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Story Time with R2


Rsquared

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No ladies. It's not a story of the 308AR teams back in action. It's just more of the ongoing nonsense I've been dealing with for the last month and a half (ish).

 

So, I told some of you guys separately that I've got to gear up for some major waterproofing work that I'm going to have done at my place. It's a decent sized job, about 40K, and the contractors plan is to come in and channel out a sub surface "gutter type" of drainage system with 2 sump pumps. I've been putting it off for years just from dreading the cost. And we all know, that the longer that you put something off.......the worse that it gets. So anyway, they're obviously gonna need approximately 2 to 3 feet of access around the perimeter of my basement. On top of that, they're gonna be lining my front wall with Kevlar to compensate for the foundation damage that's already been done.

Here's the worst section of my front wall.

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I put a level on it, to show how much the wall has bulged over the years from external hydraulic pressure. That's about an inch gap at the bottom of the level.

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Over the years, I've installed simple 2x4 shelf racks all around the basement. So I had to tear them all out, but obviously I was still gonna need somewhere to store all the $hit that was on them. Here's a look at the type of simple shelves that were built out over the years. Nothing fancy.

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So since I was gonna have to keep all my $hit in the basement still, I figured why not just build some mobile shelving racks? So I pretty much just built new racks ONTO furniture dollies. Sometimes I surprise myself. One of my biggest questions was why my dumb ass didn't come up with idea fukin years ago?

A simple, basic frame built out of 2x4's, and skinned with 1/2" plywood. 24" wide by 8' long. See? Minimal cutting also. I ran the cross supports on 24" centers. Didn't see the need for 16" centers like when building walls. Once again. Just some bull$hit shelves to get me through the waterproofing project.

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After the basic frame, onto the corner posts along with the middle shelf.

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Finally, the third shelf thrown on there. Restocked and rolled back into place.

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Now, to switch gears just a little bit. As I've been jockey-ing all this $hit all over my basement. Besides throwing a metric $hit ton of trash that was hiding right in plain sight, I've unearthed some other stuff. So I'll throw out some machinist porn for Matt, since I liberated his metal lathe from it's hole. Oh, and it wasn't fun trying to wrestle this sum bitch up onto some dollies all by myself. That thing is FUKING heavy. It tried to whip my ass, but I was VICTORIOUS. I might have said one or two curse words while coaxing that thing up onto the dollies. Floor jacks help you out in this world people. Never underestimate the power of hydraulics.

An old buddy of mine (that has since passed), bought it from a transmission shop. Then we stored it in my basement. Hell, that was 20 years ago. But since I pretty much know that he's not coming back for it at this point (yeah, yeah, I know....dark humor), that's why I figured that I'd give it to Matt. At least I know that he'll put the thing to good use.

So, onto the machine porn for Matt to drool on. This is one of the only tags on this thing to even try to figure out how old it is.

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The boxes on the lower shelf have all sorts of extra collets, as well as other small accessories for it. I put the tape measure on it so you could have an idea of the bed length.

Anyway. That's enough for now ladies. It's fukin beer time for me.

(Just picture the pissed off Vic look that he does at the end of his videos)

Edited by Rsquared
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That lathe reminds me of a nuclear energy equipment manufacturing facility I worked in as a high schooler in the 80s. (Remember when teenagers were significant contributors to the labor force? - my how times have changed).  We made a lot of high quality stainless steel equipment for the nuclear energy industry - spent uranium fuel rod containers was our forte.  Helluva machinists shop.  Everything was custom for the particular job.  Anyway, we had a few Atlas lathes like that, used leftovers dated to WWII and the 50s as I recall.  Cleaned them up, bondoed the dents, painted them and added digital readouts  Were in constant use two shifts a day. Solid machines.

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15 hours ago, Armed Eye Doc said:

Is $40K what you spent for the wood for the new shelves?  You done good with your project. :thumbup:

When I saw the title, I was hoping for a 308AR.com action story.

:laffs:You must be one of those MAGA right wing domestic terrorist, spreading economic misinformation like that. 2x4's have always been about 5 bucks a piece, and the economy is still doing great. Just ask them.

Joking aside. I was shaking my head every time I was buying $5 2x4's and $30 1/2" plywood. Prices are still crazy.

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14 hours ago, Sisco said:

Guessing yu have clay soil. The shear forces when clay gets engorged with water are brutal as I am sure you know. Good luck with it. I really like those shelves. Great idea.

You nailed it Al. Nearly the entire county that I live in is made up of hard red clay. Dig down more than a couple inches, and you start hitting nothing but clay.

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That's a project brother, first place had a cinder block foundation and I was getting water leaking at the cove (wall/floor) corner. Painted and chalk exterior. Last place also had a cinder block foundation. No basement,crawl space was 6' with 2 sump pumps. Floor was cold so I insulated underneath with fiberglass batts. Upon selling with the high moisture of the crawl insulation got moldy. Cost 8k for poly liner and additional sump pump. What a mess. There was a big flood a few years ago and the hydraulic pressure from the water caused a lot of basement walls to fail. Good luck brother 🍻🍻

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Best thing I did to divert water away from the house was.

1- increase the size of the downspout to 4"

2- take corrugated pipe to elbow with pop top buried about 6" approx 6' away from the house. Now I have to add water to the sump pit because it's dry now and I need to actuate the float on the sump pump so it doesn't stick. FWIW 

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On 6/27/2023 at 11:55 AM, unforgiven said:

Best thing I did to divert water away from the house was.

1- increase the size of the downspout to 4"

2- take corrugated pipe to elbow with pop top buried about 6" approx 6' away from the house. Now I have to add water to the sump pit because it's dry now and I need to actuate the float on the sump pump so it doesn't stick. FWIW 

Nice set up. A very effective french drain. Did something similar to an old house we had.

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