New (very old building) shop

[Lynn]

Originally Posted by Too Many Projects

Yep, you definitely need to keep Tommy around and have him over once a month for steak dinner. I hope he is helping you with the museum too...

Your tuck pointing looks great too. Doesn't look like the same wall as earlier pics.

I have about 2 hours to go on brick work. This job nearly killed me (not literally). I think it was late June when I decided to do it myself. I spent a couple weeks just digging the old soft mortar out. Then I vacuumed all of the loose debris out of the joints. Poor shop vac.

In July temps started getting so high, there was no way for me to work during the day or even in the evening when I got home. So, for four straight weeks, I got up at 4 am EVERY friggin morning (when it was "just" in the 80s) and worked four hours; then headed to the house to clean up and go to the office. On weekends, I would work until about 11 or noon.

By the end of August I ended up with a respiratory condition from hell. No one could give me a reason; didn't seem to be any infection. So I had to lay off a few weeks. I did start wearing a mask when mixing mortar, as it is possible I just breathed in more dust than my system could expel.

Doing OK now. Will also wear a dust mask when I sand the first coat of drywall joint compound. Had a heart / lung scan done yesterday and am anxiously awaiting the results.

[Too Many Projects]

Damn, Lynn, you were breathing old, dirty dust from the digging and vacuuming time too. Using a shop vac doesn't trap the fine particles, unless it has a HEPA filter bag in it. I started using one in my shop vac and noticed a big difference in air quality right away.
You be careful...
I hear ya on the heat. We had, yet again, the hottest summer on record with the most days at 100 ever too. We are NOT accustomed to that up here and we get humidity too, which makes getting anything done outside almost unbearable.