New Pinball Restoration Shop Being Built

[websherpa]

Well, I am tooting my own horn a little bit, ok, a lot. But having turned 50 it just seemed like the right thing to do, finally. For the rest of my family, it's a renovation with a couple new bedrooms and a real 2nd floor added to a Post War 1.5 Storey with complete makeover.

But for me, it's the Pinball Is Not Dead Workshop Valhalla. The Garagmahal of Pinball. The getting 8 project machines out of the jam packed basement, the, well... you get it. I've already shared this previously when I was a member of MAACA, but there's been some progress and I managed to mangle the original Flickr Album (who knew that when you convert form iPhoto to Lightroom to save hard drive space you'd lose the Flickr Albums!!). So here's the link to an album documenting the renovation (I update it daily if I can): https://flic.kr/s/aHsk3iAN3j

The garage space is 37 x 16 x 11.5 feet high and will be occupied by both my pinball restorations and woodworking equipment (time to get back to making furniture for our new house).

I'm in the process of planning sound isolation between the garage and main house, and it looks like it's "Green Glue" all the way.

And the icing on the cake is that we "might" finally be able to finish our basement (which we've had completely waterproofed) and have the room for an arcade.

I have had perma-grin for more than a month and I can't stop smiling (can't sleep much either, considering that I work at home). The main work is scheduled to be done by early November.

 

[DRANO]

That's a pretty big undertaking! You must be excited.
As someone who is on the tail end of their home renos, I can appreciate the blood, sweat, tears and anticipation.
Good luck!

So who's the lucky one sleeping above the new pinball room?

 

[spiroagnew]

Looking good, Wayne. Quite the photo album you've amassed! My offer still stands...if you need help hauling pins into the new digs give me a call!

 

[superjackpot]

That is quite the project you have going there!

Reshoring and waterproofing your original foundation has got you covered for years to come. Always feels good to do things the right way.

"Green Glue" looks to be quite the product, especially so considering how it's applied.

Thank you for sharing your impressive photo collection. Looking forward to seeing more. I am curious to see how the roof is tied in to the main house (structure and looks).

 

[Fifty]

This kind of stuff gets me stupid excited. I love renovations especially if I'm not doing all the work. Looks like you are getting quite a bit of time to supervise so that is fantastic. Looks like a good cast and crew you have working there as well. Contractors smiling and doing poses for the camera. Good humour.

I'm curious if you've received any complaints or if you've got that one arsehole neighbour 3 streets over that phoned the city on you.

Oh, and that bit on the 2nd floor with the window, is that going to be some sort of dormer?

 

[superjackpot]

Wayne, any update? Really curious to see your progress!

 

[superjackpot]

Ok, so I realized, hey, just go look at the album for an update... doh!

Suffice it to say I was floored.

Wayne, this is one very impressive renovation! I clearly glossed over your original post concluding you were adding a pinball shop/gameroom and 'some' new bedroom space. This is a total transformation!

The pictures showing the second storey being framed around the original roof put the scale of this job into perspective. Love the roof trussing. Again, impressive. Your home towers over the rest of those your street which I assume are still to the scale of your original. How are the neighbours taking it? I suppose you shared your plans with them, but these things are never easy to picture until they are done.

So much work done to your home in a matter of a few months. You must be very pleased to have enclosed everything (roof) in time for the cold weather. I know there is much remaining to do, but still... congratulations Wayne!

 

[cdnpinballer]

Thanks for reminding me that I will never take on a home reno again! Thank god we finished our basement and the rest of what we wanted to do this summer.

House looks great by the way. The leaves on the trees show nearly 3 season's! Your neighbours must have loved the time it has taken to get done.

 

[websherpa]

Thank you for the interest, it's been a fascinating journey. It's hard to fathom the whole process until you live through it to see the evolution, so I wanted to document the process as much as possible. (Sorry I missed these posts, for some reason I must have the forum not set to email me on replies)...

Seeing the framing go up around the old house and roof was something. And I spent quite a few nights on the un-roofed floor of the extension star hopping with my gimballed binoculars (which I know a few of you will appreciate). I almost wanted them not to put the roof on (or at least build me a "dome" - vetoed by significant other).

The reno is creeping along a bit now (Holidays mostly), and the budget creeping upwards a bit. Insulation and interior drywall all done, just siding, painting, trim work and flooring to complete (plus some finish electricity). And the garage finishes (it's drywalled, but I've put the breaks on painting for now).

Frankly I'm getting tired of sleeping in the living room and trying to wash gypsum dust out of my pores. LOL

The primary contractor (I'm the general, but hired Huisman Construction for 98% of the work - we waited 2 years to get him...) is fantastic. Love their jobs, love their work, sub-trades love him, leave the worksite clean each day, hardly make any mistakes, immediately fix any they or I find (I am borderline OCD so kudos to them for putting up with me). We exchanged Christmas gifts. I'll actually miss the crew once they finish.

But I made one mistake. In the garage workshop, I had them soundproof only the ceiling (below new bedroom and office space) and the adjoining wall (in the end it was resilient channel and 5/8 drywall for soundproofing to save a little coin). The adjoining wall is dead silent, and the ceiling well-soundproofed, but I completely forgot my early audio training and we're plagued by "flanking" sound which I am certain is travelling up the exterior wall that I only had insulated and used 1/2 drywall (no resilient channel). The contractor thinks I'm completely nuts ("carpeting and some furniture will fix that") ... but I know better. You can stand in our adjoining living room and can't hear a loud radio in the garage. Stand in the bedrooms above and to me it's like the radio is radiating out of the exterior wall. There are three windows and an electrical panel penetrating that wall, nothing else (in fact I purposely planned almost entirely surface mount conduit in order to eliminate air gaps). It could be the window framing as it's nearly a direct connection between the interior noise and the enclosed wall framing.

So I'm resigning myself to adding a second layer of 5/8 drywall with green glue to the two exterior walls (three if you count the area around the main car door) to try and limit the flanking sound. It's a bit of a gamble, and money we don't want to spend, but my gut tells me something needs to be done.

Because of the drywalling in the garage I haven't been able to do much in there. But I recently picked up a full size electronic soft darts machine (2009 Medalist Spectrum Avanti Elite "T") in great condition and that has become the neighbourhood attraction. We had a hoot playing a foursome of 501, Cricket and some other dart games today. I have an 80's Coke/Beer vendor coming (which needs some restoration) so it's now a dice up as to whether the garage remains the "pinball restoration and wood workshop" or whether I haul in a pool table and it gets dedicated to neighbourhood entertainment!! LOL.

 

[websherpa]

Oh, I forgot to mention that our neighbourhood is one of those idyllic ones where many of the people are the same age, our kids growing up together and we cut each other's lawns and throw block parties. And it's an older neighbourhood, so many of us just wandered there from different points, or were native to the village. We gave lots of notice, no one complained (although we didn't need a variance or changes to the plans in any case), and just about every day we get stopped and told how amazing the transition has been. We consider ourselves lucky and thankful (even though living in a temporary "mud pit" is not all it's cracked up to be). ;-)

 

[websherpa]

It's been a long winter and I haven't updated this thread in a while. Well, started in September and now it's March, and our contractors still have "possession" of the garage. But we're getting closer. The inside of our house is done and we're just in the process of having the new siding done. Yard is one big mud pit, and the money tree is nearly leafless.

Here's a little album of JUST the new Garage Mahal (dedicated to Woodworking, Slot & Pinball Machine Repair): https://www.flickr.com/gp/websherpa/02335g/

At least 1/2 the 200 amp panel in the garage (we have two full panels for the house now) is dedicated to the garage, 220v and 20 amp 120 circuits everywhere. Intense lighting (could STILL be brighter in my opinion - I cheated out on the fluorescent bulbs for now), in-garage running water (but my plan for a urinal was vetoed by the significant other), Radiant Gas Tube Heat (amazing!). I'm not sure if I'm going to do a mini-split air conditioner yet or not. Eventually my 3HP dust collector will vent outside, accommodations for homebuilt air cleaner, compressed air, etc. Security, occupancy censored exit lighting, wifi thermostat and door/garage locks. All electrical is surface mount conduit to lessen penetrations in the walls for soundproofing. Double drywall and resilient channel on adjoining wall and ceiling (next time I would use Green Glue and to EVER surface as it's still not "quite" as soundproof as I had originally planned for .... sound is migrating laterally up the outside wall which I neglected to soundproof).

Once I get in there the first new thing (other than painting), will be a platform floor at the back for my electronics bench, and vinyl "coin" flooring to cover the entire concrete surface for a little more sound control and aching back relief.

Despite the occasional "burp" in the process, I have perma-grin these days.