Andrew Davis wrote:
> All,
>
> As you've no doubt heard, we've found a new location that will allow
> the club to have a permanent space. It is located at 1429 Martin
> Luther King in Oakland between 14th and 15th Streets. There has been a
> considerablee amount of work already done on the space (thanks
> Jonathon, Hale, Robin, Sam etc.) but there is more to be done. The
> next couple of weekends are pretty important to getting the basics of
> painting and installing the floor and strips. If you have time and are
> willing to help, We will be working on Saturday and Sunday of the next
> several weekends. Please let Jonathon or myself know when you might be
> able to help. We'll try to coordinate tasks so that you're actually
> working and not just hanging around.
>
> Andy

Hello All,
Just an update.
The first phase, demolition, is complete thanks to Hale, his brother,
Alex, Sam and Rob (who showed up to replace Sam saturday). And we've
removed all the large debris and Hale's trucked it out to the dump.
We now move on to the next phase, cleanup and prep prior to putting
in the floor. Let me describe the list of activities and their order.

Phase 1: demolition,
a. knock down the 5 internal walls
b. remove the sheet rock and any other non-recyclable
bits to the dump.
Phase 2: Prep (1 weekend and some week days)
a. wire brush the walls of loose paint and mortar.(done)
b. cleanup the fine talc dust left from the sheet rock
demolition. (requires sweeping and vacuuming)
c. paint the front wall and 1 side wall and possibly
the back wall where the toilets are.
d. install the second toilet. This includes putting down
linoleum and patching the toilet walls (there are a
couple of holes kicked into one stall.
e. rework the electrics so we can turn on/off all the
lights from one set of switches. There are a number of
conduits in place and we will try to use the existing
systems though we have material for additional runs if
needed.
f. rewire the heater thermostat (a minor job).
Phase 3: Floor (this may be a two weekend job)
a. determine the building requirements (underway)
b. get bids for the materials.
c. set up the level marks. using a laser level or
just water tubes determine how much and where the
dips are.
d. mark out the floor, measure/level and put in supports.
e. put in joists.
f. put in the floor.
Phase 4: final fit out. (this can be done at our leisure or while
we use the building).
1. level the 6? lights that have been left all askew when
the walls came out.
2. put in any graphics.
3. put in a wall/separator between the floor and the toilet,
armourey, area.
4. put in the dressing rooms.
5. add any additional lights that we might find desirable.

I'm sure there are more things than I've remembered. If you think of
any let us know and add to the list.

Things to be aware of:
PARKING: Very little during the day 8:00-6:30. Monday-Saturday.
Meters end after 6:30. There is one parking place in
front of the gym in the curb cut which apparently the
meter maids won't ticket you for. On the side of the
building by the Kick Box Gym the street is free parking
but the yellow strip on the far side by the soccer arena
is for commercial only. Across MLK there are some free spots
on 15th. My experience is that one block over on 16th street
there are more available free spaces during the day.
While this problem won't affect us as much during club hours, mostly
after 6:30, they will affect us during this build out. Sam's already
gotten two very unfair tickets. So lets be careful and learn the good
places to park.

Kick Box Studio: Our neighboring martial artists seem to cover
everything but swords. So far they've been very friendly and
we would like to keep them that way. This past saturday they had
a major tournament, Large Crowd. The soccer arena is much the same
though we've not introduced ourselves yet formally. But they bring
a lot of families, children and women into the area which is good.
We have some transient housing in the neighborhood but so far we've
seen no issues. But do make sure you don't leave valuables laying
around in the car.

We're in phase two and helping hands are appreciated.
I hope a couple of our handy guys will take on the tasks of toilet
installation and reworking the electrics. As you will probably
hear I've buggered my back and will be a couple of weeks
recovering. So I will try to help as much as I can but I can't
lift or tote things.

During phase 3, once we have the layout and perhaps the joists
in (requires some semi-skilled work with leveling), then lots
of help installing plywood sheets and screwing them down
will be appreciated.

That's all I can think of right now.

Jonathan
(Who's not going to be fencing for a while)