mmm swimming...

The first step was to send away for the information-which I devoured. The next step was some creative financing, which took weeks. (Lawsey mercy, I have no major debt except a home equity line of credit -which I planned to extend, you'd think I was asking to defund the war! ) Applications, Inspections, credit check, phone calls and more forms.
Oh, and let's not forget an "Affidavit of Affixation".
Then came "placing the order and writing the check" (She shivers violently).
Finally, preparing my garage.

As I mentioned, the initial Decludication had been done, and now it was up to me and the foreman (who I might add, has a master's degree in environmental science and an enviable talent for engineering) to create magic in a small space. For me, this involved lots of measuring and drawing-which I enjoy. I started with scale drawings, more measurements, redraw, call the company, get frustrated and do more drawings. Finally, I had a factory trained contractor come out to look at the space. Together with my doubting brother (he just could not wrap his mind around swimming in a garage) we came up with a plan.

Some of you may share this visual/planning kind of silliness; when I go to bed at night, I visualize spatial problems and rearrange items as well as doing math problems to figure out how much space I have, then when I wake up I write-down what I have figured out.

After several nights of this (and a two-hour walking tour of Lowes-finding items and prices) I was able to make a list including: 13 sheets of 3 x 5x 1/4"Durock, three bundles of Owens-Corning Fiberglas insulation (3 1/2 x 15 x 93"), 5 sheets of 1.5 x 48 x 96 rigid foam, 2x6x8(2) and 2x6x12(2) redwood,10’X25’ 4mil plastic, 1 gallon of primer , 2 lb of 1 5/8 inch deck screws, 1 lb of 6D nails, roller and pan, 1 quart of clear satin polyacrylic and some other fun stuff that I always find at the hardware store.

Did I ever mention that I ♥ the hardware store.

In addition, I spent muchas horas looking for a small garden shed that I could attach to the north end of my veranda (sorry, Clyde Jr.) to house the pump, filter and heating unit. As it turned out, I found one on sale at Lowes and after numerous phone calls and was able to track one down and pick it up with the rest of the stuff. (Now it sounds simple enough, but mais non! It involved in umptynine conversations with dozens of Lowes employees and lots of legwork on my part to identify the items I wanted pulled, exhausting leg work and I might add-- Again the question --why am I worried about exercise? Let’s just say that it was not that simple, but finally accomplished.

Last weekend we moved my workbench, got the insulation in, hung the Durock and plastic sheeting, rewired the existing outlets, moved shelving, swept and vacuumed in a brief six hour period.

Man, was I whupped. (Why worry about swimming when

I could just remodel the garage for exercise? oh yeah...I really LOVE swimming...).