My new big project...

Well this week (finals week) I have started yet another project but but this time much larger. As some of you might remember my grandparents have fallen ill and had to move somewhere they could get round the clock care. This left their home empty, and as they were going to give it to me anyway they told me to just move in and the lawyer would draw up the paperwork.

The place is on an acre lot, the house is just an old double wide with an add on. The shop though is bigger than the house somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 sq feet. It has 3 bays though the middle one is currently blocked off. If you parked a car in all 3 bays you would still have room to park additional cars between each and on the ends. There would also be about 10 feet in front between the cars and back wall.

My girlfriend is moving in with me and we are going to rent out the back bedroom to cover some of the costs. So she is helping me clean up the house, paint and all of that.

The lousy thing is we got over there last night for the first time this week last night because we needed to turn the water on a bit so the pipes didn't freeze. However when we got there they already had frozen. So that is on my list of things to fix today after my geology final. It is not suppose to get above 15 degrees here today.

I will try and get some pics up later so you guys can see what I'm starting with. The shop needs quite a bit of work as grandpa was quite the pack rat. It hasn't had a proper cleaning for 15 years or so. Its quite dirty and packed with junk. He also never put in proper shop lighting and just hodge podged things up as he went along so a good cleaning and new lights are first on my list out there.

I'm thinking I'm going to put the Olds in to the blocked middle bay then park the truck and van in the other bays. Then there is an area I will use as an assembly area for the engine and the like.

Cool deal!

I look forward to the photos.

As I redo my house...I'm planning the plumbing system so it can be winterized in a matter of minutes...for just these types of things.

Clem

Good for you!

If the pipes have frozen, you're priorities have already been set.

When you finally get to the shop, carefully pick through everything your grandfather accumulated. You'll probably find some great things that will mean a lot to you or the family, or things your grandfather will still appreciate having around.

Heck, the stuff you find may have value to someone else; you can sell it and use the money to finish the shop!

Maybe there are some Barn Finds. Look for an original 429 Cobra, 1949 Panhead, or Mint but Dirty XKE. You never know. Maybe under that pile of boxes on the tarp?

Seriously, though, sounds like you're set for a while and I'm glad things are working out that way and hope your grandparents do OK.

Dr. Hess wrote: Maybe there are some Barn Finds. Look for an original 429 Cobra, 1949 Panhead, or Mint but Dirty XKE. You never know. Maybe under that pile of boxes on the tarp? Seriously, though, sounds like you're set for a while and I'm glad things are working out that way and hope your grandparents do OK.

Sadly no the only cars that came with the shop are a 2006 Ford Taurus and a 2000 Mercury mini van. Though there maybe parts left over form my Uncles old '68 Camaro floating around.

Yeah the pipes are my priority right now. It seems to be the line to original part of the house. The sink in the add on portion is still running. Once I get things fixed I need to make sure I get things setup for winter better because they can be nasty around here.

cool deal like to see piks keep a faucet dripping , would be fun to go thru gramps stuff don't be in a hurry to throw stuff out . take piks and save stuff you will enjoy it in your older age

Once you get the pipes thawed insulate the crap outta them if you can. Also, I've found from hard experience that if you have a drain that freezes you can pour copious amounts of table salt into the standing water and as it dissolves it will lower the freezing point of the water to the point where the drain will clear.

+1 on carefully sorting the shop "junk". White paint on the shop walls will really help too.

I got the pipes thawed today, it was the ones under the house that were frozen. Plumber came up out of the hole from under the house with a WTF look on his face. Apparently 15 feet of pipe was laying directly on the ground with no insulation. But wait that is not all! Apparently at one point there was a pipe burst and the patch job was done with, wait for it...a length of garden hose! Can you guess what my next fix is going to be?

Got water running again through the house though no hot water to the back room (that is where the garden hose patch goes). Todays high was about 10 degrees, tomorrow I might get under there with a heater and try and get the water in the hose to thaw.

I took a few pics but I'm to lazy to load them tonight I will get them on tomorrow.