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My Retro 1930's BUICK SALES and SERVICE GARAGE


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2 hours ago, GARY F said:

Mr. Earl. You are doing a great job. I follow all your post. Question, When did you build this building that you are just now posting the build. Like I said I have been following anything you post for a few years. Who takes all the pictures? As far as Elvis goes, you better watch out.

 

Good question Gary. I think we started demoing the fences and buildings sometime in late 2012 with the fill and grading coming in '13. The site sat for several months and started the building in early '14. The work you see going on here was in the mild winter of '15. I pretty much had the doors and windows on it and it was considered dried in for insurance purposes in March of '16.  At that point I had some health problems and most heavy work ceased. But that has given me some time to continue gathering materials for the interior and also to raise some funds to purchase materials such as electrical, insulation etc when I get started back shortly. 

As far as pictures I started out taking them all with a camera. After grading was complete I have been using the cell phone and taking most myself with Rita taking some. Re Elvis, he's my main man. Smart dog. Can't imagine being here without him and my cat Kowpi. Thanks for the compliment and thank you for following my posts, it means a lot. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Rivman said:

 

 

 

Gettin’ there, and looking real close to your original plan!!!

 

Looks great!

 

Ahhh, thanks for posting those Randall. I've not thought to compare them like that. Show's somebody is really paying attention too, making the effort of posting worth the time. Thanks!!!

 

49 minutes ago, alsancle said:

Did I ever mention you should never trust someone that doesn't like dogs?

 

Just call me honest Abe then. :D  I do love my dog. Had dogs all my life but this guy is different. Usually dogs don't like to be looked at in their eyes. This guy looks up at me and almost talks to me through his eyes. I can read him and his thoughts and I know he reads me.

 

 

 

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Love puttin up sheathing. At the end of the day it's like "Wow, GOT somethin done TODAY...!!  Only took me and the Swede about a day and a half to put all the sheathing up. As the building faces pretty much south, the winter evening sun reflecting off the sheathing will almost blind you. As Randall mentioned earlier, at this point of time it was REALLY starting to take shape I was beginning to see my dreams materialize for sure.

 

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49 minutes ago, MrEarl said:

 

Just call me honest Abe then. :D  I do love my dog. Had dogs all my life but this guy is different. Usually dogs don't like to be looked at in their eyes. This guy looks up at me and almost talks to me through his eyes. I can read him and his thoughts and I know he reads me.

 

 

Dogs and Goats are the only two animals that will maintain eye contact with a human.  Don't ask me how I know.

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21 minutes ago, alsancle said:

Dogs and Goats are the only two animals that will maintain eye contact with a human.  Don't ask me how I know.

 

OK, I won't.   :lol:  BTW, you're talking to an old goat roper from way back here. Once had over 150 Boer and Kiko meat goats here on the farm. Goats will work you to death or the vet bills will make you wish you were dead!!! 

 

The miracle of today's medicines.... About this time my Marine Corp issued foot rot came back ferociously and I had to have double amputation and transplants of both feet. I thought they came out pretty good, no scars or nothin, wish the Doc could have found a better color match though.

 

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Next it was time to take a trip to Atlanta and visit the Cedar Store to buy some 2x Western Red Cedar for the trim. By the time I got out of there I was wishing I had used the old growth pine like I did on the back side. Spent over a grand on just enough to do the trim on the front facade, doors and window. After being use to salvage lumber prices of a couple dollars a board, that HURT. But if sealed and resealed every 4-5 years, it should outlast me. Gotta say though, the quality of the cedar was nowhere near as good as it was 30 years ago when we built the house of cedar. Full of knots!!! Some loose.

 

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Ran the Cedar trim up both ends. Then using 3.5" nails and timberlock screws, hung and an old growth pine 2x10 across the front middle where the brow/awning will attach.

 

 

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Ran a cedar 2x12 across the top of each step, glued and screwed to the top plate. Chamfered the end overhangs.

 

 

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The scaffolding height was running out. Height of the front is right at 25 ft. Worked off the roof on the back side on the long top most piece.

 

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Me and the Swede. The Swede was a computer hot shot, wrote computer programs so worked at that at night and on the garage during the day. Was a hell of a good worker and could put away some food. Just ask Rita. On second thought,  don't!   

 

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5 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

Dogs and Goats are the only two animals that will maintain eye contact with a human.  Don't ask me how I know.

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No, these critters aren't scared to maintain eye contact with humans, generally at this point it's a good thing to take a large step backwards.

 

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And they damage Buicks.

 

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Sorry Lamar, getting off track.

 

Your establishment is shaping up to be perfection, unbelievable detail and the use of material with many years of patina is in my eyes ( and many, many others ) just plain beautiful.

 

Give us a yell if you need an Australian Dunny door - I could probably track one down and it would go nicely with that jar of Vegemite. 

 

I'm really looking forward to see the internal fit out stage, what treasures are going to adorn those walls??

 

   

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3 hours ago, 50jetback said:

Sorry Lamar, getting off track.

 

No problem mate. That wild eyed guy looks like a male emu I had named "Cactus Jack"! Orner'y feller who could land a backwards kick perfectly in the gonads every time. He was the first to go when the US emu breeder market started going south. I had gotten in early and wised up and got out early. Many didn't and lost thousands and millions. All the the rest of the emu I had were docile and downright sweet. Loved them prehistoric birds. 

 

Thanks for the nice comments. I can't wait to get started on the interior.  Off to google up "dunny door" .... 

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That's looking pretty good.  I wish I could have gone with the vintage dealership look with mine,  but the town didn't even want me to build what I did.  I figure it's big enough,  I might do a faux street scene at the end inside so I can put my signs up the way they were intended to be, rather than just pasted all over the walls.  It will help protect them as well and give me something to do in the winter out of the weather. 

 

It must have been nice doing that excavating work.  I think I saw one rock in all the photos.  I can share a few of mine if you need them. 

These were some of the small ones we didn't bury. 

 

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Those little overhangs on the steps weren’t on the building in the photo you showed earlier.  I’m glad you put them there.  They were a feature on another building photo that you showed much earlier in your thread.  There are other such example features from those old photos.  You just pick the things you like and make them part of your building.

 

I was just wondering how many folks would notice that you bought new lumber for the places it wouldn’t be seen.  It’s a lot like the old Buick’s, save the old for the show! 

 

Those old ford tractors will do a lot of work and run forever. I now have Dad’s 1961 Ford 601 that he bought at an auction 44 yrs ago when I was 10.  

 

When you mentioned the fire ants, I had flashbacks from my 3 very long years in Houston.  Just really glad they haven’t made it this high up in OK. 

 

Very nice Lamar!

 

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On 1/19/2018 at 8:39 PM, MrEarl said:

Usually dogs don't like to be looked at in their eyes. This guy looks up at me and almost talks to me through his eyes. I can read him and his thoughts and I know he reads me.

Mine does that when I step out of the shower.:o

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2 hours ago, old-tank said:

Mine does that when I step out of the shower.:o

 

Ha, tha't one place Elvis will not go,  our bathroom. He will come to the door and look in but will NOT step inside. You're a dog mechanic, what do you reckon causes this? He was a pound hound we got when he was maybe 5-6 mos old. No history, pound said he was picked up as a stray.

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19 hours ago, MrEarl said:

Ha, tha't one place Elvis will not go,  our bathroom. He will come to the door and look in but will NOT step inside.

 

Well he went into the bathroom this morning. He met Mr Skunk last night about ten o'clock so spent the night outside and came in this morning for a hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and Dawn bath. Now both of us smell like skunk, me worse than him I think.

 

 

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On 2018-01-19 at 12:43 PM, MrEarl said:

Wow, all that diggin and heat from that last project posted almost gave me a heat stroke in February and got my back achin...

 

But lets march on...

 

With the plumbing and drain system in and summer coming to an end it was past time to do some landscaping in way of fine grading and grassing. Before I started the cut and fill for the building, I had the grade man push all the good topsoil up into two big piles. Using the ol Ford 2000 and a 5-6 cu ft scoop I backed into those two piles 280 times and carried loads of soil and dumped all around the garage. Not shown in the pictures but I then took a smoothing disc harrow and knocked down and leveled the piles before going over it several time again with the 5 ft blade. A slow and tiresome process. By the time I finished my left knee was swelling from clutching and I had a crick in my neck from looking back over my shoulder while backing into the piles. Not to mention the 98* high humidity days. Not to mention the stings from the yellow jackets who had made a home in one of the piles.

Pile #1

 

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Pile #2 For those who don't know how a scoop works, you may can see the rope hanging from the roll bar that is used to trip the bucket. Once tripped a good operator can lower it while moving forward and spread the pile somewhat.

 

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But since I'm not a good operator I just dump in piles and knock them down with the blade

 

 

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ooops, backed into the pile a bit too hard one time, hit a big rock and broke one of the 3 point hitch control arms. A trip to Tractor Supply and back up and running in a couple hours.

 

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Because I was "PLANNING" to lay sod(more about that later sad.gif), I raked smooth and cleaned the whole area of rocks.

 

 

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By 7:30 it's time for a wheelbarrow recliner and a cold Budweiser delivered by a very pretty waitress tellin me it's quitin time. Life don't get much betta!!!

 

 

 

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Well, it would be better if you had a beer, but that's another discussion altogether. 

 

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2 hours ago, Thriller said:

 

Well, it would be better if you had a beer, but that's another discussion altogether. 

 

 

when it's on the house and delivered by your sweetie, one doesn't complain son.  'sides anything beats that stuff with a maple leaf on the bottle

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That Bud was probably left over from a party. While my year round standard beer is Yuengling, actually my end of a hot summer day beer is Rolling Rock with salt on the rim and a twist of lime. Not a whole lot of taste but does go down so easy and quenches the thirst...

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3 hours ago, MrEarl said:

That Bud was probably left over from a party. While my year round standard beer is Yuengling, actually my end of a hot summer day beer is Rolling Rock with salt on the rim and a twist of lime. Not a whole lot of taste but does go down so easy and quenches the thirst...

 

Yuengling is my go to beer.  Black and Tan.  Good stuff.   If you ever get up to Pottsville PA visit the brewery.  Free tour and 3 simples from the kegs!  Their porter on tap is excellent!   

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I know 3 guys that went to that brewery on the free tour. Management took them up to a second story catwalk so they could look down at the vats. One of the guys got so excited he slipped and fell into the vat. Management rushed everyone out to the waiting room and about an hour later he came into the waiting room and told them he had drowned. They asked if he suffered much? and they were told that, they didn't think so, because he got out three times to go to the bathroom.

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On 2018-01-24 at 10:05 PM, MrEarl said:

 

when it's on the house and delivered by your sweetie, one doesn't complain son.  'sides anything beats that stuff with a maple leaf on the bottle

 

Agreed. Molson Canadian is pretty poor too...a short step up from Bud though. 

 

One of of my favourite things is to sample the local beer wherever I go. It's a tough life. 

 

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17 hours ago, Thriller said:

 

Agreed. Molson Canadian is pretty poor too...a short step up from Bud though. 

 

One of of my favourite things is to sample the local beer wherever I go. It's a tough life. 

 

 

I'm looking forward to Vietnamese beer in May, from a research perspective if nothing else. 

 

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Such a great thread Mr Earl!  No wonder you haven't been to the last few Nationals.  The place, the ENTIRE PLACE, looks picture perfect!  I can nail two boards together and all, but really wish I could do your quality type of work.  Looking forward to the next posts!

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2 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

Such a great thread Mr Earl!  No wonder you haven't been to the last few Nationals.  The place, the ENTIRE PLACE, looks picture perfect!  I can nail two boards together and all, but really wish I could do your quality type of work.  Looking forward to the next posts!

 

Thanks JD!!! Been seeing the "Likes" you been giving so figured you might be taking your time and catching up. Appreciate that and thanks for the nice comment. Finally got all the leaves raked and some window panes glazed back in in the old barn so hope to get back to catching up on this build. Looks like I'm always behind and trying to catch up.

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On 1/20/2018 at 11:23 AM, auburnseeker said:

That's looking pretty good.  I wish I could have gone with the vintage dealership look with mine,  but the town didn't even want me to build what I did.  I figure it's big enough,  I might do a faux street scene at the end inside so I can put my signs up the way they were intended to be, rather than just pasted all over the walls.  It will help protect them as well and give me something to do in the winter out of the weather. 

 

It must have been nice doing that excavating work.  I think I saw one rock in all the photos.  I can share a few of mine if you need them. 

These were some of the small ones we didn't bury. 

 

 

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Thanks auburnseeker!! Man them are called landscape rock down here and sell for big bucks.

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52 minutes ago, MrEarl said:

 

 

 figured you might be taking your time and catching up.

 

Yes, unlike you lucky guys in the south, my area is frozen in.  People in my area actually have two or more inches of ice in their yards this year.  Lake George, which is one hours drive north of me, and which has had to cancel their ice carnival the last 3 years because the lake had no ice, now has eleven inches of ice this year.  So I am not getting much done except reading by the fire.  Add to that several family issues, with related travels, and it's been a challenging end of 2017 and beginning of 2018.  So I was glad to read up on you and Joel's garage builds.   It's making me think of insulating the Queen's home out back...nah!  :lol:

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Next task was to install some 1x4x12' pine wall girts/lathing for attaching corrugated metal to. The local roof metal supplier was far cheaper than Lowes/HD by almost half.

 

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Fearless Kowpi

 

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Then came the job of scrubbing down the chicken house siding tin. I use Greased Lightning on the backside for cleaning and disinfecting and a 3 parts water to 1 part Muriatic Acid on the front to clean the discolorations. Some of the tin had been overlapped for years, and the overlapped areas were still shiny bright. The MA helps to dull it so it all looks pretty much the same.
 

 

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7 hours ago, MrEarl said:

The Swede took some shots of the landscape while on top of the top most plate.

 

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Anybody else see the cross here.

 

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Lovers initials carved into the top board.

 

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 Like the initials. Old or new?:lol:.     The cross is a good omen. I think.

 

  You cause me to sin, Lamar, with envy.  Beautiful place.

 

  Ben

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10 hours ago, MrEarl said:

 

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Looks Great Lamar!!!

 

I guess I should have waited for a few more installments before I posted those comparison pics a few pages back? 

 

And as always, it look like your "critters" are enjoying watching you work, and even helping you out a little bit some of the time.

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It does look great!  I don’t know how one goes about creating perspectives and details that are pleasing to the eye but you do it very well and the textures of both old and new give a harmonizing and welcoming feel.  Parity in form and function; elusive to me but recognized and admired nonetheless.

 

By the way, we both would struggle without our scaffolds but I would have a very difficult time standing atop a three jack scaffold with nothing to hold on to.  And, I wouldn’t be able to take my mind off those scaffold boards “full of knots”.  That’s why I went to the mill and sawed some that were over 2” thick.

 

When you get a chance, show us how to you tied the front into the roof (the backside of the facade).  Or, maybe I missed it already.

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