Hey Hey !!! Finally the second instalment of the Disgraceland 3.0 Blog is up and ready for your educational enjoyment!
It’s been a while, so I strongly recommend reading the first Blog to get refreshed on exactly what is going down in this dinosaur size project.
So here we go!!!!!!!!!!!
The lease was signed, and we have the keys! 3 keys in total, one for the automatic roller door (yes we have one of these bad boys!), one for the front door and one for the side door… straight away these needed to be cut for the people who are moving in, and this was done, easy!
Now, first day in……the problems started to roll through……
THE PROBLEM WITH WAREHOUSE LIVING!
Ok so the place was filthy, I mean FILTHY, like Britney Spears filthy.. Not only had it been used as a meth lab at one stage, but as a button factory and a blanket manufacturer. This meant there was chemical splash everywhere, stains 6 ft high, and this weird kinda wool, mould stuff that seemed to stick onto every rough surface (this was later indentified as dooner filler), plus the place was dusty!
This is a fun fact, for every kilo of Meth made, ten kilos of toxic waste is created!! (thanks Johno)
So stage 1 was agreed on,
OPERATION CLEAN THE FUCK OUT OF THE AREA WE ARE GOING TO LIVE IN
We grabbed sum industrial cleaners, big bristle brooms, the fire hose, and 3 good mates..
Oh oh oh before I go any further this is a golden tip “WORD YOUR MATES UP ON WHEN SHIT IS GETTING DONE” if your friends know, they will most likely want to help and offer there services in one way or another, in our case friends just kept rockin up for beer and helping out..Friends that don’t help are usually sorry sons of bitches who have there head in, or up, there own ass….everybody remembers the story of “The little Red Hen” right??? If not this is a reminder - THE LITTLE RED HEN - A STORY
Back to the clean, WE GOT STUCK IN
In these photos it shows exactly how it was done! We hosed, scrubbed, hosed and sent that filthy water to a dark grave in Melbourne’s sewers
This process was done at night and made us aware of a big problems!!!
NO LIGHTS!!! In our living area all power was cut, not only that, the security system was still linked to the next doors factory ….so while we scrubbed in darkness we had the seat sound of burglar alarms ringing in our ears,,, oh the fun we had!!
Golden tip 2 – YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, GOOD OR BAD.
Whatever is in the area you lease, should be working. So lights, gas, hot water, fuse box, power points ect, if u can see them, they should work, and it’s the real estate/landlord’s responsibility to repair them ASAP.
We contacted the landlord, and he got it sorted, it did take two weeks to send out the electrician, but we where given two weeks free rent for our troubles.
Any maintenance done will only repair or re-install what is existing, so don’t go asking for your three thousand dollar disco light rig to be hooked up to mains power, they wont do it. In saying that, they where nice enough to install a kill switch at the entrance to the living area.
This means that when no one is in the rooms, the power is CUT and there is no chance of fire. We can fight a fire when we are there, if we are not there, then that fire will take out everything! Safety first kidies!
So the place is clean, what next..
NIAGRA FALLS……INTO OUR WAREHOUSE
This is funny, so keep reading, one of the lads was calling the place home. With him his dog and all his stuff nicely set up in the area in the corner, no walls had been put up and lighting still sucked so extension cords and 4 way adaptors ran everywhere like spaghetti.
A hard working lad that starts early (4 in the morn) he had downed a few beers and was sound asleep….until the storm came.
Winds at 80ks, water was pelting down, this was a real test for our new home…..and it failed, it failed bad!!
In the living are the box gutter overflowed and all that water came bucketing into the warehouse, rite on top of the poor man and his dog!
At 2 in the morning he jumped up and moved his shit, then watched as the place flooded, thank all the gods that the place was empty.
The next day we climbed to the top of the roof, it is two story’s high so it has a nice view, then we got stuck into the box gutter..
After an extensive search for rust, peeling ect we came to the conclusion that the gutter was blocked, so one very brave man stuck his hand into the freezing cold water and dragged out 10 years of dead leaves from the pipe, we then covered it with a grate we found on the side of the road and the problem was fixed….
WHERE TO NEXT COLUMBUS
I am going to tell you a story of three little pigs, infact im not, you already know it, but I am embedding this classic 3 pigs warner brothers clip for your enjoyment..
The moral hear, is the three design materials used to create living space’s in our warehouse, much the same as the three pigs. Plastic, Wood, Brick – 3 mterial, 3 rooms!
We needed our rooms finished so we could move in..So after cleaning, this was the next thing that was done
PIG 1 – PLASTIC - THE MILK CRATE CASTLE
The plastic room was measured for square meters, for kids that where stoned in maths class, that’s length by width. We did the same thing with the crates and worked out exactly how many we would need. Over the course of a week, and with help from friends(see above) over 400 milk crates where stolen, taken, borrowed from various sources across Melbourne!!! Yahoo hoo free room!!
These crates where systematically tied together with strong zip ties, then attached to supporting beams across the ceiling a space was left for a door(and a draw bridge) and this door was made of bread crates
Tied together these walls where sturdy as fuck!! And also looked amazing!!!
Here is a few tips from the wise
Get crates with a hole in the side, these can be used as storage in your wall!
Try to get crates in the same size and colour…not all crates are created equal
Build wall first then start the zip tie, one mistake early will time consuming to fix later.
So that is that! The wall was up, next vines where planted on the inside of the wall (photo 9) and over time would creep there way around giving fresh air and a really cool look!!
I know what you are thinking “ITS MILK CRATES! IT WILL BE COLED AND NOT SOUND PROOF AT ALL.
ANOTHER GOLDEN TIP!!
Use all the power of the web!! ALL OF IT!! google, trading post, gumtree, facebook all these sites can be useful, and with a warehouse to store stuff, think ahead!
by using the trading post we found two amazing bargains
Sound dampening sheets – for only 5 bux each we picked up these great sound dampening sheets that measure 1.5 x 1.5, these sheets where as light as can be, and where easy to fix to the milk crate wall with a drill and more zip ties, these panels where laced on the outside of the rooms
Insulation – we found 10 bags of the stuff for only 80 bux! Bargain! It was old and flaky but good enough for us! This will be tacked to the outer side of the sheets mentioned above and then covered with sheets and ply!! Easy!! (this is not done yet, so no photos)
To it looks ace, is almost sound proof, and will be warm in winter..
Total cost..ready…140 bux…
PIG 2 – WOOD – THE PALLET ROOM
Like the milk crate pig, the pallet pig had spent a week hunting down pallets from various places around the northern Melbourne area, they had been laid out in the wall format and then a old fashioned barn raising was started!!
Golden tips
Like the milk crates not all pallets are created equal, get clean, dry pallets of the same size to make life easy
Cheap pallets are strong but heavy…shipping pallets made of pine are best
Get a nail gun!!! So much easier!
So the wall and its return where erected, it took all of 2 hours to get the frame up, a little unsteady at first, but after the return was constructed and the bar was put in, the wall was more then supported.
The walls where filled with insulation (see above) and covered on both sides with 10mm MDF, this gave the walls alot of strength and very sound proof.
A door jam was constructed out of recycled timber, and a door was taken from a friend.(thanks Ron)
The ceiling was yet to be done, but will be built out of a pine frame and then covered with “caravan roof lining” that was sourced from gumtree. Insulation will be placed on that and then sheets stapled over the top to hold it all in!!!
Total cost …220 bux
PIG 3 – BRICKS – THE BRICKHOUSE
We have no photos……this pig is a lazy pig
Unlike the other two pigs, this pig thought he had all the answers, he was a bricki by trade and had organised for a DICKLOAD of bricks to be sent to the warehouse, he would brick from his room in the corner across to the pallet wall that was erected then across the pallet wall and across the milk crate wall, thus isolating the brick room from the others.
Then by using rolled insulation, he would fully insulate his room.
This has meant that the brick room is free standing, sound proof, and insulated better then the other rooms….the other 2 pigs where happy, because the owner of the brickhouse snores like a train!!!
A ceiling will be erected on a angle using the existing frame work of the building, sending it up on a 30 degree angle, very different from the wood rooms flat ceiling. And the door and its jam where constructed of scrap timber and fitted in space!!
Total cost…….nuthin, he stole the lot
So that’s a wrap!!! Alot has happened over the last week, including the shower, kitchen, toilet have all been finished, but I will tell you all about that next week, or the week after, or the week after that, depending on how slack I am!!
Please let your mates know about this blog if they are doing or thinking of doing something similar
And thanks for reading my babble!!
Another great Blog Andy
ReplyDeleteLove it Andy! So exciting! Hope we can come visit one day.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are so clever and this is so amazing to watch!
Excellent work guys!
ReplyDeleteLove Nafs work on the milkcrate room haha