# When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!



## RetiredCoastie (Sep 7, 2009)

I live in the south west corner of Washington state and we usually don't get too much freezing weather but a few weeks before Christmas the temps got down into the low 10s, we had a CPVC pipe freeze and break in the ceiling of our Shop/Garage. The water was pouring in for about 2 hours before the fire dept shut off the water after being called by a neighbor (my wife and I were at work). After assessing the damage, calling the insurance company, mopping up the water in the garage (with the help of a good friend LJ Saksman), laundry room and family room I set out drying out my 3 tier roll around tool box, 14" band saw and my lathe.

Needles to say we were very depressed and being this close to Christmas, it put a stop to my woodworking and any hope of completing my gifts. The cleanup company came out the next day and pulled down half of the drywall in the garage, the ceiling and walls in the laundry room and removed the insulation, loaded most of my tools into a pod storage unit parked in my drive way.

My bad luck usually runs in threes so I was waiting for the final shoe to drop (The first bad luck was my wife's visit to 3 different dentists which I wont bore you with today). So while I'm still trying to come up with a game plan for Christmas, I realize that now that the drywall is down I can add more electrical outlets for all of my tools and provide a 220v outlet for a future shop forced air heater and power for under cabinet lighting.

So tomorrow with the help of a neighbor that's an electrician were going to run 5 circuits and get it all inspected before the contractors come in next week to put our house back to normal. Before this happened I had been racking my brain on how best to get more outlets besides the 2 that are in the garage now.

So as the saying goes "When Life gives you lemons, Make lemonade".


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## RvK (Nov 22, 2009)

"I told you to turn that frown upside down!" 
"yes but did you really need to hang me from my ankles?!"


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Wow 
Sorry for all your problems.


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## RetiredCoastie (Sep 7, 2009)

Thanks Jim & Jei'son! My problems are very small compared to others, besides what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Some problems are actually opportunities in the long run.


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

Ahh coastie, just pretent you were on a sub and sprung a leak. They do it on tv all the time lol 
Just think, it was a bother but, it will be so much better now that before


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

Kind of a hard way to get the electric up graded, but at least you can. Sory for the trouble and hope everything comes out better then before.

Scrappy


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## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

I am very sorry to hear that I hope it is the last of your bad luck.


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## Innovator (Jan 20, 2009)

Attitude is everything, Congrats on yours, lemonade is sweet


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

That doesnt sound good. I am always concerned about that here too since it gets very cold.


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## russ777 (Dec 29, 2009)

I'm also very sorry for all that. But sounds like you are moving on, which is great, especially since there will be improvements. As they say, Stuff happens!

At least you didn't put your finger in a router just before Christmas, like some of us. 
(If you want details with photos, see the Tell us about your woodworking accidents thread.)


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## RetiredCoastie (Sep 7, 2009)

Thanks Russ777 but I fed my hand into my table saw 15 years ago so I have my own reminder for tool safety!

The upgrade is going to be nice since I was probably not too far from an electrical fire with all the power strips I was using, now I'll have an outlet every 5 feet broken up into 3 separate circuits.

Thanks all for your responses.


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## RetiredCoastie (Sep 7, 2009)

Well I got all the electrical installed and inspected this morning. I even managed to get in a 30amp circuit for my new shop heater and man does it work great. I even ran cable for TV. Added 4 8 foot 
T-8 fluorescent light fixtures with high output bulbs broken up in 2 switched circuits. Now I just need to get everything insulated again, vapor barrier and drywall installed and then I'll start on shop counters and cabinets. It'll be nice to get back to some serious woodworking again.


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