Screenprinting shop gone

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Stan Disbrow
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Screenprinting shop gone

Post by Stan Disbrow » Wed Nov 08, 2017 10:31 am

Hi,

Well, I feel like I was back in my old VFD up in NY this morning. At 5 AM we find out that my wife's screenprinting shop is on fire. On the local news.

It is in two buildings. The front one is offices, showroom, art rooms and the like. The back one is the production shop. The back one is completely gone.

Time to start over. All of it is insured, so it is a matter of finding a new location and buying new equipment. The important stuff, the artwork files, were all in the front building. The only thing that happened to the front building is some vinyl siding melted. We have dual power feeds, so the front building is completely operational.

No one got hurt since no one was there past 5:30 or so yesterday evening.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

B Town
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by B Town » Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:58 am

Hello Stan,

Sorry to hear about the fire. I'm super glad no one was hurt, those material items you mentioned can all be replaced. Bruce

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Stan Disbrow
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by Stan Disbrow » Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:29 am

Hi,

So far, so good. One never knows how many people one knows until something like this happens. I think we may have to add two cell phones and a tablet to the list - burning up from all the phone calls, texts and e-mails! The insurance adjuster will be here Friday morning, but their local agent was here yesterday and went and got a copy of the FD report. So, they are going to hand us a starter payment and go from there.

We decided to get a commercial Flex Space and not rebuild the old shop. It had been in back of what was my wife's house. We all know how this sort of thing goes. It was originally a garage. Then added onto six times over 30 years. Eventually the house became co-opted into it until both buildings were the business. Now we can clear out what little is left of the old garage turned printing shop and remake the house. Not much to do but remove an added wall that split off the master bath so it could be accessed stand alone (so to speak) as the rest of the bedroom became her office. Then, we can rent the house.

I wonder if I will be able to get any dozer seat time when we remove the old shop? ;)

Probably not. One trackhoe feeding dump trucks is about all they'll need. The fire didn't leave much. It was hot enough that it sagged the arms of the automatic press. They were made of 1/8" steel weleded into 6x4" box sections. That was on top of the original concrete garage floor, so it didn't fall thru the wooden floor like all the other stuff did. It was a hot fire, fueled by some 400 gallons of screenprinting ink. That stuff is made of plastic, and won't burn until at least 800 degrees, but we all know how hot plastic burns once it gets going.

Anyway, it looks like she'll be back printing orders that were burned and then the ones we have booked come Monday. One of the other local printers is going to have her use one of his presses in his shop.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

Scottyb
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by Scottyb » Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:35 pm

Insurance is worth every penny. Twice in my life insurance has rescued us from complete catastrophe. Although, I have likely paid twice in premiums compared to claims in the last 40 years, having the insurance when needed has been a blessing.
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hydrogeo
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by hydrogeo » Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:50 pm

Sorry to hear that. Insurance is worth every penny. A neighbor owns a restaurant building that he leased to a tenant that operated a diner. The building burned in July, not sure what the cause was. The tenant had insurance on his business, but my neighbor carried no insurance on the building. My neighbor's family started a gofundme page looking for donations to rebuild the building. I heard they also filed suit against the tenant.

They are very nice people, but buzz around town was that donating didn't set well with people because they failed to carry insurance on a commercial building. They've been rebuilding it out of their own pocket (I personally would have just tore it down, probably would have been cheaper) and I assume will be looking for a new tenant.

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CuttingEdge
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by CuttingEdge » Fri Nov 10, 2017 5:29 pm

I do not have insurance on any of my places, I simply cannot afford it. On my main house it is considered a farm...enough said on that. Then the other house across the street is unoccupied and no one short of a rich cat could afford insurance on those types of homes. And the one in new Hampshire would be best served burned to the ground anyway!

It is not the best spot to be in, BUT I do have houses to move into if this one goes up in smoke. It would not be unusual on this hill, my house and the house I own across the road are the only two that have not burned out of (5).

For what it is worth Stan, I amsorry for your loss. The problem with fire is,it does not matter if a man is rich or poor, they end up with very little.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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Stan Disbrow
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by Stan Disbrow » Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:30 pm

Hi,

We are good as far as the insurance goes. Commercial insurance is much better than the personal stuff is. What bothers me is that we have now had five fire inspectors go over it and they can't come up with a cause. Just a general area around the small dryer which was disconnected from power because I had pulled the heating element unit two weeks ago for a rebuild. That fact burst everyone's bubble. A couple of the inspectors thought lint buildup in that dryer was why.

So, that is how it will be. Undetermined. Come Monday, the demo and cleanup starts by order of the County building inspector.

Anyone need two custom built heating panels for a 25 year old, long out of production, T-shirt ink-cure dryer? My original plan was to mount them in the frame Wednesday and put the unit in the dryer Friday (today). This is like having a new set of steering parts for both sides of a crawler which sank into the swamp two days ago.....

But, we'll be ok in the end. Many times over the years we were tempted to drop the insurance due to the premium cost. Good thing we never did.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by Lavoy » Sun Nov 12, 2017 10:42 am

Insurance in the scheme of things is cheap compared to the alternative. We had a house fire in 11. If we had not had insurance (which you have no choice with a mortgage) I would have worked the rest of my life to make the payments on a house that was not livable, which wouldn't matter as we would have had to sell the land to try and pay some of the mortgage, move into an apartment, sell the business, and still have no credit rating and a house payment for a lot of years unless we filed bankruptcy. If this had happened when I was 18 years old, it is physically impossible for me to live long enough to pay enough premium to get anywhere close to the loss payment. I don't like the insurance payment any more than the next guy, but I see the necessity of it.
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Stan Disbrow
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by Stan Disbrow » Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:03 am

Hi,

The insurance has made a partial payment on the building on Friday, and the check came yesterday. There will be more once we get replacement cost from builders. We are still working on the contents list. Some items are no longer available, so we have identify closest matching current items from the outfits who handle this sort of thing.

We have a new location, which we started moving into yesterday. A pleasant surprise is they cover the first six months of rent. It was a coverage I had forgotten about.

The first piece of equipment, her manual press, arrived yesterday as well. That one was easy since the exact same thing is still being made. I have been working on some custom made things. That part is also easy since we made it all ourselves to begin with. Well, time consuming but easy enough to figure out what to do about it. ;)

We have some meetings with some of the suppliers today. Even with the holiday this week, we ought to be able to resume production manually come Monday. The automatic press will probably not be ready until after the first of the year. Those are made to order, not stocked in a warehouse.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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Stan Disbrow
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by Stan Disbrow » Thu Dec 28, 2017 7:23 am

Hi,

Well, we are almost there. The new equipment is all in the new shop and the main item, the new automatic press, is built and all we need is the final electrical hookup which happens this afternoon. The manual printing side is celebrating its third week of operation. The last of the borrowed stuff was returned yesterday.

Next up, starting next week, is the demolition of the burned out wreck. After that, we start fixing the damage to the house so we can then rent it out. So, that will return to making some money. The rent on the new digs will be double what we get for the house, but it is a nicer setup in a better location. We ought to see a lot more walk-in business than we did. I am thinking that will net us more than the rent differential.

The business insurance is paying for everything nicely. In fact, there were items in there I had missed, like they pay the first six months rent on the new place. I used to grumble about the premiums, but won't ever again. We would have been unable to continue without it. And, the screenprinting shop is what pays all our other bills. We would have had to move permanently to Texas so I could resume my engineering career, and neither of us want to do that.

The only point of contention regarding the insurance is that the adjuster thought we only need replace the vinyl siding on the rear of the house and not the other, undamaged, three sides. But, three contractor estimates down the road, that is no longer an issue. They all said what we have is NLA and it all has to go. Well, us old crawler guys know all about NLA! :P

So, while Thanksgiving was rather bad, Christmas and New Year's is looking pretty good. :)

Stan

Edit: BTW, all this equipment comes disassembled in many crates. Think of it like you went to Deere and bought a new crawler/dozer, and a new tractor/loader and a new excavator....and all the major bits like engines and trans were assembled but not all hooked together. You have to put them all together.
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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CuttingEdge
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by CuttingEdge » Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:16 pm

Glad everything is going well for you Stan. I don't claim to know you, but you seem like a decent guy and always helping as best you can on here for anyone that needs it. In that capacity I am glad you are getting your place put back together and ultimately the bills paid.

Myself, I cannot afford insurance so I don't carry any. My other home across the street (I have 3) is unoccupied so it is impossible to get insurance on, and farm insurance in any capacity is too expensive for any farmer to pay. I own my houses so no need to to comply with banks requirements, but it scares me sometimes, heating with wood and coal in Maine's long winters. My home and my other home is the only one on this hill (out of 7) that has not burned from wood stoves, my parents included.

best wishes again, and should I need screen printing done, I might try you first if that is an option. I am kind of asking because we do that Rock the Flock charity event for drug addiction every year in August and we might need shirts for that.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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77 Ford
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by 77 Ford » Fri Dec 29, 2017 8:23 am

Just a side note, Here in Missouri you can get what's called home renters insurance that will cover a house that is unoccupied. That's what statefarm has sold/told me for a house that I'm working on flipping. It's structure only, no contents which is perfect for me. I think it's a bit of a loop hole but basically I'm saying it's between renters while I flip it. It was their suggestion and it makes sense to me so I'm rolling with it. Hopefully I'll never file a claim and have to test it.....finds some wood to knock on....
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amos
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Re: Screenprinting shop gone

Post by amos » Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:29 am

Just my 2 cents worth but insurance is just a bet: policy holder is betting that at some point they will have a loss and insurance company is betting they won't.People have health insurance betting that at some point they will get sick and need the insurance to help offset cost of treatment(I had a $78,000.00 kidney stone and ex wife had a $350,000.00 brain tumor).
Some will drop homeowners insurance when mortgage is paid: why drop coverage on the most valuable asset you have? Same on car insurance: when paid for they drop to minimum required liability: why?You think you won't have a loss?
I had a FEMA travel trailer I bought cheap and insurance was under $100.00 a year. Roof failed and it got mold inside of it and as I was trying to figure out what to do with it I remembered I insured it(have a lot of "stuff" and it's hard to remember all that is covered). Called insurance company and adjuster saw the mold and totaled it on the spot and arranged for pick up and transport to insurance salvage yard. Settlement was based on current value and I made $3500.00 over what i paid for it:including the insurance premiums.
Between homeowners,farm and a LLC I have I pay a LOT a year in premiums: all part of having assets and doing business in my opinion.
Fire,theft,tornado,hail storms:happens all the time and why would I expect to be "special" and not be affected?
I know people to struggle to pay their bills but you really have to look at risk mitigation as a real requirement.
And no, I don't sell insurance for a living :roll:
Amos
Pushin hard or diggin deep life is good.
What's ahead is what matters. What's behind is already done.
A fool of a man is he who doesn't ask questions...
God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason...

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