It all started very simple. Mel and I have a computer
business located in a really great spot in Auburn Hills,
and we like the building we're in for the most part...
except for the ugly wooden fence in front of our windows.
As you can see, it hid everything the building had to
offer and we wanted to increase our sign space and
utilize the windows for advertisement. With this 8 foot
feces in our way, we speculated, we talked, we conferred
with friends and finally came up with a way to fix the
place up a bit. Since we don't own the place (we're just
renting for the time being) we made sure our plans were
ok with the owner. She mentioned it would be just fine to
make a few improvements, so we got on with our plan.
We weren't too thrilled about all the birds pooping down
the front of our fence either. The plan was to reduce the
fence to about 4 feet high, keep the air conditioner and
security lamps hidden, but open up the window space and
make the building presentable. 

 

 

 

 

 

   We figured out the best way to do this would be to first
contact the city, and make sure our plans to reduce this
fence would be ok. Sure enough, we got the ok from the
city, and commenced work on a chilly Friday afternoon.
We didn't want the place to look TOO shabby, so we took
down the inside slats first, keeping the outer slats to
preserve the look from the road. We had quite a few nests
inside that wall, and we really hated to dislocate the
starlings that inhabitated it, but we really had no choice.
Some of these nests looked as if there were 5 to 10 years
old! Look how big this one is! All the layers of bedding
built up over the years. Ah well...we were half way there.

 With the help of Tim, Brian and Robert, we were able to
start ripping down the outer shell of the wall and it's
supports on Saturday...and hopefully be done with the
gruesome task by the end of the day.
As you can see, it was no simple task. It took lots of
manpower to yank them supports down!
We all chipped in (even me, when I wasn't taking pictures)
and helped.
This job couldn't be without a supervisor. Mel was the
right person for the job (ok...age/experience has it's
advantages (heheh)) so when he wasn't busy luggin' wood
or getting tools ready and such, he made sure things were
getting done right.

 

 

 

"Brian!..dammit! Get that screw out of there ...jezzuss!"
Tim would look over and chuckle a little, then continue on.

 

Looks like a lot of the wall is down now. I got a good picture in my mind on how this is gonna look. We'll have to see how this ends up, eh? Already, I can see the window space is gonna be great...

 Ahh....just a few more finishing touches. Put a
few boards in place...yeah, there we go.
Just gotta pound a few more nails...jeez...hope the
rain holds out for just another hour or two.

There we go...lets get a coat of stain on this, and
we can finish it up right now.

There we go...all set. A whole new look for our
little shop. I'm pretty impressed.