Hello Everyone,
Aaron here. We thought we should shoot out a progress report to let everyone know where we are at. It's been a really productive week so far. Parts distributors got locked down and we actually started purchasing some cool products for the shop (stay tuned...we're gonna write about said cool stuff). We also went to the used fixture store and bought some fixtures ( i.e.. hangers, grid wall, tables) to display our wares. Below is a pic of us after we left the store. Pretty cramped.
Katharine drove her Jeep to the fixture store. We packed that thing so full of stuff there was barely room for the two of us. I had to take this picture of Katharine blind because the box you see in the foreground completely blocked her from my view. It was and interesting ride.
Yesterday and today were spent at the shop working on the brick. I heard that brick and mortar businesses take work but this is getting a little too literal. If you saw any of our other posts about the progress of the shop you would know that one of the major projects to date is exposing the original brick walls, then refurbishing them by cleaning and repointing. We are nearing the end of our brick odyssey and I have to say the shop is really starting to look great. The paint is completely stripped so now it is time to rip out the old mortar joints and repoint. We picked up some sweet safety gear and got to work.
Darth Vader impressions are obligatory when wearing a respirator. The grinding wheel makes a lot of dust and I'm already out of breath when I pedal back up Penn ave so these are a must.
Today started out a little rough. Yesterday Katharine mentioned that we should ride to the shop this morning as we have been spending too much time in the car as of late. We didn't have anything to schlepp here or there so it was the perfect day to get back on the bike. Well that sounds all fine and good but when its icy and raining and snowing/sleeting you're gonna have a bad time. Couple that with my forgetfulness for proper rain gear and I was completely soaked by the time we got there at 9:15. Luckily, two kerosene burners and scaffolding made a great drying rack. 20 minutes of makeshift drying and I was good to go.
We did a monster amount of work grinding old mortar joints than pointing the bricks with new, prettier mortar. I spent most of the last two days with a grinder in hands ripping old mortar out of the wall. As expected Katharine was a natural mason replacing the the mortar I ripped out with fresh new stuff. We have about two thirds of the shop finished and the new look is really exciting. After spending the last few months working on business planning and other less fun task getting some physical labor in was a nice break. We're two thirds of the way done.
After we finish the brick work we need to get walls put up for the bathroom and dressing room. The walls should go up later this week. Katharine put together a really nice 3D model for our shop layout.
Who doesn't like models?