Fire

[Eneto-55]

Update: Tomorrow I will remove everything I have sorted out and the building will be ready for the demolition people. I returned to the city to confirm that I could build on the existing pad and settled that. While I was there, I asked, "Are the walls measured from the floor or from the foundation?" Answer,"From the top of the foundation."  "So the, if I put a two high concrete wall up first, is that defined as a foundation?" Answer, "Yes, it is!", then the Public Works Director laughed and said, "I think you just got your 10' walls!"  

 

One just has to think out of the box a bit and then innocently ask a few questions. WOW, now I'll have room for a lift! Goodbye tired knees!

 

Oh, my family still has our father's last truck, an '84 GMC (cowboy) Caballero with a nice little V8 in it and they gave it to me today. Sorry about that, but a gift is a gift.

 

So. . . probably will pull all electrical wires from the truck tomorrow.

That's a good idea on the foundation "walls".  Not just to get more height, but then you can also wash the floor down w/o getting the wood walls wet inside.  

 

Is that the official name of the vehicle - Caballero?  (It's close enough to the Portugese for "member of the calvary", "Cavaleiro", that I got it.  It also means more or less "Cowboy", but the 'real' word for that in Portugese is 'vaqueiro', which is based on the word 'vaca', cow.)

[Dave72dt]

Used to be called Sprint and got renamed around 1978, GMC/s version  of the El Camino, slang termed country Caddy or cowboy Caddy

Edited February 28, 2014 by Dave72dt

[Dodgeb4ya]

It must be this...Kinda nice looking.

[pflaming]

Ooh, what are their rules for concrete foundation walls? Are windows allowed? Just thinking as an outside observer. Don't want you to get an unwelcome surprise.

 

At this point I only know I can. Whether I have to cut out the edges of the slabs and run footers I do not know. Seems if the slab is sufficient for the building without the 24" short foundation, seems it should hold the new foundation as well. But. . . city hall is not always sensible. Will keep you informed. 

 

That's a good idea on the foundation "walls".  Not just to get more height, but then you can also wash the floor down w/o getting the wood walls wet inside.  

 

Is that the official name of the vehicle - Caballero?  (It's close enough to the Portugese for "member of the calvary", "Cavaleiro", that I got it.  It also means more or less "Cowboy", but the 'real' word for that in Portugese is 'vaqueiro', which is based on the word 'vaca', cow.)

 

Yes, at least in California. It differed from the El Camino only in that it only had V8 engines. Not many were sold, so in a sense it has some rarity. Don't know why Dad got a GMC but he did. 

 

Used to called Sprint and got renamed around 1978, GMC/s version  of the El Camino, slang termed county Caddy or cowboy Caddy

 

 

Pergo after a fire. Quite amazing. If I had had pergo on the walls, the building may not have burned.

 

 

 

Some personal stuff.

 

 

One small parts table. Trust me, this is not a pleasant task. 

 

[Mark Haymond]

I think I see a tire skate under the table. Did your tire skates get ruined? I have four nice ones you can borrow if you need them.

Mark

[1FSTRYD]

Paul,

Sorry to hear and see this. Glad you are keeping your spirits up. Sorry to hear about the cat and hope your grand daughter is dealing with it ok. This reminds me of two years ago. I had a prostreet 66 dart stored at a friends house and his barn caught fire and burnt to the ground. We lost 7 cars total. One was a 70 challenger convertible that his dad gave him new in 1970 when he graduated college. He had just finished restoring it. This brought back bad memories and oh the smell your dealing with I can relate to. Its been two years and we still every now and then can smell the fire when working in the new shop.

Keep smiling and plugging away

Brian

[BobT-47P15]

Paul........sorry to hear about your fire loss.  I just now (only about a month late) discovered your story,

 

However, it seems you have a good handle on things now.  I think my new detached garage is 24 x 32, which

is nice......but not really quite big enough after installing storage shelves all around the outside, then taking up

floor space with riding and push mowers, garden carts, and other misc items a person has.  I used a 

double wide door so I could park a car in the center of the space and/or at an angle if desired.  The two

single doors do offer more privacy (because when the big door is open you can see in easily  I don't want to

tempt passersby who may have sticky fingers.....so I try to keep the door down most of the time.)

 

The garage has the taller roof, to match the house style, therefore it has pretty big attic space, with a pull down

ladder.  The rafters are site-built......not trusses.  

 

Sorry to hear about your granddaughters Kitty Kat.  We have two cats that are now 13 years old, so we can relate.  

 

Hope all ends up to your satisfaction and your truck returns to a usable, enjoyable vehicle again.  

 

Bob

 

 

 

 

[pflaming]

Thanks Bob, that vert looks very content in that garage. My truck is repairable, you, I, and others are not from the 'throwaway' gen so we possibly see potential sooner than younger gen.  But it's a bit more difficult to rebuild a car, in my opinion, just hate to do things OVER.

 

I can build on the old slab and since I am in town, I don't want to turn my back yard into 70% garage so I'm going to stay at the 36' X 18' size. If I were younger, maybe. So I will put cathedral trusses in and may be able to put a 24" cinder block foundation and thereby get 10' walls. I do not know if I have to pour new footings to add the 24".

 

Scouped a lot of debris yesterday, will take a break today, then finish the clean up over the week end. 

[Todd B]

You are not carring much weight with only an 18' wide structure. You can also pour your blocks full of concrete to form a bond beam and you would have more than enough support. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

First off, does the slab have a proper poured and reinforced footer...I would investigate this first before adding more weight of the three courses of concrete filled blocks that will be required to get PP to his added 10 foot wall....if a footer exists...then full speed ahead..is the original building's submitted drawing still on file at the county for your perusal?   Drawings/proposals are usually required when getting a permit to build.  Rebuilding a building is similar to putting an old car back together...what has the PO done in the past that you may need to know.....there are many studies online about the effect of heated concrete due to fire and the sudden cooling of water when fighting a fire..of course just being a slab garage could make these points moot...

[Monkey Truck]

Hey Paul,

 

Here's a picture I took at last year's BBQ.

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

looks like that blue truck has got blood all over the front of it.......should be some yellow "CRIME SCENE---DO NOT CROSS" tape around that thing...is there a painted outline of a body nearby????...it needs be taught some manners..looks like it took a leak right there in front of the others..what will the neighbors say???/

[55 Fargo]

First off, does the slab have a proper poured and reinforced footer...I would investigate this first before adding more weight of the three courses of concrete filled blocks that will be required to get PP to his added 10 foot wall....if a footer exists...then full speed ahead..is the original building's submitted drawing still on file at the county for your perusal?   Drawings/proposals are usually required when getting a permit to build.  Rebuilding a building is similar to putting an old car back together...what has the PO done in the past that you may need to know.....there are many studies online about the effect of heated concrete due to fire and the sudden cooling of water when fighting a fire..of course just being a slab garage could make these points moot...

  if this were mine, would jack hammer this old slab out, and start new to my needs......just sayin

[Plymouthy Adams]

PP  has other concerns..he is actually having to live within what folks may call a grandfather clause of rebuild...he can duplicate what footprint he had but expanding may be out of the question...I mentioned what I did only out of concern that the original slab may or may not have a footer ..none of this is fun and plenty to consider in the rebuild

[pflaming]

If you look through the picture to the back wall, you will see shelves of books, and books, and books. Books on psychology, physiology, commentaries on the Scriptures, sets of books on English, American, world literature, American, English novels, mythology, decades of accumulated books. It was one of several 'mini' libraries on the premises. I threw them all away today and now those book shelves are bare. It has been the hardest area to clean. Suddenly this afternoon it all about got to me so I boarded up the door again and came inside. WHAT A MESS, everything is BLACK. There isn't any color and that also starts to wear.

 

But all I now have left is to display, photograph and document what I salvaged and add what went into ashes get that to the insurance for their decision on content compensation.

 

So next report will be to show that the building is GONE. That will be a very, very good day.. CLEAN your shops and keep them clean. You do not want to live this experience.  On Friday I received a fully restored gauge cluster and speedometer, now that was so appreciated, thank you Keven.

 

This is not a complaint, just an update. 

 

[Merle Coggins]

Were the books charred, or just smoke and water damaged?

 

Merle

 

P.S. My heart goes out to you, Paul, as you work through this. I look forward to seeing you at the BBQ with or without your truck.

[pflaming]

The books were charred, since I will never return to that profession they had lost all real value. 

Had a follow up meeting with the City Building Code Engineer. Since I will use plywood siding to replace the stucco the building's weight is significantly less and since I will use a metal roof over P2000 insulation that also reduces weight so he then gave me  approval for 10" wood study walls. He won't go 12'. My truss source will design the end truss so it will receive a 12 or 14' door. So I'm very pleased.

 

I scheduled a 40' trash bin and demolish team for Wednesday so by Friday all I will have is a concrete slab.  Sure looking forward to that. 

[Oldguy48]

Paul,

It seems that despite your tremendous loss, you have a pretty good handle on things and a good attitude. I'm not sure I would do nearly as well. How is your grand daughter doing after the loss of "Kitty Kat"? That had to be quite a traumatic event for her at her age. I've got grandkids too, and I know how hard it would be on them.

Wayne

[pflaming]

Her daddy had a good talk with her about the loss of oxygen and thus suffocation which is painless, like going to sleep.  She handled it very well. The cards that came were also very, very helpful. She wants to come to the BBQ and so I'm going to bring her.

 

Got one more day in the garage to prep and box parts prior to demo;   then full attention to the truck to get it safe and road ready for the drive to the BBQ.  I hope no one will mind a 'baked' patina.  Flat black is the rage of the young, so . . .maybe add WWW tires, white mud flaps, a raccoon tail on the antenna, and borrow a pair of fuzzy dice from Don and . . .  I'll be cool!

[48Dodger]

"...maybe add WW tires, white mud flaps, a raccoon tail on the antenna, and borrow a pair of fuzzy dice from Don and . . .  I'll be cool!"

 

 

 

Now you're talkin!

 

48D
 

[pflaming]

Thanks 48. You are special!  Traditional, stock, OE are usually my goal UNLESS forced out. The fire is a great motivator for out of the box thinking.

 

Question: Even if the light switches scope out, would you trust them. Seems the inner parts could work but could also be cracked and break at an inopportune time, like late at night. 

 

Got to get a couple more hours of sleep. 

[MBF]

Paul, Since you're doing a rewire you're going to have to pull the switches anyway.  On every PH I've bought, I open up the panel and and headlight switches to clean the contacts and lube the shaft.  Look at the phenolic plate in each one and make sure that the brass contact plate is tight and solid.  Unless they're loose you should be good to go.  Until you're absolutely sure that you're wiring is correct-I'd recommend a batt disconnect.  You may have some ground issues that you didn't have before as a result of the fire that could cause high resistance.   Mike

[pflaming]

Until you're absolutely sure that you're wiring is correct-I'd recommend a batt disconnect.  You may have some ground issues that you didn't have before as a result of the fire that could cause high resistance.

 

Thanks Mike. I will do both, open the switches and batt disconnect. Please explain "ground issues". I have a new EZ wiring kit and a friend who is VERY capable to help me install that kit. So I will know the wiring is good. I have built two wiring harnesses but I can be a bit lax and I now have a much greater respect for things that can start FIRES!  

 

This fire experience is an expansive learning experience because it involves what will survive a fire, designing a new building, city government, building codes, etc. Thus this thread is necessarily  multi-topical. 

[MBF]

Paul-if you've done this before, no reason you can't do it again.   What I meant is that things that were clean and paths to ground prior to the fire may now have corrosion or other material on them from the aftermath of the fire.    They may not be able to conduct current as well as before.  I think I'd run new batt to engine, engine to frame and engine to cab/body grounds as part of the rewiring process.  Clean the 3 post connectors for the headlight on the sides of the radiator, and I'd remove the tail lights on the fire side to make sure that the housings still have good continuity to the body.   Mike

Edited March 4, 2014 by MBFowler

[pflaming]

Mike, we are on the same page. I will remove EVERY wire in that vehicle, head light buckets, tail lights, battery cables, etc. I do not like to do electrical so will do it with all new one time and that will be that. Then I will take my starter, generator, coil, regulator to a company who can test all this and confirm that as well. With new electric fuel pump, carburator, distributor, etc., it should fire up on the 2nd rev.  Next week. Still sorting today. Pictures tonight.