friend for many years who lived with us for a long time and now resides right across the street. Frank Jr.made the comment "if ya' worked on Pa's shop as much as you are workin' on Tracy we would probably be done!" We all cracked up big time! I took Clyde home Sunday night and when monday mornin' came around I was out with my shovel in hand and doing 15-minute digs followed by a 30-minute break...if I do not do it like that it is too easy to over do it and my disability kicks in over-time...if I aint' careful it will be weeks til' I can get around half-way decent again. The pain gets bad!

The young kids around here who over the years have had their chains put back on their bikes and a kabillion flats repaired... helpin' them keep their beaters and dirt bikes runnin' or givin' them a ride to town or back when they are out walkin' etc...  happy to help.

I had about three-hours in on diggin' when one of the young fella's showed up and said "what are you doin' diggin'? You shouldn't be doin' that!" I told him...I had to if I wanted to get my shop built....well in 20-minutes I was blessed with some of the best young folks on the planet armed with picks, axes, and shovels! I gladly stepped out of the way! Here is a picture of some of my awesome help...

l to r is Ryan, Kent, Michael, Willie, and Frank Jr....it was so awesome.... they busted butt! It was like a human excavating machine...axes bustin roots a good foot around... pickin at the rocks and shovelin' dirt like there is no tomorrow!

I am so blessed! The two 65' footings are dug along with the form boards almost completely constructed and starting to place the rebar. I will take more pictures today and upload soon of the progress so far.

Ready to pump the footings full of concrete! The pump operator had a cool remote control... what a job... like playin' with a giant transformer toy!

What a glorious site! Concrete filling my forms! Oh happy Day!

Concrete is hard and the boys are a boltin'! Michael and Ryan hard at it! We layed some plastic down to keep dirt outa' the joints.

Clyde says "heck Frank... you don't need to buy no stinking scaffolding! You got plenty of stuff left over from your forms.... I'll whup ya' together one of the most beautiful scaffolds in the world!" Kinda looks like a hangin' gallow! Doug (the twins Grampa said "I aint gittin' on that thing!" Heh heh!

He changed his mind after seeing a lot more braces in place!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes! Finally! The first metal is in the air!!!

Clyde says "Whooops! Scaffold is 4" too high" a couple quick passes with the skilsaw... a few more nails and away we go!

One and a half arches and movin' the rest of number two! It still kills me.... how the heck can these young guys walk with their doggone britches half-way to their knees with the boxers fully displayed! I say... Thank the Great Spirit for underwear!

Yes! The second arch is up and Clyde eyeballs his strings and gives the okay!

We will call that good for the day... two and a half arches... what a beautiful site! It has taken years to get these first panels in place and now everything is goin' "smooth as silk!" I anticipate that is what's happenin' with Citizenre.... takes years to get goin' but when the first pieces are in place.... the rest will be "smooth as silk" too!

 

Here's a couple pics from the front yard today... I figured I had plenty of posts of out back and wanted to share some Fall beauty.

I kept one of the old-growth cedar stumps out front and built the rock wall around it for a flower bed and then planted a lace leaf maple in the center of it... I can't draw worth a hoot so I guess this is my artwork. I sure dig doin' it but as you can tell... it got a little ahead of me this year. The shop has taken priority! 

It has been about a month passed since the last paragraph! I have been busier than a dog in a hydrant factory! The building is all up except for the endwalls and the County signed off the Permit!

Here is a picture of Michael and Ryan doing the final torque of the over 4800 bolts in this big boy erector set!

The first chore was to  empty out the two 10'x20' carport deals we had all of our stuff stored in! It was like Christmas! Dang.... I have a lot of tools! Sharon has a lot of stuff too!

The NW weather can be brutal and there is no lack of moisture in the air allowing it to get to anything that is not sealed. It is gonna be a chore of love cleaning rust and replacing parts in electric motors.

We didn't even have the first carport empty and a neighbor walked up and asked what we were gonna do with the carports and I told him I was gonna put them on craigslist (I am also a craigslist junkie!) for $125 each. He said he would take them! Too cool... I let him have both for $200. We got some funny looks from folks driving by when each of us grabbed a leg of the carport and hup-two'd each one in one piece down my driveway down the road a little and up Joe's driveway. It looked pretty funny and if I hadn't been attached to one of the posts.... you can bet there would have been video and pictures!

We got everything into the shop and my never-ending tinkering has begun. We are going to mix our own concrete and I had the first load of mix delivered yesterday a 10-yard load of 40% sand and 60% 3/4+ gravel. It is really good stuff! I went down to Mt. Vernon last night and got the first 12-94lb. bags of Portland Cement and a nice 18" flat trowel.

We are doing roughly a 7'x8' section of forms for the floor 4 at a time. I figure 4 a day will be a good pace. I meshed the floor with a bunch of old heavy weld-wire fence I have had for years that I knew someday... I would use it for a floor pour! I am re-enforcing the front with 3/4" rebar and every 6' across the floor with 5/8" rebar. We already did a small section to put my two roll-away chests on a couple weeks ago. We moved everything except the roll-aways to the back 2/3's of the shop and will do a 20'x40' section at a time and once the concrete has been cured I will build the second deck to store mass stuff and then pour the second third then the third.

Here are a couple pictures of the progress so far.

 

 

Well... my Bro' Kris should be here soon with the cement mixer so.... I'll be back with more later!

12-21-2008

Well we poured two eight-foot by eight foot sections for a start but I had to hold off on more after reading the change in the projected weather report! I had two days until the freeze came! Luckily what we poured had a couple days to cure before it froze. I just hope it turns out okay!

We have twenty-two inches of snow today so I guess we can consider this the "snow-load test!" So far... so good!

Here is the a picture of the test in progress:

Here s a shot of out front:

The small picnic table in the center was cleared y'day of snow so whats there... fell overnight. We had to use the snow that was on it for the snow fort.

Kent says "Heck, its up to 26 degrees... tee-shirt weaher!" Whutta Nut!!!

I'm not worried about the snow-load on the shop but... the house is another story... my young friends in the pic below were happy to rescue the roof!

L to R below are Ryan, Michael, and Kent (our local "Bruce Lee"):

 

 

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