Hi, gang! I wanted to share an update that I've been waiting to post about for almost twenty years now.
When I first joined AW in August 2004, I saw the many impressive collections from the likes of Unimatic1140, Gansky1, Jetcone, Jetaction, etc., and thought to myself - I could do that! From there I dove head first into the hobby, learning as much as I could and went out and found some pretty cool machines.
Some long time members may recall that I bought a house in the fall of 2006, and I had plans to completely restore the basement of that house to include hookups for the dozen or so machines that I had collected up until that point. However, what was a dream then was meant to stay a dream as I gutted and renovated the living space of that house over the course of three years and lived there for 7 years after that, with little to no time left to really do much to the basement.
Fast forward to the fall of 2017. My wife and I were expecting our daughter and we made the decision to look for a new house in the Cedar Valley area. After a short hunt, we found the perfect 1930's craftsman bungalow in downtown Cedar Falls. Not only was the house itself charming, well maintained, and in a wonderful spot in the downtown area, but it also had the perfect basement for a large collection! My daughter Viv was born in the spring of 2018, tying up the majority of my free time for the next few years.
Starting in the fall of 2020, while we all were stuck at home during Covid, I started the long process of renovating the one half of the basement that would be dedicated to the hobby. The first room, the wash studio in the south east corner, was finished in the spring of 2021. The second room, the main laundry room in the south west corner, was started in late 2023 and was finished just this past August. The renovation process consisted of sealing the foundation walls, lots and lots of painting, installing lighting circuits and fixtures, putting down an epoxy coating on the floors, installing a new water main line from the meter to the rest of the house, installing all of the necessary electrical, water supply and drainage, a full restoration of the original swing out windows, and moving in each machine in and ensuring that all leveling legs were adjusted appropriately. I get it, "why would he say anything about leveling machines?", but when you're moving dozens of machines at once, trying to level them all can take a lot out of a guy!
The wash studio has 18 "spots", each spot has a 120v dedicated circuit, along with a dedicated water supply and access to a drain (the majority of the drainage is into a grey system). In the studio I have two vents and two dedicated 240v service lines as well as provisions for gas at each spot. Along with the extra water supplies that I installed in case I wanted to take out the sink, that is 40 individual shut off valves, and hundreds of PEX fittings. You can be sure that I took advantage of Menards 11% off sales.
The main laundry room has 11 "spots". This room is intended to be the permanent laundry room of the house, so I made sure to run permanent circuits for 1 washer and the option for future owners to have either gas or 240v electric. Outside of the permanent installation, this room has four extra spots along the south wall, four spots along the north wall with 4 dedicated 240v circuits and 3 dedicated 120v circuits, with the intention that this space would be used for combinations and condensing dryers. The final spot in the room is in a really odd spot that will feature a bolt down Bendix, with its own dedicated circuits, water supply, and drains.
The main laundry room also featured a bump out within the foundation wall that originally had a sink and a toilet. The original sink was long gone with I bought the house, and I made the executive decision to not put the toilet back but instead to feature the pink '59 Lady Kenmore set there. In theory I could run a hot water line to that spot and install a stack within the grey water drain, if I decide to leave them there. They dryer would be there as a fancy ornament.
Finally, in the other half of the basement is a nice little nook under the porch that was converted into a workshop. It's small but I can fit a machine in the room and perform a full mechanical restoration, without bumping into the walls. I have a nice Steelcase table that is perfect for doing small item work, and a recently procured Craftsman work bench for the more heavy duty tasks. The bench came with the a coveted 1950's Craftsman 05195 vise, which I've already put into use after taking it apart and lubricating all the machined surfaces.
In total, there are 29 machines now in spots where they can be used, and the two idle spots to showcase the Lady Kenmore set. Not all machines are restored to working order - the '53 GE, the '55 Norge, the '71 Lady Kenmore combo, etc. But now that the basement is done I can finally dedicate some time to slow down and actually work through some of the projects that I've been waiting literally decades to start on. And like most projects,there are still a few small things that I'd like to do in each room, with one of them being to find a way to display the many pieces of ephemera and advertising I've collected over the years. Right now I have stuff just sitting along the utility boards, but at some point I'd like to have framed items and a shelf along the upper utility boards to display some of the neat smaller items. For now, it's honestly not perfect but it's good enough for prime time.
My hope is that this post may inspire another budding collector, and ignite the spark to take this wonderful hobby head on, just like some of the original members inspired within me twenty years ago.
Ok - enough of the long talk, let's see the basement!
When I first joined AW in August 2004, I saw the many impressive collections from the likes of Unimatic1140, Gansky1, Jetcone, Jetaction, etc., and thought to myself - I could do that! From there I dove head first into the hobby, learning as much as I could and went out and found some pretty cool machines.
Some long time members may recall that I bought a house in the fall of 2006, and I had plans to completely restore the basement of that house to include hookups for the dozen or so machines that I had collected up until that point. However, what was a dream then was meant to stay a dream as I gutted and renovated the living space of that house over the course of three years and lived there for 7 years after that, with little to no time left to really do much to the basement.
Fast forward to the fall of 2017. My wife and I were expecting our daughter and we made the decision to look for a new house in the Cedar Valley area. After a short hunt, we found the perfect 1930's craftsman bungalow in downtown Cedar Falls. Not only was the house itself charming, well maintained, and in a wonderful spot in the downtown area, but it also had the perfect basement for a large collection! My daughter Viv was born in the spring of 2018, tying up the majority of my free time for the next few years.
Starting in the fall of 2020, while we all were stuck at home during Covid, I started the long process of renovating the one half of the basement that would be dedicated to the hobby. The first room, the wash studio in the south east corner, was finished in the spring of 2021. The second room, the main laundry room in the south west corner, was started in late 2023 and was finished just this past August. The renovation process consisted of sealing the foundation walls, lots and lots of painting, installing lighting circuits and fixtures, putting down an epoxy coating on the floors, installing a new water main line from the meter to the rest of the house, installing all of the necessary electrical, water supply and drainage, a full restoration of the original swing out windows, and moving in each machine in and ensuring that all leveling legs were adjusted appropriately. I get it, "why would he say anything about leveling machines?", but when you're moving dozens of machines at once, trying to level them all can take a lot out of a guy!
The wash studio has 18 "spots", each spot has a 120v dedicated circuit, along with a dedicated water supply and access to a drain (the majority of the drainage is into a grey system). In the studio I have two vents and two dedicated 240v service lines as well as provisions for gas at each spot. Along with the extra water supplies that I installed in case I wanted to take out the sink, that is 40 individual shut off valves, and hundreds of PEX fittings. You can be sure that I took advantage of Menards 11% off sales.
The main laundry room has 11 "spots". This room is intended to be the permanent laundry room of the house, so I made sure to run permanent circuits for 1 washer and the option for future owners to have either gas or 240v electric. Outside of the permanent installation, this room has four extra spots along the south wall, four spots along the north wall with 4 dedicated 240v circuits and 3 dedicated 120v circuits, with the intention that this space would be used for combinations and condensing dryers. The final spot in the room is in a really odd spot that will feature a bolt down Bendix, with its own dedicated circuits, water supply, and drains.
The main laundry room also featured a bump out within the foundation wall that originally had a sink and a toilet. The original sink was long gone with I bought the house, and I made the executive decision to not put the toilet back but instead to feature the pink '59 Lady Kenmore set there. In theory I could run a hot water line to that spot and install a stack within the grey water drain, if I decide to leave them there. They dryer would be there as a fancy ornament.
Finally, in the other half of the basement is a nice little nook under the porch that was converted into a workshop. It's small but I can fit a machine in the room and perform a full mechanical restoration, without bumping into the walls. I have a nice Steelcase table that is perfect for doing small item work, and a recently procured Craftsman work bench for the more heavy duty tasks. The bench came with the a coveted 1950's Craftsman 05195 vise, which I've already put into use after taking it apart and lubricating all the machined surfaces.
In total, there are 29 machines now in spots where they can be used, and the two idle spots to showcase the Lady Kenmore set. Not all machines are restored to working order - the '53 GE, the '55 Norge, the '71 Lady Kenmore combo, etc. But now that the basement is done I can finally dedicate some time to slow down and actually work through some of the projects that I've been waiting literally decades to start on. And like most projects,there are still a few small things that I'd like to do in each room, with one of them being to find a way to display the many pieces of ephemera and advertising I've collected over the years. Right now I have stuff just sitting along the utility boards, but at some point I'd like to have framed items and a shelf along the upper utility boards to display some of the neat smaller items. For now, it's honestly not perfect but it's good enough for prime time.
My hope is that this post may inspire another budding collector, and ignite the spark to take this wonderful hobby head on, just like some of the original members inspired within me twenty years ago.
Ok - enough of the long talk, let's see the basement!
