photos

awnings....check

The awnings were installed this week which leaves only outdoor lighting installation to complete the exterior of the building. The exposed ductwork for the geothermal HVAC system should be installed sometime next week. Sheetrock installation is complete and tape/mud should occur shortly after we get the heat raging. I am hoping the entire project will be complete sometime in early january. We have quite a bit of interest in the building and are hoping to get someone in real soon.

outside nearly complete

landscaping installed today, eifs exterior complete except a few details and caulking, awnings are powder coated and should be installed next week, the acid staining of interior floors starts tomorrow. brief statements are of the essence at the moment, sorry, cheers

contemplating the feasibility of a massive poncho over the building

We've been trying to get exterior work completed for the last couple months to no avail. I can't recall the last time we have received two consecutive days without rain. Everything we need to complete inside is dependent on the exterior of the building coming to fruition which cannot occur until the damn rain ceases to begin. Once it does stop raining everything should come together like a mess of magnets. The awnings are complete and ready to be powder coated before installation, the exterior lighting is on it's way and the landscaper is ready to roll. We are also trying to sort out a small issue with the city about a drainage problem that will apparently require an act of congress to resolve.

she shall get her new dress

The exterior concrete has been wrapped up. The old stucco has been removed where loose and thouroughly cleaned in preparation for the new EIFS exterior. We should get started on the application of the stone on the entrance area of the building early this week, as the weatherproofing and wire mesh has already been applied in preperation. Talked to the landscaper early this morning about developing the plan for the large areas of native landscaping.

we have glass

glass is in. we have doors and windows. party

window frames

we have window frames

we got a nice breeze throughout the building

All of the antiquated existing windows and the bastardized window hole fillers have been removed, which promotes a great breeze traveling through the building. The concrete has also been poured to make the flooring level throughout. Things have been running about as smooth as a square wheel recently, though as we move forward it looks as if our progress is going rage like a well lubed machine. We should have new windows and doors installed within 2 weeks and the outside concrete will also be poured in that timeframe. Upon completion of these steps, the eifs and stone exterior application will begin and also the rest of the plumbing and electrical rough-in.

geothermal HVAC installation is underway

Earlier this week Keeven Heating and Cooling began work on installing the new geothermal HVAC system. As of this weekend, they have completed drilling the wells in the front lot and a new shelf has been installed to hold the geothermal unit on the interior of the building.

reclaimed studs

This photo shows some of the reclaimed studs we have utilized for framing out the new restrooms and storage closet mixed in with a few new studs. As you can see, these studs were once covered with slats and old plaster which preserved them quite well. These 80 year old studs are just as strong or stronger than todays common spruce/pine/fir 2x4's. Their reuse allows us to consume less new wood and to produce less waste.

another weekend

The roof was torn off and replaced this week and two of the old doors were torn out. With the roof completed, we decided to go ahead and clean and paint the exposed joists before any new ductwork or electricity is ran. Painting an exposed ceiling turned out to be about as fun as cutting off your fingers with an old rusty bread knife and soaking them in battery acid. The old concrete in the front of the building is torn out and the interior floor should be poured sometime this week which will give us the go ahead to install windows and doors.

movin along

gina and i spent another complete weekend working at the baitshop. friday 5pm-10pm saturday 6:30am-9pm sunday 7am-2pm. Friday and Saturday we finished stripping and powerwashing the brick and the existing concrete floor. I was pretty excited to see how beautiful the existing concrete floor looked underneath the copious amount of paint applied to it over the years. It has a fair amount of color variation and some rad stains and imperfections that will look great under a high gloss clear finish. On sunday we did a bit of diy tuckpointing to spruce up the a few spots on the interior brick walls. We learned tuckpointing is just a testosterone boosted form of cake decorating, put some slop in a bag squeeze it and make it pretty. Tonight we will be giving the bricks a final scrub and rinse before we apply a sealer. The construction crew got the front corner of the building bashed out and erected the metal studs that will frame the new entrance to the building and also wrapped up most of the interior framing for the bathrooms and storage. The roofer is going to stall out until next week due to rain in the forcast.

getting started

work at the former baitshop is finally getting under way. Rough plumbing is being installed for the two new handicap accessible bathrooms and some new waterlines. The old parking lot is going to be ripped up today and the front corner of the building will be busted out on wednesday to make way for the new entryway. Gina and I spent 10 hours on saturday and 10 hours on sunday stripping paint from the interior brick and it looks like we have at least 10 more hours to go. The sections that we have completed are coming out quite nice after they are stripped of the 5-10 coats of paint applied over the past 80 years. Once the stripping is complete we will apply some sort of masonary sealer to give them a bit of a sheen. The old roof will be stripped off next week and a new white roof will be applied shortly thereafter.

still working with the architect

wishing machine is still working with the architect to produce a set of final drawings to provide to the city for approval. Everything is close to being polished off besides a few minor details. We already have a tenant, which is a huge relief. We had to do a bit of switcheroo to the drawings to accomodate the proposed business. Hopefully construction will begin by mid may.

southeast elevation

Here is a preliminary elevation drawing. We have a few small changes to make, though this should be the general look of the building upon completion. We haven't really even decided what materials to use on the exterior but it will most likely be a mixture of stone, eifs, aluminum, and the existing brick on the north and west sides of the building.

demo done, architects begin

All of the demo work is as far as it can go until we get our plans approved by the city. Horn Architecture has taken field measurements and are currently working on getting some elevation drawings ready for our approval which we will turn into the city for their stamp of approval. All of the wood removed from the building ended up going to habitat for humanity and the metal was picked up by a local recycler. We found some old light fixtures that we are going to rework and reuse as pendant lighting.

48 stars

As demo continues on the bait shop some old 48 star flags were found tucked away in the attic. I guess flying them would be like throwing up the proverbial middle finger to hawaii and alaska. The mice in the attic must have been some patriotic fellows, as they chewed on everything but the flags. I'm still waiting for the stash of cash to be found, though my chances are getting a bit slim.

two days of demolition, 100 years of dirt

about half of the lowered ceiling that was installed some time ago is now removed to reveal the original ceiling joists.

gina surveying the damage while sippin on some coffee, she's pretentious like that

piles of wood and metal, the metal will be recycled and some of the wood will be used to frame in a few walls. Anything with recylable or reusable value is being salvaged.

a pile of paper and cardboard to the left, ready to be recycled and the once framed in hodge podge of closet space and bathroom is opening up


After two days of demolition, thousands of hammer swings, and a plethora of crowbar prys this is what we have. A building that is starting to show its true shape and size. The architect was able to make field measurements yesterday and we should have some drawings ready in a week or so.

fresh on the inside

The current interior ambiance of the bait shop is defined by the pretentious vulgarity of brilliant blue pegboard and a sparse distribution of antiquated furniture and shelving. Styrofoam nightcrawler containers strewn about the floor and signs reading "please do not put hands in the water" on the shelving above the now vacant space where minnow tanks once resided remind you of its recent past as a small bait shop catering to the fisherman who prowl the missouri river. Cheap flourescent light fixtures hang precariously from the fragile ceiling daring you to walk beneath them. The huge windows are all either covered by lush warm faux wood paneling or jerry rigged with a hodge podge of various materials to create a smaller than original opening. The concrete floors are in fairly good condition and the brick walls reveal their past abuse through layers of flaking paint and left over glue from previous alterations. The attic is full of reciepts and promotional materials left over from the glory days of its former existence as a gas station. The world war 2 era newspapers scattered throughout this elevated time capsule are tattered with evidence of hungry mice.

the bait shop exterior

As you can see the exterior of the ye ole baitshop is a bit of a shamble. A building that provides aesthetic pleasures tantamount to day old poop on a worn fractured sidewalk. The sad building that once housed a small tire shop and gas station is now the dead end of a hopeless, once thriving bait shop. A web of fissures covers the brittle stucco surface. The windows and most of the doors sit idle, crippled and inoperable. The concrete surrounding the building is fragile and broken. The tangled and wilted aluminum awnings hang onto the building like a weak and fatigued sailer hangs on to the surviving threads of a 3 day old shipwreck. A gravel pit is all that remains of a large gaping hole in the middle of the lot that once housed gasoline tanks. From the streetview this building appears to be lonely, tired, disheveled and ready for a bit of love from the wishing machine.