Tool Home LLC Has a New Shop!

tbellemare

Honorary Member
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Nov 3, 2007
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I recently moved my operation to a new space.. It has an office area, shop/warehouse, and restroom. Nothing fancy but great location - about 3 miles from the Capitol and 1-1/2 from my house on a main drag.

It was previously occupied by a couple of guys that made furniture and obviously had no concept of dust management. Though they swept the floor in the shop, they ignored the fact that every other surface was thick with fine sawdust.

Please try to overlook the quality of most of the images below. They were all done with one hand holding one of those "Android phones". BTW, it wasn't the phone...

This is what it looked like when I took over...

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Everything but the floor was filthy.

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Festool calls this a floor nozzle, I say why not a wall nozzle?

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Here, you can see the back of the office and restroom. Please notice how nasty brownish everything appears.

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After vacuuming the walls as high up as my tubes and wall nozzle would reach, I taped and floated up to the height of the office/restroom walls. I did a pretty quick job but it was still 10 gallons of mud. Next, sanded it all with the Planex.

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I wanted to brighten things up and make it at least feel clean, so I got some white semi-gloss and put a blue tape line all across the walls to be painted, even with the top of the office.

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To get the tape right, I used my little Stabila LaserBob.

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I painted the side walls. The building is tilt-wall so the front and back are concrete and I didn't paint them.

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The office was also a pit. It had crappy, dirty, moldy, indoor/outdoor carpet. I pulled it out and tiny ants came out from under the baseboards in a few spots. So, I pulled all the trim and tossed everything in the dumpster as it was all total junk. I vacuumed up the piles of dirt from the ants under where the baseboards were and my wife mopped the concrete floor with PineSol a few times and then bleach.

This is right after I took out the carpet and scraped the floor. I hadn't yet determined to redo the trim.

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I got some 1x4s at the Borg and painted them black (cheap, modern-looking trim).

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I painted the walls with the same white semi-gloss, laid some tile squares I got for about 30 cents apiece, and trimmed.

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There is a glass entrance door and a window. I have a good, monitored security system but was still concerned about a smash and grab situation with the glass. I went to a nearby metal purveyor and got a couple of sheets of expanded metal. Using my old Trion, some saw horses, and SysLite, I made custom panels that fit the door and window. I painted them black also.

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I installed the one on the door and then, using the LaserBob, lined up the one on the window with it. I was a little concerned that it would make me feel like Escher every time I looked out the window if I didn't pay attention to that detail...

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I have since covered the whole right side with expanded metal.

Finally, it's ready... Time to move!

There's the "cooling tower" and some levels:

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bits and bags:

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blades and measuring stuff:

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The above are in the office area.

Tom

 

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In the warehouse area, I made storage against the back and restroom side wall.

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I turned the funky tower, that the previous tenant left, into storage for bags, hoses Domino tenons, etc.

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Above the bench that was left over from the previous tenants, I built some shelves to hold the partial boxes for my most requested sandpaper assortments. The bottom shelf is 16' (~5m) long for perspective. What you see is only the Granat and Platin. I have about an equal amount of other partial boxes of Br2, Rubin, etc.

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'Can't forget the sharpener that was also left.

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I have the typical Festool display to make it easy to see stuff.

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The dust extractors conveniently fit under the leftover benches.

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In the center of it all, I had room enough for a generous demo' area that doubles as my personal shop space.

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The entry area by the overhead door gets the big stuff (CMSs, MFTs, UGs, etc.) and leftovers.

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If you're in Central TX, come on by. It's at 2001 S Lamar Blvd Ste H, Austin TX 78704.

If you're not in Central TX, you might want to plan a trip... I had a blind woodworker from Idaho come by a few days ago. He was quite an inspiration!

Tom
 

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bkharman said:
Looking Great Tom!!

Congrats on the new digs!

Cheers.  Bryan.

Thanks a lot, Bryan!

On my first attempted post, it only got about half the images so I had to continue it. I thought I hadn't violated the max image count or size constraints but apparently I did...

Tom
 
Way to go Tom, the new place is looking very nice!  I'm glad to see that you'll be around for awhile so I have my "goto" supplier [big grin]

Jackl
 
Thank you all so much!

I hope it was all worth it to serve my customers better. I think it was...

Tom

EDIT:
I almost forgot this one...

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Okay, since  no one else said it, I may as well...  [big grin]

You forgot to tell us about your 50% off moving sale!  You know, you needed to move all that inventory so you didn't need to "move all that inventory".  [poke]

Congrats on the new diggs.  I hope they work out well.  [thumbs up]
 
Tom,

Congrats!  I know that having some more space will be a god send to you.  All the best!

Peter
 
Congratulations on the new space. Must be nice to have so much Festool. Be even nicer if it was all yours to keep  [big grin]
 
[size=14pt]

Yet another reason to add Austin, Texas to my 'bucket list'.  [smile]  [big grin]

Most of us have had at least one move in our lives and can appreciate the stress as well as the pleasure and reward of your move. Best wishes for your continued success.
 
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