DynoDave
CO-ADMINISTRATOR
Motown Mopar-Wizard
Posts: 11,167
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Post by DynoDave on Feb 20, 2021 16:54:03 GMT -5
Suited up and went out there today. The dry cleaners were here to take away clothes that were smoke contaminated, and I had some work clothes out there that I wanted them to try and clean. Doubt they can save them, but it's worth a try.
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DynoDave
CO-ADMINISTRATOR
Motown Mopar-Wizard
Posts: 11,167
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Post by DynoDave on Feb 21, 2021 19:50:34 GMT -5
That's my attached garage on fire. Or at least with a fire inside of it. I always use a small electric heater in the winter, but with below 0 temps, I added a salamander to help. I've used this unit for over 30 years without issue. Until now. Something fell from my stored parts stack, rolled in front of the salamander, and caught fire. Then the next thing, and the next thing.... I'm still not exactly sure what happened, but something along the lines of what I described. Wife and pets got out. Son was at work. I was a mile away on my way home from the dentist when my wife called. Everything is is replaceable in a sense. So we're good. In that picture, the fire fighters are using a huge circular saw to cut a section out of the overhead garage door to get to the fire. The actual fire...the number of items directly consumed and destroyed, is fairly small. Some of it I'll never know, or not for years until I'm looking for a part and say...oh yeah, that's what that charred lump on the floor was. Lost the salamander for sure. Could be reused...it survived in amazingly good shape....charred on one side, melted wheel, and that's about it. But, I think my salamander heating days are over! Lost a new WEN disc and belt sander combo that was an anniversary gift from work, and a Edelbrock waterpump for the T/A...aluminum with roller bearings, rebuildable...some empty totes, sheet of plywood, bags of softener salt, some plastic buckets, a couple of extension cords, an LED truck light bar. Not sure what else. I "hope" I have not lost too many parts to fire, water or smoke. The structure is fine. But the smoke and water damage are immense. I had limited (standard) coverage for car parts. And I had no policy on the Chrysler. My choices...I rolled the dice. So while little is destroyed, everything has to be unboxed, cleaned, and repackaged. The car needs god knows what. And the restoration company won't be paid by my insurance for that work where the car / car parts are concerned. (Note: they do cover up to $2k in car parts loss, or cleaning of same, but in a total loss, that would not have been a drop in the bucket). Just one of the hoods I have stored out there is worth most of that. So cleaning, I will do. For many, many months to come I will clean. Because the restoration company can't get in to do their part until have all of the car stuff out of the way. And I have no idea where I will store it all once it is cleaned. This 2.5 car was my workshop, office and storage space. So there's a LOT in there. Insurance will take care of cleaning and restoring everything else...tools, tool boxes, cabinets, benches, light fixtures shelves, petroliana, lots of paper (manuals, books, a collection of ads and technical info for the Chrysler and other cars). Also the attic is TBD. I'll need a new overhead door and opener. Maybe a new window (vinyl) and service door (fire dept. tried to kick it in, but too much stiff in the way. If it isn't car parts, they will clean it or replace it (cash value). There are other limitations, but they don't apply in my case (like, if I was running a data center in my garage, there's a $5k max on computers...not an issue). Remediation company will be out again on Monday to start quoting the clean-up. They were there within an hour to board up the door, and a few hours later with two huge smoke eaters for inside the house. So I'm guessing that all of my automotive plans just got pushed back a year at least. I'm hopeful the Chrysler is salvageable, but only time will tell. Was really hoping to have some paint work done on the T/A, along with other improvements, and get the back garage (detached, where the T/A is stored) finished on the inside. But I'm not sure that's happening this year. Even if this project doesn't suck all of the spare time and enthusiasm out of me, it's going to take a bite out of my budget. I'm actually very, very lucky. My estimate is that if it had taken another 2 minutes, we may have lost the garage, and who knows what else.
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Bob
Settling In
Posts: 196
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Post by Bob on Feb 22, 2021 6:22:48 GMT -5
That's my attached garage on fire. Or at least with a fire inside of it. I always use a small electric heater in the winter, but with below 0 temps, I added a salamander to help. I've used this unit for over 30 years without issue. Until now. Something fell from my stored parts stack, rolled in front of the salamander, and caught fire. Then the next thing, and the next thing.... I'm still not exactly sure what happened, but something along the lines of what I described. Wife and pets got out. Son was at work. I was a mile away on my way home from the dentist when my wife called. Everything is is replaceable in a sense. So we're good. In that picture, the fire fighters are using a huge circular saw to cut a section out of the overhead garage door to get to the fire. The actual fire...the number of items directly consumed and destroyed, is fairly small. Some of it I'll never know, or not for years until I'm looking for a part and say...oh yeah, that's what that charred lump on the floor was. Lost the salamander for sure. Could be reused...it survived in amazingly good shape....charred on one side, melted wheel, and that's about it. But, I think my salamander heating days are over! Lost a new WEN disc and belt sander combo that was an anniversary gift from work, and a Edelbrock waterpump for the T/A...aluminum with roller bearings, rebuildable...some empty totes, sheet of plywood, bags of softener salt, some plastic buckets, a couple of extension cords, an LED truck light bar. Not sure what else. I "hope" I have not lost too many parts to fire, water or smoke. The structure is fine. But the smoke and water damage are immense. I had limited (standard) coverage for car parts. And I had no policy on the Chrysler. My choices...I rolled the dice. So while little is destroyed, everything has to be unboxed, cleaned, and repackaged. The car needs god knows what. And the restoration company won't be paid by my insurance for that work where the car / car parts are concerned. (Note: they do cover up to $2k in car parts loss, or cleaning of same, but in a total loss, that would not have been a drop in the bucket). Just one of the hoods I have stored out there is worth most of that. So cleaning, I will do. For many, many months to come I will clean. Because the restoration company can't get in to do their part until have all of the car stuff out of the way. And I have no idea where I will store it all once it is cleaned. This 2.5 car was my workshop, office and storage space. So there's a LOT in there. Insurance will take care of cleaning and restoring everything else...tools, tool boxes, cabinets, benches, light fixtures shelves, petroliana, lots of paper (manuals, books, a collection of ads and technical info for the Chrysler and other cars). Also the attic is TBD. I'll need a new overhead door and opener. Maybe a new window (vinyl) and service door (fire dept. tried to kick it in, but too much stiff in the way. If it isn't car parts, they will clean it or replace it (cash value). There are other limitations, but they don't apply in my case (like, if I was running a data center in my garage, there's a $5k max on computers...not an issue). Remediation company will be out again on Monday to start quoting the clean-up. They were there within an hour to board up the door, and a few hours later with two huge smoke eaters for inside the house. So I'm guessing that all of my automotive plans just got pushed back a year at least. I'm hopeful the Chrysler is salvageable, but only time will tell. Was really hoping to have some paint work done on the T/A, along with other improvements, and get the back garage (detached, where the T/A is stored) finished on the inside. But I'm not sure that's happening this year. Even if this project doesn't suck all of the spare time and enthusiasm out of me, it's going to take a bite out of my budget. I'm actually very, very lucky. My estimate is that if it had taken another 2 minutes, we may have lost the garage, and who knows what else. So sorry for your set back Dave. I guess on the flip side it could have been worse. Glad everyone is ok.
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Admin
FORUM OWNER
Posts: 6,891
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Post by Admin on Feb 22, 2021 9:41:56 GMT -5
Thanks Bob. Yes, it could have been much, much worse.
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Post by 71se3834v on Feb 22, 2021 10:07:12 GMT -5
Sorry to hear this. What is the Salamander? I'm working with 35 year old torpedo heater and think about this at times. Have recently added two small elect heaters so I only have to use the old one to bring up to temp and electrics can maintain.
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Post by hanks73340 on Feb 22, 2021 11:24:14 GMT -5
Wow Dave, I am so sorry about this. As Bob said at least it did not get any worse. Glad everyone is ok in the family. Hopefully you will be able to get things straightened out sooner than later and get back into the hobby. Best of luck and hope to see ya this season.
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Post by brigond on Feb 22, 2021 16:32:12 GMT -5
I feel bad hearing about this. Thank God your family is OK. 🙏 Hoping you get things back in order , sooner rather than later.
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Admin
FORUM OWNER
Posts: 6,891
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Post by Admin on Feb 22, 2021 16:35:24 GMT -5
Sorry to hear this. What is the Salamander? I'm working with 35 year old torpedo heater and think about this at times. Have recently added two small elect heaters so I only have to use the old one to bring up to temp and electrics can maintain. To me, a salamander and a bullet are the same thing. I'm not sure if that is technically true, but that's how I think about them. I was doing just as you are, using the kerosene for the heavy lifting, and the electrics to help maintain the temp, reducing the kerosene run time. Wow Dave, I am so sorry about this. As Bob said at least it did not get any worse. Glad everyone is ok in the family. Hopefully you will be able to get things straightened out sooner than later and get back into the hobby. Best of luck and hope to see ya this season. I feel bad hearing about this. Thank God your family is OK. 🙏 Hoping you get things back in order , sooner rather than later. Thanks guys.
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DynoDave
CO-ADMINISTRATOR
Motown Mopar-Wizard
Posts: 11,167
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Post by DynoDave on Feb 23, 2021 21:45:40 GMT -5
Started wading into this project today. That ceiling used to be white. Look at the underside of that middle cabinet. I did get the overhead door opened enough (about an inch) to pass an electric cord outside. Then used a circular saw to section the "plate" of plywood that had nailed over the door to close the hole. Closed the hole well, but did not allow the door to open. Now, theoretically, I can open the overhead door and get the Chrysler out. It has a date at a detail shop next week to get the acidic smoke and soot off, and clean and de-smoke the interior as best they can. It's a start. I'm not able to open the door more than a foot or so. This made an instant and noticeable difference in the indoor air quality. Oh it still wreaks of course, but it's not as concentrated as when it was all closed up. So I'll get it open again tomorrow and let it air out. Unfortunately, their plywood plate went all the way to the door frame, and I could not cut the last 8" or so with the circular saw. I have one of those rotary cutters, so I'm going to try finishing the cuts with that tomorrow. Also ordered an ozone generator for out there. Again, until the interior is restored, it won't make huge improvements in air quality, but it can begin the process. Also have some space in the back garage (where the T/A is stored) where I had 2 face cords of fire wood stored. That wood has now been consumed heating the home for the winter, so I can clean and repurpose that space for stacking clean new totes full of parts, once I start cleaning them. Have spent the last couple of nights picking up cleaning supplies, gloves, brushes, outfits, buckets, saw horses, etc. Looking at an inexpensive Harbor Freight car garage/tent thingy to put up in the back yard and start a cleaning assembly line. So slowly but surely, making a touch of progress, and developing a plan.
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Post by 71se3834v on Feb 24, 2021 8:24:22 GMT -5
I feel for ya man. I shudder to think of all the work that has to be done. At this stage in my life I think I'd be chucking it all. More power to ya! Hopefully the weather has broken and you won't have to fight the bitter cold.
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