Here is a followup post I made on the greenbuildingtalk.com forum where I had discussed my shop out-gassing problem. If you’ve read my old posts on this blog you know that I was very depressed because just a few minutes in the new building and I would start to itch, so much so that I would have to leave. I must be allergic to the formaldehyde used in the OSB. So, some of the following is repetitive but you might still enjoy it (photos added for here):

The out-gassing no longer bothers me. I started by ventilating the shop well. I had had my home AC totally replaced and ended up with the blower unit. I placed this in one door and opened the others. It moved a lot of air. Then I would shut the shop up and turn the heat way up, thinking this would encourage the out gassing. After a few hours I’d draw fresh air through the shop again. I don’t know how long it took as I did not take notes but it was longer than 3 months. The problem got better and better. Now I can stay in the shop all day.

The shop is a blessing to my retirement. It is 800 square feet divided into 3 parts. My part is 17×20. I have my bikes hanging on the long wall. I have 3 six foot work benches and have plenty of room to work on the bikes, dabble in electronics, program microcontrollers, a little wood work (although I usually move the machines outside through the garage door because of the sawdust). I’ll be setting up a small metal lathe and milling machine I already have (may have to buy another work bench). The point being that the shop is now the center of most of my activities. I can even watch TV from the web or movies from DVD while I work/play. I spend a lot of time out there; although I’m writing this from the computer room in the house where I also play my computer games, e.g. Battlefield 2, and do most of my internet work (I have a server in Texas where I host a number of sites - I use to design web sites as a midnight engineer but now just for fun).

I am really enjoying my retirement and seem to be in good health. Part of that is due to riding recumbent bikes which I have been doing for 3 summers. I wish I had know about them before then. A few words now so that you will know about them sooner than I did in my path to retirement.

Lining up for the start of a recent Withlacooche Trail ride.

You can ride a recumbent a long ways without any pain or discomfort. They are great for people with bad legs, knees, back, etc. I could not ride a lean-over-the-handlebar bike, not very far, but on recumbents I rode over 4,000 miles last year. My longest ride in one day was for 122 miles. It took 10 hours, including stops. Then I got off the bike and took my wife out to dinner. I was tired, as you would be with a 10 hour car ride; actually not as seat-tired since I had a range of motion. I typically ride 32 miles 2 or 3 times a week and then 60 miles on one of the weekend days. In addition I may take short rides with the family. I am 67 years old, I am not slow on the bikes but not real fast either. I’m getting faster, but it is not about speed. (I have averaged about 18 mph for a distance of 15 miles).

We have a great place to ride, i.e. the 40 mile long “Long Leaf Trace”. We travel to ride too; last year we had 3 riding vacations which were social events with other riders. There are also special events on the Long Leaf Trace. I rode two there last year, i.e. the Ridesouth Signature ride (where I rode 122 miles from Jackson to Hattiesburg) and the Birthday Challenge. Here is a photo of Butch at the Bassfield rest station during last year’s Birthday Challenge. If you think you might be interested take a look at my web site: http://bentrider.info

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.