Update time. Plumbing mostly in, electrical in progress. Lots going on.

Got the west parking area poured and completed Friday while dodging rain showers. The concrete guy did a really good job. Now all the concrete work remaining is the "courtyard" area and he should get to that this week or next, hopefully.


We got a lot of work done this weekend. I spent some time up on the ladder replacing broken tiles. My legs are still rubbery from going up and down the ladder. Each one of the tiles has to be chiseled out by hand so the surrounding plaster/stucco doesn't suffer too much damage.


I think I'm done on the west side- all the tiles that I am going to replace are replaced. Still have to go back and grout them. I think they look pretty good, 4 on this side had to be replaced.


The roof over the addition to the secondary building was was a disaster. The original roof didn't have enough slope, and it was rotted. Then the previous owners added another roof over it, and it rotted. So they shaved 2x6s and put tin over the whole mess, and it leaked. All of the old roof was ripped off and a new roof built. It was made heavy-duty since the AC compressor is going on top of it.

New roof coming up...

I spent all day Sunday in the bathroom. And no, it wasn't due to bad burritos for lunch. The wall between the interior men's room and the exterior ladies room was a water-damaged, termite-devoured mess. A sledgehammer, couple other hammers, grinder and shovel and wheelbarrow and the wall is gone. Going to re-frame the wall and foam insulate it.


All gone now.

Was able to salvage the original sign for the men's room- the varnish/paint on it cleaned up nicely.


Hope to get the windows and doors that are remaining in sometime soon. The HVAC equipment that we ordered is in and at the shop, ready for installation when it's time. The interior bathrooms in the secondary building are framed and electrical is in process. I'll get some photos of the framing when I get by there today.

I've learned a lot on this reno. Mostly, though, I've learned don't say what you're going to do until after you've done it. Every step of the way things change for a variety of reasons and what you thought would do changes. But overall, it's been a blast.

Keep on keeping on.

Really nice

Project is outstanding, keep up the good work!

I bet 60 or 70 years from now no one will be restoring Bucees.
Brings back memories.

Happened to drive by your place on my way home from a dove hunt today. Said to my buddy, 'I'll be damned. That's the gas station on THF."

Place looks like it's coming along.

Yep. Lots going on and good progress made in plumbing, electrical, HVAC work. I’ll get some updated pics soon.
If your place is up this way u you probably saw more gas stations than you did dove. They seem scarce this year.

Your place is about half way. I'll stop by for a bio break and a soda next year's trip.

And no, it was not a good hunt. Killed more beers than birds.

Sorry so long for the update but we've had lots going on. Progressing on the buildings and started working on another one as well- and old oil/tire storage place I'm making into an office/studio apartment.
All the windows and doors are in and the windows skinned out. Foamed in both buildings but still have the bay ceiling to do.
Got the tile run over the bay doors installed finally. Took forever to get the only guy within 300 miles that knew how to do it out there.

Had a bright idea one day so I brought the tractor into town and wanted to see if I could move the lift. Voila it came up and then I chocked it and had a local metal man come out and cut off the ends and then I spent a couple hours with the grinder. Had a bunch of bridge beams I bought on here years ago at the ranch so I found another local guy to plane them, join them and epoxy coat them and we're going to make a 10' long pub table out of it in the bay.

The foam and sheetrock is done and man it really helped quiet down the inside.

This week the tin ceilings are being put up. Took forever to get the tiles in but they are going up now. Doing black in the main area and white in the bathrooms.

Been trying to work all this in with full-time regular work and emptying out and selling two houses in Dallas. The best thing about leaving the metroplex for good is being 15 minutes from the ranch now so that's where I go to recharge.

Lots more to do but the HVAC is 3/4 finished, electrical and plumbing is more than 3/4 finished, hope to get ready to start painting before too long.....

I've redone three, hundred plus year old, residences into commercial space and from here, what you are doing is truly impressive.

Looks great!!

Thanks for the update on your progress. It looks great and turning the lift into a pub table is a great idea. Are you going to try replace seals and try to get the hydraulics working? It would user cool to be able to just raise the table up, out of the way when needed.

Not going to mess with the hydraulics- the lift was disconnected and not used for probably 30+ years. I am going to try and seal around the piston once we get the braces welded on to keep any oil from seeping out. When I first lifted it with the tractor you could really smell the hydraulic oil.
It's going to be 10 feet long- that's why I had to take 3' off each end- 16' would have been too long to maneuver around easily.

Signs are shipped and I’m going to get them next week. They turned out really nice. Porcelain on steel so they should last longer than I will…

Getting close. Paint almost done. All Electrical and HVAC in. Final plumbing coming after paint. Ready to start on the covered area between the two buildings as soon as my welder breaks free....