Week 5: Getting ready to put shovels in the ground

Thomas and I had a pleasant surprise visiting the building site today (Saturday) when we found Frank Domm busy marking out the foundation in preparation of the start of construction next week. Walls were laid out and annotations about what was to stay and what was to be removed helped to make us feel like this building may actually start taking shape!

We were particularly pleased to see this next image, the markings for the machine pad for the most exciting new addition to our workshop - a new CNC router. More on this in the coming weeks!

Week 5: The building contract is signed!

Let the fun begin! I cannot believe it is only five weeks since the tornado struck and we are taking the plunge and signing on the dotted line. We have hired a local company, Domm Construction, which has been in business since 1985 and is well known in the area for their quality construction. Frank has agreed to make it part of the contract that we will be able to start accessing the building in December to move in and set up machinery, so we feel extremely relieved to have a target date in our sights. Construction will start next week, weather permitting!

Week 3-4: Plans for the new building

We are getting excited because plans are being finalized for the new workshop. We have decided to look on the bright side of this whole experience and take the opportunity to build a larger building. We are adding 1500 sq ft and will also get a chance to implement the many improvements that we have been planning in the past few years. Here are some of the working plans.

The outside of the building is utilitarian (it is a workshop, after all) with a nice array of windows to let in natural light. The walls and roof will be clad with dark grey Galvalume corrugated metal. 

We decided to move the overhead loading door to the east side of the building for easier access. Although I must say, I was always impressed at how the various freight and supply company’s drivers were able to manouever their large tractor trailers back to our old loading door. You can also see the 2 man-doors (that’s builder-speak for a regular hinged door) that will allow access to the main workshop area and the new back addition.

This is a plan view of the main workshop floor. You can see the new rear section that will house a separate finishing room, assembly and pack/ship area. We are particularly excited about the new finishing room as this will really improve our efficiency and ensure an even higher quality product. We have also gained some valuable storage and work space in the northeast corner of the shop.

This is a plan view of our office. It is quite similar to the layout we had before with a large open plan space, a small kitchenette and bathroom, and an added window on the east wall to help with air circulation. 

Week 2: Tearing down what remains

While it was hard to see the damage done to our building by the tornado, for some reason it was even harder for me to see the remains of the building being taken down and hauled away by the debris removal company. While I know that we could not salvage what was left, the high-hoes and dump trucks had a certain finality about them.

We always thought it was fitting to have a log building, seeing as we specialize in wood furniture, and so we were sad to see that chapter of our company’s history close. It was important for us to keep focused on the fact that once all the debris was removed, we had a clean slate on which to build our new workshop.

The following are a series of images as the high-hoes took down the last remnants of the building on a beautiful, blue-sky day.

The ironic thing is that our dust collector, the blue tower-like structure in some of the pictures, is the one thing that appears to have survived the tornado unscathed, even though it was located outside the building - strange how these things play out.

And here is the site, with all the debris taken away, a blank slate on which to move forward.

Week 1: Salvaging continues, Day 2

Salvaging continued for the second day. Machinery was top priority for day 1, so now the task was to remove everything else that looked like it was worth saving. Here is a view down to the shop floor from the office level where you can see how much has been cleared away.

Another view of the shop, with all of the machinery removed.

It is pretty obvious to say that the office level received a heavy blow (no pun intended)! The amazing thing is that a lot of our important paperwork and office equipment was saved. Things were looking quite the worse for wear as we went up to remove the computers, desks, chairs, etc.

The one sad victim of the tornado was our reference library.  Much of it was destroyed by water damage. Thomas had some wonderful old irreplaceable German reference books on furniture and cabinet making, handed down to him by his architect father, that have been plagued with mould and are beyond repair. It will be a sad day seeing these thrown away. 

A happier story in the office, and one that I find quite incredible, is that all of our computers survived, even after being out in the rain for 2 days. There was one monitor that was smashed, but all the other units were taken from the building in one piece. One of our computer towers, a Mac G5, fell from the 2nd floor to the ground, was left in the rain, and when we pulled it out, we plugged it in and it fired up right away. We were very impressed! You can see the computer as we found it, buried in the debris, circled in blue.

On day 2, the building inspector said that some of the remaining walls would need to be taken down, in order to make the building site more secure. So, in came a couple of high-hoes that worked in tandem to knock down the back walls of the shop. The ease at which the drivers move these enormous beasts is like watching some strangely choreographed ballet.

You can see how one of the buckets is supporting part of a wall (in the centre), while the other machine tears down the section where the overhead door was located.

The skilled operators managed to pull the walls outwards so everything that remained inside the perimeter was left unscathed by the demolition.

And here we are, the motley salvage crew from Day 2, all looking the part in hardhats and safety gear. Back Row (l to r): Dave, Milan, Jim and Thomas. Front Row (l to r): Ann-Marie, Richard, Martin and Robin (that's me).

Week 1: Salvaging begins, Day 1

Once we were able to assess the damage, the salvage operation needed to happen quickly. The building inspector, Brian Marcel, could have prevented us from entering the site due to safety concerns, but thankfully he let us go in and take out whatever we could. Thank you Brian!

Legions of friends and even some strangers joined in to help us take as much as we could from the building. Everyone scrambled to find hard hats, vests and safety shoes and certain friends improvised (you will see a bike helmet in there somewhere) in order to join in. We are incredibly grateful to everyone for their help and support. Here are some images of everyone in action.

Our wonderful neighbours at Johnson's Trim pitched in with their forklift and helped us get all of our machinery out of the building. A local truck driver, Ken Nelson, who we had never met before, stayed all day with his flatbed trailer and transported the machinery to the warehouse space we had arranged, donated very kindly by another local business, Interforest.

Here are Matt Johnson, maneuvering the forklift, and Ken Nelson, in the green jacket, moving our ripsaw. You can see the destruction of other neighbouring buildings in the distance.

Thomas and Matt discuss the removal of the moulder, while Ken waits by the loading door, his flat bed trailer filled with machinery, visible in the background.

We are still not sure of the state of all the machinery, but we think that a lot of it will be saved after some very thorough cleaning! We also managed to salvage some of our stock and materials, although items that got too wet, such as sandpaper, wood and tooling will have to be scrapped. It is hard to see things like this go to waste.

Week 1: Assessing the damage

The next couple of days were incredibly frustrating, as we were not able to gain access to the building site, due to the unsecure hydro lines. We knew all our machinery and supplies were sitting there, exposed to the wind and rain, and could do nothing about it. We were finally allowed back in on Saturday, two days after the tornado had come through.  Here are some images of what awaited our return.

The west side of the building as we approached from down the road.

The front of the building – both of our vehicles parked in front got badly damaged by falling roof debris.

Coming around the front - note the large cylindrical chunk of wood at the front which is what remained of the hydro pole at the front of our building.

The east side of the building looking to the rear of the shop and the remains of our spray booth and assembly area. 

The front bench area of the workshop. You can see work in progress such as a walnut tabletop and a cabinet that was just getting wrapped for shipping, as well as various routers and hand tools that survived the storm. 

Another view of the front of the shop and up to the office. The dark triangular space above the green door and under what remains of the wall, is where I lay down to protect myself from the storm. The wall fell down on top of me, but the cabinets on the right broke its fall. When I saw this again, it gave me shivers. I realize how lucky I am to still be standing!

A view to our back loading door and some of our machinery and wood supplies. You can see the damage to our neighbour’s roof in the distance. The corner of the building at the right of the picture is where our employee Mike crouched down when he saw the storm coming. Even though he said he could actually feel the walls lift up and down and saw the overhead door blow in, the corner remained strong and it was one of the safest places he could have been – another lucky choice!