So, I have been holding off a bit to share something with substance. The house is about 90% finished, but the upstairs bathroom still needs a vanity. My wife ordered one, so I wouldn’t have to build one mainly. It came in and the silly thing weighs about 600#. This leads into the need to finish the elevator. I hated to just have wasted space under the upper platform, so I framed it in and since we still had a ****load of thin bricks, we decided to brick it. I am using it for all those unsightly yard tools like rakes, shovels, water hoses, extension cords etc. I had another old door left over so I am using it up. Don’t make fun of my hillbilly repairs. Someone had made two holes with what looked like a pick axe. I took a hole saw and cleaned it up and then made a couple of plugs. It’s going to be painted anyway. The goal is to paint a “ghost sign” on the brick. This thing is way overbuilt and that’s okay. Everything I do is that way. I built the cross brace out of 4” square tubing, 3/16” wall. This stupid thing weighs about 150# with the hoist installed. The uprights are built out of the same material.....they are stinking heavy. It took 5 of us to get them upright. OSHA safety film waiting to happen. It is mounted 17’ off the ground which created an issue. I had to use my high school physics degree. With a combination of using the winch to hoist itself and ratchet straps. It took a while, but I got it into position and then I drilled the uprights and bolted it to the uprights. It has 8, 1/2” bolts supporting it. Should be sufficient. Most guys just attach them to their garage rafters. I don’t feel that comfortable, especially after falling and breaking my back 2 years ago.
So, while the world is getting ready for “Snowmageddon 2026” (TM), we have been working on the shop office. As you can tell we like thin brick. My lovely bride is a FB marketplace ninja. She finds all kinds of **** for us to buy. We bought about 50 boxes of these thin bricks from a builder that was tired of storing them for his brick/tile guy. I think we gave like $600 for all of it. In comparison, it was gonna cost me $1200 for just this wall. We bricked this wall, the fireplace, the backsplashes in the kitchen, the wall next to the pantry, and 3 sides of the under stair storage room. We still have like 8 boxes to sell. I think we did ok. This wall will be getting a mural/adverti*****t for my car of choice. More to come in this later. We have started installing the plywood underlayment for the VCT tile we have ordered. It should be pretty sweet.
The Facebook Marketplace Ninja has been at it again. She found another MCM wooden desk and credenza for less than I paid for the last desk we bought. We will keep the best one and sell the other. I bought th. Credenza and the desk for $125. All of the pieces are Jofco. Good stuff that lasts 100 years. I also, picked up a couple of industrial chairs for $20. The folks I bought them from were selling the warehouse these were housed in. Their family bought them new, along with these chairs. Pretty neat pieces. I haven’t even wiped them off yet.
So, I can’t have a blank canvas, so I added my version of a ghost sign. I’m no artist, so go easy on me. So, does it have the right look?
So, I started with Rustoleum chalk paint. Once it dried for about an hour, I wiped it all down with slow reducer, then I wire brushed it, then wiped it with a wet rag (water) then I hit it with some 400 grit on my orbital sander. I just removed everything that didn’t look like a ghost sign…
The Jalopy Journal
