It took a mid-winter disaster, a neighbor's water pipe bursting that seeped into the shop and flooded it, to re-do the entire shop space. It never would have happened if that pipe hadn't burst, but it was a blessing in disguise. All the space constraint problems I had dealt with, from tooling to storage to dust management, were able to be mitigated for the most part. Live and learn. 

​I guess that's part of what makes me go, finding the opportunities in difficult situations.

Larry A Beser

Enterprise Architecture

Technology Strategy

​Collaboration & Innovation

This is a pan shot of my shop before a burst pipe in my neighbor's house seeped under the cinderblock wall and flooded it. I took that as an opportunity to completely remodel the shop. Everything had to come out, and given one doesn't do that in a space like this on a whim, it was an opportunity to remodel tapping into my experiences with the space; its strengths and limitations.

This pan shot shows the remodel. Much better use of space for organization, storage, and work surfaces. I gave away the table saw to a guy who works with my wife who was just getting into wood. It was too big for the small shop, not used often since I found a wood supply who does great mill work on the large pieces for me, and the saw got a new lease on life with someone who needed it. That was replaced by a work bench I built with casters so I can roll it out when I need the work surface. I ripped out the old flooring of course given the water damage, and replaced it with a product made from recycled tires that comes in sheets called "Elephant Bark". Love it. The band saw rolls easily on it whereas on the old flooring that was just about impossible to do. It's hard to see in the before shot, but there used to be a door between a bathroom and the shop near the back wall on the left. I tore that out so I could use the vertical space and manage dust better.