Two and a half weeks in

Two (and a half) weeks into the reno and the electrical is finally done!  We finished sanding the floor this morning and as I type this the boys are laying the first coat of polyurethane.

Duncan mans the trusty vacuum.  With lights this time!  I
promise this is not the only thing he does.

Sanding in preparation for the polyurethane
top coat.  Despite paying through the nose
for a fancy pad sander, we had to sand all the
board junctions by hand with a belt sander.
Not pictured: fancy pad sander (but it looked
like this)

With the floor about to be unwalkable, it was time to clear
out the last of the junk.  Scrap metal, fluorescent ballasts,
old electrical conduit, two a/c units... good riddance!

Took this rat's nest of wire up to M&B metal
recycling and figured I'd clean up - if
criminals do it, it must be good economics!
Disappointingly, the take was barely enough
for a case of beer for the lads.

That's it for now - back to work!

UPDATE

We got the first coat of poly down, and it's looking great!  Some action shots of Nate doing the honours:

Glug glug glug
 

he's on a roll!

Renovation update!

With 10 days elapsed since the last update, we're rolling right along with the renovation.  Take a look below to see how the place is progressing!

Duncan Martin mans the vacuum in the running battle we
wage against dust.

All the derelict furniture at the space moved us to build
roller carts to help shuffle them around.

The temptation to misuse them is astounding.

Look we took down the drop ceiling!  These snazzy beams
were hiding up there all along.  Note also the piles of flooring
 on stage left.

We had to use a grinder wheel to cut down the last vestiges
of drop ceiling (seen in the upper left of previous photo).
Luckily, this validated my recent grinder purchase (should
have gone to the Tool Library?).

Laying the new floor: the first step is squirting
this goopy glue all over the place.

The first piece is down!  Good job Nate.

"Oh hey guys!"
Rick (me) filling the gaps between boards with Elmer's wood filler.

Behold the new floor!  It consists of 4'x8' sheets of oriented
strand board.  Though typically used as an underlayment
rather than finished surface, we think this material will look
pretty decent once we sand and slather it with clear
polyurethane sealer.

The electrician's in there now wiring up those lights.  Next up: sealing the floor, painting the walls, and getting the sinks plumbed in!  Stay tuned!

Building permit approved!

Today we got the call from City Hall: our building permit has been approved!  With this mandate in hand, we're finally free to begin work sprucing up the storefront and preparing it for You!  Our valued customer.

First things first: that dusty, decaying carpet has to go.

The first bit is the hardest! 

Rolling it back a little further.  Note the
beautiful marble pattern made by 20 years of
fine, swirling dust.

Goodbye carpet!  The place is already feeling livelier.  New
flooring materials set to arrive later this week!

You may note that in addition to the rolls of old carpet, there are stacks of white and brown particle board shelving components.  A keen eye will notice the resemblance to the tall (9'?) freestanding shelves pictured in my first post.  We can't use 'em, so if you need some large, tall shelves, drop me a line using the contact page: http://homesteadersemporium.ca/contact.html. Same goes for the old carpet and ceiling tiles.