Balloon Chat
Uncategorized Boards => Balloon Chit Chat => Topic started by: Graham Lee on March 18, 2017, 03:54:55 PM
As a few know the warehouse is our shed................well Log Cabin really.
We have been looking for new plastic storage boxes for a while and trying to work
out the correct sizes etc. It's been a bit of a worry really and we are ordering the
new boxes Monday and still not 100% sure we have all the correct sizes.
Some of the cardboard boxes we have at the moment have 4 different size balloons
in and we have to pull half the box out to find the correct product.
For the odd occasion that is not too bad but many times a day gets a little frustrating.
We are hoping to get every product into it's own separate box and also move things about,
take out the wall units and fingers crossed have room for some new items we do not
stock at the moment. That is the plan, so went to get some new insulation for around the
walls and also to cover the window and door glass. It will be a lot darker inside and I expect to
have to install an extra strip light but it will help to keep the balloons fresh with no natural light
and the insulation to keep the warmth out, not in as so many think.
So as usual I thought I'd document this momentous occasion, well to us it is.
Well possibly to me it is.
Then from the end of the warehouse, makes me smile calling it a warehouse.
The cupboards are going so the new storage boxes will go up much higher.
Then looking down the other side.
So Cool Graham look foreword to more pics of the re-vamp :)
Yesterday we emptied out the wall units, all the boxes are now pro tem up in my loft/study.
I then painted the hardboard to fit into the glass of windows and doors and fitted them all in.
It's pretty dark in the warehouse now.
The natural light source has been stopped.
I expect we may be having some sale items as once clearing the warehouse out it's surprising what one might find.
Off to take a picture of some floor pumps that we need to get rid off.
I'm sure we will find numerous things we will be surprised about and having a few sale items
with over stocked items or dis-continued lines we wish to get rid off.
I have two battery operated pumps, neither work and only one charger.
If anyone is electronically minded and wanted to get them working then they could keep one and I would have the other back.
If you are going to be spending a lot of time without natural light, and looking at colours too, high CRI LED lights would be much nicer and easier to work under than ordinary strip light. High CRI flourescent bulbs sold for photography might be an option too.
I started to clear the isles today so we can walk around a little easier
and make it easier to move the boxes into the new configuration.
It has not been this clear for years, I mentioned this to Lyn and she said yes
you can walk around the shed but you cant walk about indoors.
We have moved a few things indoors and then half way through clearing the isles there was
a knock on the front door and it was the new boxes arriving that were booked in for a Friday delivery.
This is just 70 of the 400 we have ordered, they are being delivered in stages.
These are the larger of the boxes we have ordered.
This is how we finished up yesterday.
All the insulation added to the front wall section, it was double thick in front of the window.
I was pleased with cutting the top section around the joist and at an angle for the roof.
It was great this morning picking the orders, so nice to have room to walk around
and not have to keep moving stuff out the way :)
I think I'm getting too old for all this work, I do ache a bit and still plenty more to do.
We started to take the front middle section out today.
Had to take a lot of product outside so we could move about, glad it was not raining and
fingers crossed it will be dry tomorrow so we can take more of the boxes outside.
Gives us a little room to manoeuvre inside.
Then started to place in the new storage boxes
Filling the new boxes back up.
The trouble is everywhere else is floor to ceiling chaos with everything crammed
in here and there. Still it has to get worse before it can get better.
Well I think that is what they say, off to start again today now.
Sempertex corner out in the garden.
A couple of things were a bit of a challenge today,
the new storage boxes have to be fitted from the left and we started from the right.
Then trying to fit the last two top right was tricky, we had to take out all the top row and assemble
on the floor and lift them all into place as there was not enough height to clip the boxes together.
Fitted more insulation and then started to fill the boxes up.
It's surprising how long it takes to get the bags out of one box and into the new ones.
The cardboard box row is temp as we did not order enough of one size of the new boxes and
we have to be able to pick orders again on Monday so the warehouse has to be semi straight.
I cut out some wood to sit on top so we can put excess stock, boxes etc etc.
Trying to fill the whole space.
Yesterday was a drive up to the local rubbish tip to get rid of all the cardboard boxes.
The car was full up with them. Then it was a little painting getting ready to cover
window two around the side and then taking the cupboards down.
I fitted the insulation behind the cupboards yesterday and then started to cover up the
second window as well. Had to move half of the side boxes to get to it though.
Off to finish now as we are unable to get to half the picking boxes for orders due to the chaos.
Last night Zakh came around and we moved the balloons on the boxes as I was
getting muddled up and picking from the bin lower than I was meant too.
We decided to put the coloured balloon in the centre of the box and Zakh came up with the idea to
put them into a bow so it stayed in the centre of the correct box...........I thought that was a good idea.
Lyn has been busy numbering the boxes this morning while I was painting the inside
of the door and putting insulation above the door as well.
Now off to fit the hardboard and insulation back onto the glass section of the door to stop the sunlight coming in.
Well that has put a spanner in the works, the company we are buying the storage boxes from
get in touch to say they will now be delivered on Monday.
I think I wont say anymore at the moment, it's not often I get annoyed.
The storage boxes turned up this morning. Two large pallets.
Once inside there was not a lot of room to move about.
So we made a start.
We had to move the small old yellow picking boxes out the way before we started.
New boxes waiting to go into the warehouse, yes I know it's a shed ;)
Then we had to move the other half of the yellow boxes over as well.
It was like working on a puzzle trying to get things to fit.
The new boxes going in.
All coming along slowly.
At the end of the day yesterday and yes I do ache a little.
Our house, still boxes everywhere, wondering at the moment if we have ordered too many.
Clearing the side wall out and fitting some extra insulation.
It was a little slow yesterday trying to keep the orders going out and changing things about.
I did not expect to add extra insulation down the side but the new boxes were 5cm deeper.
And it all takes time.
In places you could not move.
Then the last section of the old central column started to come down.
It looked so much bigger for 10 minutes,
then all the boxes that were still outside in the garden had to come inside pro tem.
So off to start on day four of the change over.
Its looking good Graham! :)
This is looking fantastic :) go Graham and Lyn :)
Quote from: "Penfold"This is looking fantastic :) go Graham and Lyn :)
Where shall we go? ;)
I'm off to Bognor tomorrow to run a balloon workshop at the clown convention.
I will have to make two visits to the local tip to get rid of all the old cardboard boxes we used to use.
We added at least another 20/25 boxes to this pile today
So from yesterday if anyone following along closely will see we built the side wall up with larger boxes
and have now the following day taken down to half way and built up with the smaller boxes.
Things move from plan A to plan B sometimes.
No doubt we will have a change about again over the coming weeks when we work out a better picking system.
We then changed the back wall and took down the top three smaller sections of the back
wall to add two more rows of the bigger storage boxes underneath.
Then added the smaller ones back on top,
then realising three will not fit top right due to the slope on the roof.
It was tricky connecting the boxes together as there was not clearance above.
We had to come up with some colourful ways to join them up.
Now deciding how tall the centre Isle will be, we were hoping for it to be at a height so
we could pack orders but if it went full height we could get an extra 70/80 picking boxes.
I worked on Sempertex corner yesterday, what I thought would take an hour
ended up with having to fit new insulation and move things about here and there etc.
I then had to get some wood cut and cut some odd shaped bits myself
so that we can use every little bit of space we have.
The before and after pictures.
Took two car loads down to the rubbish dump so that took a long time as well.
Still it's slowly coming together and I started on the mess above the cupboards.
The picture is after I had sorted it for a while, finding other spots to keep
some of the items and throwing out bits and bobs that I'm sure we all keep
for years and never use..................or is it just me?
The before and after pictures.
I am enjoying following the Ware-shed (thats what i'm calling it) revamp, I bet you are pleased to have the good weather for it.
Quote from: "magirob"I am enjoying following the Ware-shed (thats what i'm calling it) revamp, I bet you are pleased to have the good weather for it.
Glad someone is reading about the adventures Rob.
So yesterday we started off wanting to sort out above the cupboard where the boxes we take to the days sit.
To do this I then had to fir the shelving first above the back wall as the cardboard boxes on the cupboard were going to sit there.
But to fit the shelving I had to fit the insulation on the back wall so it all started back to front so to speak.
So the shelving and insulation got finished along the back wall.
Then I moved onto fitting the insulation above the cupboards so we could sit the balloons we take to the days.
Tried to work out the best way to use the space above the shelving,
I'm sure we will move it about many times before we are happy.
Where the cardboard boxes sit above the cupboards I expect that is where the 24 extra storage boxes
will go when the new Q-pac comes out in a few weeks.
The plan is not to have too many cardboard boxes, we usually order every 2 months but
will order every month so that we have more room for product.
It was then onto putting the insulation under the centre storage unit.
And that was it for another day, today the plan is to take the laptop down the shed as I have
to change all the numbers on the website. Anyone that is observant might have noticed we
have a code in brackets on every item. This coincides with the number storage box the
product is in down in the.................as Rob puts it, Ware-Shed.
Although once you come over Rob I think you might call it a warehouse ;)
I started to change the numbers over on the website, did that for 45 minutes then got fed up.
Put more boxes and bits and pieces away, the only thing not back in the shed are
my DVD's and the padded envelopes for sending out the Balloon Artistes Guild DVD's.
We do have some space in the cupboards so will be re-arranging our second shed we have in the garden
so we can put some of the items from the warehouse cupboard there which will give us the room
to put the last things back into the ware house.
I have ordered another 42 storage boxes and then we might be nearly ready for the official opening
which is going to be made by a balloon celebrity in the near future.
Only spent a couple of hours on the warehouse yesterday and that was including going
and getting some wood to make up the counter for the centre Isle section.
That is all I put together yesterday, shock horror I did not even take a photo.
Will take one in a minute, off to cut some more wood up for shelving and then
going to get some carpet..............going to be a posh shed ;)
The forgotten picture from yesterday, just the one.
I made the worktop for the centre Isle, other things got in the way yesterday.
Here is what we got up to yesterday, Zakh my grandson was over and helped out some as well.
Five more packs of storage boxes were meant to be turning up.............
I counted four, the other one somehow is due in today, oops.
Zakh unpacked them and added them to the top of the centre Isle,
he nearly got his fingers caught between them as they slipped in together.
Luckily he did listen to how to push them together and no more accidents occurred.
We then sorted out all the open bags, we supply in 10 count bags.
Moved them from cardboard boxes to the newer grey stackable boxes.
This corner section has an electric intake box attached to the back wall so
another row of boxes will not fit there. If I move it so it's fixed in the same
place but to the side wall I can fit another row of nine storage boxes.
That is the plan for tomorrow at the moment.
Put in some trunking to keep the electrical wiring a little safer.
As the mystery of our missing order plods along, it was meant to be here with the others on Tuesday morning.
The promised Tuesday afternoon, again a no show and then twice on Wed we were promised it would be delivered.
I'm now waiting for a call to see exactly where the order is, if close I will go and pick it up myself.
So we had to change things about and went to plan B, which was move the electric box around.
I think that must have been the hardest thing I've had to do.
It was only unscrew 4 screws from a wooden background which was OK.
But trying to get the unit back up sideways on while trying to move in between
the two lots of storage boxes was a challenge to say the least, the thickness of the box
and being unable to see the screw holes did not help. I eventually went with 2 screws
holding the box to the wall.
With fitting the insulation around it as well it took over two and a half hours.
Still as they say it's done now but was bloody difficult.
The final boxes eventually turned up, a taxi driver brought them over from Surbiton
which is about 5 miles from where I live.
So we finally finished off under the centre Isle and then finished the electric corner off.
By moving the electric box sideways we were able to get another 9 storage boxes in.
We have two slight problems, we numbered the boxes before we added the 9 boxes by the electric box
so they will be called E1-9. The stickers are falling off the boxes already after a couple of days.
Do not want to write on the actual box in case things get moved about so it looks like
we will have to make some labels up to slot into the front of every box.
Not much to show for yesterdays effort, I spent three hours on the website changing the
storage box numbers. Still have a few hours more to do on the website till it's all complete.
The last thing to sort out is some nice numbers for the boxes and then possibly a carpet runner.
The back wall and front wall, the wood is going on Tuesday just before the official opening.
And the side walls, those very observant can see my lovely cup of coffee.
We have just had the official opening of the balloon warehouse
with a mini celebrity coming down from up north to open the warehouse for us.
Will post the pictures later once he has approved them.
Looking good!
Thanks Neil, the celebrity is still deciding what pictures can go on the internet.
So till he decides here is one we took before the ceremony.
Some of the official pictures form the grand opening this morning.
We were going to cut the ribbon first but then decided to go for plan "B"
Plan "B" was to go out in style and smash the champagne bottle against the warehouse door.
Paul did an excellent job and smashed it in one.
Paul cut the ribbon and then kindly said a few words.
Quote from: "Graham Lee"Paul cut the ribbon and then kindly said a few words.
What words did he say? or did he just say "a few words"?
Looking Good Graham! ...and the shed.
Was Paul lost? Its a bit 'darn sarf' for him.
it is great to see the progress:-) well done all:-)
I have enjoyed changing it about, we are re-doing the numbers today on the boxes and ordering
the carpet runner. I think it might look almost semi-professional by the time we have finished.
Great progress and fantastic grand opening.
I started to add the numbers to the storage boxes yesterday.
Thought a couple of hours would have it all done, 4 hours later and
I'm still only half way through so off again today to finish off the numbering.
It was A privilege to be invited to open the new warehouse!! Its looking good Graham :)
It was the best part of another three hours yesterday to get all the boxes numbered.
Just waiting for the carpet/matting to arrive and then we are nearly there.
OHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh the excitement, the carpet/matting arrived this morning.
I might have a go at fitting it tomorrow, busy catching up with things today.
The carpet.
The balloon warehouse is all complete, I laid the rest of the carpet today.
I'm a little sad today, the warehouse was looking so nice but we have to find room for 34 more
product lines with the new Q-Pak coming out.
At the moment they are all sitting on top of the centre Isle that we were hoping to keep clear
so that we could make the orders up there. We now are thinking about taking out one of the
two floor cupboards we have so we can get another 30 plus boxes to accommodate the new Q-Pak
Well that did not take long till we had to go to plan B.
We are taking the corner unit and other cupboard out as we need more room.
So have been tidying up the second log cabin to take some things to the dump
and make room for the items in the cupboards from the warehouse.
If anyone wants some of the items we are off to the dump on Wed so be quick.
Some of the items we need to go.
These are for sale, the flooring and clear Perspex are free if any good to anyone.
There is a greenhouse heater and a few other odds and ends.
15 metres of 6mm cooker cable.
Started to take the old cupboards out this afternoon.
At the back I found my very first advertising board form over 12 years ago,
plus what looks like some pdf instructions from Thelma.
This all pulls on my heart strings, my memories.
Trying some variations on the picking boxes to see what will work best.
I fitted all the new insulation today behind the cupboards and on the floor.
Also worked out the best way to configure all the new boxes.
I think we can add another 70 now the cupboards have gone.
Took the whole of the back wall picking boxes out today so
that we could move them right up into the corner where the corner cupboard used to sit.
As I was taking them down I heard a pop, it was the insulation coming away from the wall.
I'm guessing that I fitted the insulation on a cooler day and it has expanded so with the
boxes away from holding this back to the wall it all popped forward.
I had to cut off 10mm from one of the rows so it would all sit back snugly.
Now wondering if when it cools down we might have a few gaps appearing
between each joint as it shrinks?
If we had left the boxes where they were we could only fit in three extra vertical rows.
Which would have been 27 boxes but by moving them right into the corner we got an extra
9 boxes giving us 36 extra on the lower back wall. We can get an extra 12 sitting above as well.
Starting to put them back in and they fit 100% perfect from wall to wall.
No judgement there just luck. There is no room for the electric cable to sit
between the boxes and wall so I will have to cut a gap in the insulation
so that we can move the electrical intake box away form the corner so the last
line of boxes fits snugly against both walls.
I have purchased the insulation at three different times and each time the compressed
particles have been different colours so it looks like a rainbow effect.
The boxes sitting where the corner unit used to be. Off to get some wood to sit on top of the boxes
tomorrow and then purchase another 75 picking boxes that I expect might come before next weekend.
Perhaps we could have another official opening once these modifications have been made to the warehouse.
I moved the electricity intake box today so that another
row of picking boxes would fit along the back wall.
The new picking boxes turned up today, one slight problem the small boxes
they sent were the wrong ones. They sent midi instead of midi XL,
never mind I still have plenty to do and I'm sure they will be here
by the middle of next week.
Fitting them in to place.
And putting all the stock in the cardboard boxes on the centre Isle into them.
Adding the shelf, the space on the right is for the 12 boxes that were sent wrong.
Will be adding the larger boxes to the other side of the warehouse tomorrow,
it's all go today and I went and voted as well.
It's nice to have the centre Isle free again.
Plodding along on Fridays and Sat and the warehouse is taking shape.
Sorting out the side where the corner floor unit used to sit.
Getting that side all installed.
The view from all around, we do have a few spare picking boxes available for other products.
Just got to number up the extra picking boxes.
As we added another 75 boxes we had to re-number the picking boxes.
This made the product numbers on the website wrong so we had
to update the website with the correct product/picking box number.
We have done about three quarters with just the centre Isle to adjust on the website.
It all talks time but is nearly there now.
AND................................it's finished.
All the picking boxes are in and numbered and all numbered correctly on the website.
We even have about 30 spare picking boxes now for even more product in the future.
I have not been too busy balloon modelling this week as we had to get on with
some repairs to the balloon warehouse. New fascia boards were required plus the
porch/veranda wall section had rotted so we took this down and will not replace.
Now I have to get new decking as the old needs rubbing down/painting and
re-screwing so I think new would all look a lot nicer.
Taking the old down and painting the new.
The old rotted patio wall.
There was quite a lot of rotten timbers.
Then starting to put it back together, the back of the warehouse.
Fitting the top section of fascia and all the rotten timber for the local tip.
Only had a couple of hours yesterday.
The front fascia is now up, next task taking up the old decking.
Going to paint fascia again today and take decking up if we get time.
It's been a challenge trying to take out all the rusty screws.
Got some out but had to revert to brute force and ripping up the old decking
The rain did come down yesterday but I was able to get outside for
a short while early morning and late afternoon.
A couple of the main beams had completely rotted so it's off this morning
to get replacements to fit. The new decking arrived.
All the old decking got taken up.
There was a joint already 4 feet back so it seemed silly to cut 18 inches
off and have another joint. The only problem was the screws holding the two
together had rusted in so we had to drill and chisel out the joint. It did take a while.
Off to do the second one this morning
Did a little more to the decking yesterday.
The temporary walkway to pick the orders.
Digging out the second rotten joist.
They were certainly rotten.
The new joists and spacers.
All cut and in position, ready to be screwed into place and level.
There was a good selection of rusted in screws taken out the old decking
Looks like I did nothing yesterday, if so it took four hours to do nothing ;)
I screwed all the joists and spacers into place but also levelled it all the best we could.
As it has been down for many a year the timbers are a little all over the place.
Off to start cutting the decking to fit now.
I was busy sorting the decking for quite a lot of the day yesterday
but it seems like nothing got done.
I cut the decking to length, my saw only cuts to 140mm and we bought 145mm decking, oops.
We used the trusty hacksaw blade to finish the cuts.
Then we marked out the gaps and decided what way the decking fitted best.
Next problem was the new decking was a lot thicker so would not sit under the door frames.
So the both had to come off to cut, nothing went to straight forward, one of those days.
Cut the first piece into the doorframe section.
Laid the rest out to make sure all fitted OK.
Went and got some more bags of shingle to add between the joists
to help keep them in place and less movement hopefully.
Then this is the days work, well a day, a few hours really but it
looks no further on than the day before.
Oh yes the corner where I have put the shingle.
I had to re-level as the second joist in was a little out, so again more time.
It will get there eventually.
Its been slow progress on the decking, still plodding away.
Attached all the outer boards today.
The outer corner was a definite challenge being well wonky.
Its less wonky now and a lot better.
Zakh was over to day and helped for a while then spent the
rest of the day making a robot out of all the off cuts that
turned out pretty good as I never helped at all.
All ready for another day.
Zakh making his robot.
Note the ear defenders as he was making so much noise.
Did a little more to the decking yesterday, it's coming along slowly.
Stained all the new wood and finished the outer frame.
And finally laying the actual decking.
Got all the boards painted with first coat,
the front section still need to be fixed down properly.
Not got a lot done over the weekend.
Had a party yesterday lunchtime so came home and spent a couple
of hours fixing a few boards down and today was rained off.
Fingers crossed tomorrow we can finish fixing the last couple of boards
and giving it a second coat of stain.
Fixed the last couple of decking down and gave it a second coat.
All finished? well just some trim to add and it is.
test