Probably a week and I will reopen for appointments!

For those following along: We have finished repairing the flood damage and are in the repainting phase of the bathroom repair saga. A couple of coats of paint on the new materials on the ceiling, walls and adjacent areas and following that we will reassemble the bathroom storage shelves, the sink, mirror, wall hooks, move things back into their proper places and I will be back on business after a good cleaning of the shop itself. Probably the week of January 3rd. 

Sadly I had to turn away quite a few customers this past couple of weeks. It was unfortunate but couldn't be helped with half or more of my shop floor filled with bath and storage area parts and construction materials. I'm grateful that none of the stock was damaged. 

It's been a somewhat lost year so I suppose that it's entirely fitting that it was also the lost Christmas. Holding out hope for a better 2021.

Thanks for checking in.

Shop Update

After my early December report on the broken ceiling pipe flood that wrecked part of my shop bath over Thanksgiving week, there was a second smaller flood a week later wetting the partially repaired ceiling area. Ceiling structure had to be torn away again and insulation removed to dry the area which took the better part of a week because it involved the subfloor of the above apartment which was also wet over a 3-5' area. The subfloor material could not be removed so it had to dry in the open. Hopefully we are done with water incursions and can finish repairs so I can clear my shop of bathroom and storage area contents to eventually reopen. 

Clearly the holiday season is completely lost. It is possible to do a curbside sort of pick-up for items in the window or things that don't require trying on as my dressing room is full of items bailed from the back and bathroom area. However I can't reopen for appointments until the bathroom work is complete, the shop floor cleared of displaced items and cleaned up. I will keep you posted here and on my Google maps page.

Hopefully 2021 will turn things around for all of us. Frankly I could use a break.

Temporary Closure

The day after Thanksgiving I came to the shop to meet a customer and when I went into the back area to hang up my jacket I noticed that my sink mirror was on the floor in the doorway to the bathroom. What???  I turned on the light and saw water running from the ceiling in the corner. The ceiling had started to collapse with water, gray gunk (wet cellulose insulation) and bits of wallboard all over the sink and floor. 

Making the story really short, there was a major leak in the plumbing from the above apartments and we had to remove the sink and tear out the wet wallboard/insulation completely on one wall, part of another and half of the bath ceiling to dry the area. A plumber was called but couldn't get in to repair the leak until this past Monday. Meanwhile most of the bathroom and storage area's contents are out in the main shop area to provide access for workers and to prevent further damage. 

It will take at least 2-3 weeks, possibly longer in a resurgent pandemic, not to mention holiday season to get the repairs done to restore that bathroom back to functionality and clear my shop floor. I suppose it could have been worse and been a sewage pipe instead of gray water and in my main shop area damaging clothes instead of my bathroom.

I have gotten real about the necessity of closing instead of putting off appointments indefinitely into the future. I will post signs today. So sorry for the inconvenience.