The Great Garage Caper
Introduction
I have decided to move the recent garage related material to its own page, as usual, to have more space on my news page for other things.
After I bought this property some 20 years ago, the garages were totally green, which seemed to be the traditional color of choice -- I can remember that the garages in my olde neighborhood in the Frankford section of Philadephia were also green. I eventually painted these blue and white, using acrylic paint, but I do not remember whether I primed them or not. Several years later I redid the job.
Some 12 years ago I thought I would change the three doors to just two, so I called a company that specializes in such things and discovered that they installed these many years ago for Rossi, the previous owner! OK, I got the estimate, paid half, and they said the doors would be installed in two weeks -- four weeks went by, NO doors -- I called them, they said another two weeks -- after another month passed I called them and said forget about it, I want my deposit returned, which they did. If and when I ever have loads of money, I may once again have that job done -- IF I do not finally find a buyer for this property. This property is the ONLY reason why I have not moved to my place in the Canaries, where life is a lot more enjoyable and much less expensive, and if I need work done, it costs 2-3x less than it does here, and done by local experts experienced in the type of job, not just some off-the-street hustler who needs to make a few buckies and does a shitty job, which has been all I can usually find here.
Since then, graffitti has appeared, the neighbor kids kicked in a panel from the right door in 2003, they removed NO PARKING signs I had on the center door, the neighbor constantly washed his cars in front of the garages, thoroughly wetting them, of course, even after I told him not to -- he and his kids did car repairs there too, leaving all of the leftovers simply sitting in front of the garages -- batteries, empty oil containers, filters, and all kinds of other junk. This went on for many years, especially on Sundays when I went to the flea market to sell. I then decided, why should I bother trying to keep things looking as I like them to if they just destroy everything -- if they enjoy living like pigs in a barnyard, let them wallow in it!
But my inner self always wanted to make things look better, and I finally, in 2003, started doing some things to the garages and adjacent small patio garden. I had the roof drainage section worked on, the gutters replaced. I had some weedy trees removed in the patio, and again in 2004 -- that job was never completed, and the stumps are still there! If I do not do this work myself, it is never done correctly. It was at this same time of year in 2004 that I soaked all the wood with a green waterproofing agent -- but then the snows came and I could not do anything else.
I always have normal things to do in the apartment, as well as online auction work, which, unfortunately, occupies most of my waking hours -- the cats are also part of the work load. If you kept up with my YES news pages (link below), you know that I started reorganizing the inside of the garages a couple months ago so that I could park the Honda there -- many van loads of things had to be given away to charity, few were in really bad condition and had to be trashed, probably because I never keep really ratty things of any kind. The inside is now more or less well organized, and all that was left was the exterior -- the nice weather has helped me decide to start this work, which I have been promising myself to do for the last few years!
Work - 2005
27 August 2005 / Saturday -- I know that my readers have been unable to sleep at night due to anxiety attacks wondering how my prediction that I would have all the treasures I had piled in the center part of the garage out by the end of this week -- they were probably taking online bets to see if I could do it or not (I think the odds were something like 40:1 against my being able to do it) --
well, this is the latest -- after the recyclables went out on the curb in front of the place this morning (and, as usual, they have NOT collected mine, although everybody else's was! So I called the cretins, as I have to do every two weeks when somehow they overlook my stuff) --
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BEFORE 1 August 2005 just barely able to move around inside, things piled as high as 6+ feet to the entrance door -- although I amazingly knew where everything was, it still was not the easiest to get to it |
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AFTER 27 August 2005 neat and tidy, everything readily accessible when needed, much less chance to break a leg |
-- IT IS CLEAR!! So my heartfelt congratulations to those who wagered that I would be able get all that crapola out -- spend your winnings wisely!
OK, so the only thing left in the back of the space is a pallet
with some things stashed on it, most of which has another destination
-- I foresaw that it is possible that even the pallet will have
to be taken out if I want the van to fit in there, which was my
next step -- so I very
slowly maneuvered the van through the door, with perhaps
a tight 4-5 inches
on either side to spare (with the side rear-view mirrors against
the side of the van), and somehow got it in as far in as I could
(a lubricant might have helped, though!) -- the problem was, then,
to get out of the driver's side, which was impossible because
there is a shelf there -- not a major logistic task, I just left
via the van backdoors -- 
-- as you can perhaps see, about seven inches of van extends beyond
the garage door -- now, perhaps tomorrow, I have to get that stuff
off the pallet -- the pallet itself can go to the basement --
I am not really sure that I want to put the van in there at this
point -- it is way too much trouble -- if I miscalculate an inch
or two while driving it in, I would have unnecessary problems
-- if I park the Honda
in there, I would NOT have to
remove anything else and would have more than enough room to get
out of the car, once it is in there -- but then I would have to
get the van alarmed, which I wanted to do anyway.
29 October 2005 / Saturday
-- I installed a new fluorescent light in the garages, and
have another one to put in -- I want to paint or just prime the
inside of the garage doors so it is somewhat brighter in there
when I am doing something -- this is what the center door looks
like now -- 
-- I wanted
to prime it today or tomorrow, but had to go to the post office
and do more wash in West Trenton, get an electrical outlet for
the garages........
5 November 2005 / Saturday
-- Indian Summer
seems to be with us for about a week already -- warm-ish days,
although the nights are quite cold, not reaching freezing yet.
I must be feeling absolutely spectacular because I finally got
outside to work on the front of the garages -- after at least
four or five years of promising myself that I would do it! At
the end of last month I scraped what was flaking from the front
-- 
-- and you
can see how ratty looking they are. Last year at about this time
I had the new olde-style drain pipes installed and gave a coat
of waterproofing liquid to the front, but then the snows came
and I could not do anything else. I still have to replace about
six panels on the right door, but cannot do it because I am still
waiting for Ken
from Erwin's to give me another two steel shelves to be able to
unclutter that door from the inside -- I have not seen him in
about two weeks already. I also should take another load of stuff
to the Salvation Army -- have not been there in about a month
already -- have piles of books, some electronic sound and other
equipment, art works and other stuff all sitting in the center
of the garage ready to load in the van.
Two days ago I started the left side of the garages with an oil base primer
-- today I spent a couple hours doing my usual filling in of all
visible cracks and crevices with spackling
compound, applied with my right index finger, and larger
uneven areas with a spackling knife -- 
-- it is already
sort of beginning to look as it is supposed to. When the priming
is completed I can then use the acrylic
paint in two colors, white and a quasi Wedgwood blue
for the doors and trim (I actually bought the paint last year,
hoping to do all of this in 2004!), then get to the special matt
black metal paint for the down spouts, then finally install the
bottom drain curves and the cement splash / drain thingys I got
for beneath the pipes -- a couple relatively minor related concrete
things are also pending. Hopefully the weather continues as it
has been for another week or so.
6 November 2005 / Sunday -- still Indian Summer -- another beautiful day-- it must have been in the 70 somethings!
YES,
I just came back in from about five hours of scraping and priming
-- 
-- it was
beginning to get dark already and I am starving, so I stopped
and came inside. Now I have to change the format for four things
I want to put on eBay
tonight, and then have something to munch on.
8 November 2005 / Tuesday -- I have dozens of photos in a folder of the neighbors and their friends parking in front of my garages, which is illegal -- I had a couple signs on the middle door, NO PARKING -- but they mysteriously disappeared. I even painted lines in the street signifying that parking was prohibited in my handicap space and in front of garages, just in case the dumb peepers cannot read the handicap sign, and / or do NOT know that one does NOT park in front of garages because it is against the law just about everywhere.
On 5 November
I looked out the kitchen window at about noon and noticed that,
once again, the darling Puerto
Rican neighbors had washed their car in front of the
right garage door, and the car was still partly in front of it,
so I took a pic -- 
-- you can see pavement and street that is still wet up to the
middle garage door. On 8
November I did not sleep very well, and early in the
morning I again looked out the window -- 
-- the entire driveway was wet
in front of the same garage door, so I went out and found the
door dripping with water, and water under it inside the garage
-- Carlos, the sometimes friendly,
usually aloof weird neighbor was in one of his several cars, moving
it across the street, so I went over and complained that he can
see I am working on the garages, and his constant lunacy to wash
his cars on my side was a large contributor to ruining the wood
on the doors -- does he want to have to pay for new doors? He
said he did not wet the driveway! Fuck him, it had not rained
in a week already! So I went upstairs and called the police, who,
surprisingly, appeared within about 10 minutes. I explained things
to them, they looked at the water marks, then rang the bell on
Carlos's door -- he and his wife came out -- NO, they did NOT wash any cars, she washed
the sidewalk because it was dirty! Holy shit! It was cleaner on
my side than it was on theirs! And why ONLY that section in front of
one garage door? The cops obviously could see the deception, and
made it very clear to both of them that they are not to wash anything
or park in front of my garages, period, no ifs, ands or buts.
They simply do not want to get their little porch, plastic flowers
in those flower things, and a tacky swing on it wet, that is the
reason. Incidently, here is a pic of them with their similarly
weird mutt -- 
-- and a
neice, sunning themselves across the street on 12 June, last -- he usually looks
that grumpy, his wife always has a look of being somewhere else
on her face, and that dog is one of the most unsociable I have
ever met, just like the previous one they had, same breed -- around
here the Puerto Ricans seen to prefer small dogs for some reason
-- maybe because they are smaller and they can dominate them easier?
12 November 2005 / Saturday
-- the past two days were too cold to be working outside,
but today was slightly warmer, so I continued on the final right
door -- 
-- I replaced
5 panels, and have a sixth, bottom row 4th from the left, to replace
yet -- it takes me about an hour to remove each old warped one,
clear the panel groove, cut the new wood to size, and replace
it -- I cannot get to that last panel because there is a shelf
in front of it, and too little room to move things around, but
I wanted to finish as much of that door as possible while the
weather is OK and I am still able. If I really wanted to do a
more thorough job I would replace 18 of those panels, but decided
to reduce that number to six. OK, so I rescraped any loose paint
for a third time, wire brushed, then brushed the dust and flakes
away -- I primed everything except that single panel until after 18h, when
it was already dark outside, so I could not take a photo.
With any luck, I may be able to unclutter that door on the inside and replace the panel, then prime it, both inside and out tomorrow. Once that is finished, then my next task is to choose one of several painting options. I made three quicky color pattern samples, each having a somewhat different arangement of the blue and white --
I think the center panels will be blue and the trim white, probably a combination of the right and left samples, above -- maybe. I still have to make a final decision.
Each door has a heavy steel kick plate on the bottom center
-- I use my shoe to push the door closed. Over the years they
have all become somewhat bent, so I looked everywhere for replacements
-- nobody has them. At the Home
Depot they did have lengths of the same heavy grade
steel, bent at a 90 degree angle, which would have to be cut and
the two holes drilled in each section. Each door also has a different
normal door handle, and they too are all somewhat rusted and twisted,
so I got kewl heavy replacements for them, in black, the color
I wanted to paint the old door hardware -- in this composite pic,
you can see the handle, old bent kick plate, the new handles and
sample new bolt, as well as the old rusted hardware -- 
-- after removing one of the kick
plates, it seems as if it was never painted beneath it, and the
bolts are rusted to shit, so I got a box of round headed bolts
and corresponding nuts to replace the old ones. Most of my power
tools are still in West Trenton, and it would have been a job
and a half to cut the steel and drill the holes -- it occurred
to me to ask the friendly West Trenton gas station owner if he
could do the deed for me -- YES,
they should be ready by Monday! That gives me, hopefully,
enough time to finish some of the other work, maybe.
13 November 2005 / Sunday -- about 10h I started moving an old tall plastic shelf away from the right garage door, put that in the trash across the street -- I discovered some boxes of things that will go to charity -- sewing patterns, magazines, yarn, some toys and other stuff -- removed the 6th panel, and replaced it -- spackled some spots on the outer garage structure I missed before -- used oil primer to cover the most stained inner parts of the inside right door, then on a rainy day I can paint it white with acrylic paint to make it brighter inside. When I started to move that flimsy undesirable plastic shelf, one of the heavy concrete gutter guides that was leaning nearby fell over on my right foot! GAWD, even with the steel toed work boots I always wear when working, it still hurts, hours later! I have a difficult enough time stooping down for anything, and this makes it even worse -- I should have seen the thing, but was more interested in getting work done -- a small glitch, but a hurtful one.
This is what is done thus far -- 
-- we are supposed to get rain for the next couple days, so when
that stops I can then prime that small section and, hopefully
have figured out which color pattern I want to do the finish coat.
I decided to get oil base paint for the final coat -- I can use
the acrylic that I already have for inside the apartment and the
basement of the shop, which I also want to do. Ken, from Irwin's, told me that
he would probably return next week, possibly tomorrow, so I can
get the steel shelf sitting there for me. Instead of placing it
against the garage door, I think I shall move another heavy shelf
in that area to a position perpendicular to the garage door, slightly
back from it, and the new one behind it -- that would allow me
to open that door and move around inside, if needed. All this
stuff took me about 5 hours to do.
15 November 2005 / Tuesday
-- the inside of the right and center doors are now painted
white -- 
-- a single
coat is enough for now -- as unfinished as they appear, they are
a LOT
brighter than they were previously -- compare that with -- -- and you
can see the difference. I used the special black gloss, Hamerite, that
acts as a primer and finish coat on the newly made foot plates
-- 
-- and the
inside holes of the new handles -- the holes had to be enlarged
to allow the new bolts to easily enter. The bare spots where the
old hardware had been on the doors is now primed and ready for
the final coat. Although I wanted to use an oil base top coat,
the peep at the Home Depot told me they are not allowed to sell
oil based final coats due to some dumb law -- then why do they
sell the oil based primer? So I guess I shall have to use the
acrylic or latex that I got last year to finish the job, if the
weather continues this warm-ish.
22 November 2005 / Tuesday -- on the 19th I finished the outer priming, then on the 20th painted the blue main trim until after it got dark but could not take my usual updated photo, so the next pic is the primed doors with the blue trim taken the following day, yesterday, the 21st, as I started applying the final coat of white -- yesterday was sort of iffy in terms of temperature and rain potential, but the last of the better days foreseen in the next week or so -- snow is even possible on Thursday, Thanksgiving! NO, I am not going anywhere on that holiday. My brother did invite me to his daughter's place for their annual feast, but the predicted bad weather has to be taken into account because it is a long drive, unfortunately.
Some 5 hours later I had the left two doors coated with the final white, just when it started sprinkling, then started to rain (you can see that the driveway is wet) -- that is when I stopped, and the right door will have to wait until next week, possibly, when and if it warms up to about 50 degrees -- the glare is from the flash, including that round white thing above the left door --
at this juncture, I think an all white door is OK, without going through all the time and effort of painting each of the 72 individual panels in the trim color, which is a major PITA -- maybe I shall do that in the spring, maybe not -- the garages look really fabulous from the street -- up close one can see that they are old and the imperfections suffered over decades, which, to my mind, only adds to their charm. My next step, even if it is raining, is to replace the hardware handles and foot plates of the left and center doors -- then I finish the right one, paint the gutter pipes black, add the bottom pipe curve after cutting the pipes to size, screw them together, and cement the concrete gutter channel beneath each -- oh, and I should paint those concrete things with the special white for concrete that I got last year too. Finally a touch up of the blue where I may have gotten small patches of the white on it.
Another positive thing was that yesterday, Ken from across the street was at his shop after a week absence and I got the last heavy steel shelf unit he promised me -- it is in the right side of the garage and still has to be assembled, but I can do that too even if it is raining, perhaps later today -- I also got another two boxes of various and sundry chocolates, life savers and other yummy delights, and he threw in a leather belt that will always come in handy. As you can see, things have been chugging along quite nicely thus far. I am yawning, so perhaps it is time for a snooze, maybe even in bed -- it is now about 04:30h -- do you know where your garages are?
24 November 2005 / Thursday
-- Thanksgiving
Day -- when I went to look at my paint job, I was horrified
to find that the rain, which was totally unexpected, had washed
off major parts of what I had painted the previous day! So much
for weather predictions -- 
-- OK, not a major problem, I just wait until the spring to get
that white done again, and put the final coat on the right garage
door.
24 December 2005 / Saturday -- Today, the day before Christmas the temperature was an amazing 52 degrees, so I decided to finish the white -- it took me 5 hours -- I redid everything that was washed away and painted the right door -- the photo will have to wait until I have a chance to take the pic.
25 December 2005 / Saturday
-- OK, so here are the photos I promised you -- this is a
view of the three doors with some of the snow and ice remaining
from our last winter storm -- 
-- they do look much better than they did, nothing spectacular,
but I am happy with them -- here is a close up of the new hardware
I replaced -- 
-- the door
handle and the kick plate on the lower end. Now all that remains
is to touch up the blue, paint the downspouts black and install
the concrete drains below the pipes.
Oh, yes, and my warmest greetings for happy Holidays to all my loyal readers, and may 2006 be filled with Health, Joy, and freedom from financial worries.
God Bless !
Questions
and comments may be emailed to the author of the above at 
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