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Recently i moved into an old Philadelphia firehouse that needs a lot of work, and began the process of renovation.

It's a highly secure 3 story structure with no rear entry and no ground level windows at all. It has a real \"bat cave\" feel to it. For instance it already has a full feature alarm system and a 4 camera video surveillance system installed.

The entire first floor is a huge 3+ car garage, with steps going up through a heavy duty trap door, leading to the living quarters.

The 2nd floor consists of a long run that opens first into the kitchen, then the bath, then a long hall with 2 flights of steps going up, and finally a main living room area. Each successive room is secured by a dead locked door.

There are 2 sets of stairs leading up to independent unconnected 3rd floor rooms.

The forward room has a semi spiral staircase, and will eventually be my office/computer room area.

The rear 3rd floor room i've adapted to my master bedroom.

The only room that was even close to done when i moved in was the room that i've adapted to my main living room.

I just finished rennovations on the master bed room, and have the living room mostly sorted, so i figure now would be a good time for some pix.

I'll post updates as i get more and more done to the place.

So, here are some pix:

First, the garage area, which is where the main door opens into at street level. Both the door and the oversized garage door are made of heavy duty industrial steel with commercial grade locks. The garage door is remote activated, so i literally drive into and out of my house when coming and going.

Here the lovely Melissa can be seen beautifying the hood of my 928S (prepped and primered and awaiting fresh paint)...



A decent view of the vastness of the garage area, and the centerpiece decoration:



Next we move onto the 2nd floor, and multiple shots of the living room area. I plan to sponge the walls in multiple shades and layers of grey, but for now it's all battleship grey:

From front to rear, panning right:


You can see the video camera system display under my main flatscreen TV.






There's that lovely Melissa again, lol.

I've since redecorated the room a bit, but that's how it looked after i moved in. Eventually ill be going for a southwestern/native American motiff.

The first project room was the master bedroom, which was completely thrashed when i moved in.

Here it is before:


Kitty Kelly Bundy looks on

And how it looks now, 100hrs of labor and about $1000 in materials later, from left to right:











And the lovely Andreanna modeling the room for me:





I still have to do a bit of wiring work in the master bedroom as you can see in the pix.

After that and the living room are finished, i'll be starting on the computer room area next.

Here's a few pix of that room, as it looks today:


Kelly Bundy leading the way





Sooo much to be done.... i'll post more as more gets finished.

Freakin' awesome pad! Lots of work, but man what a place and potential!

One question though, I thought you had to have escape access to have it be a home? Saying you have no downstairs windows or even a back door...any other ways out in case of a fire or something? Just curious.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

Hey man thanks for the compliments! It's a ton of work for sure, but i got the place for a song, i'm learning how to do this stuff as i go along, and the end result of the one room ive done so far has totally outpaced my expectations. If the whole house comes out like the bedroom did, i'll be happier than heck!

Fire is a huge threat, and being as this was a firehouse, i guess i have to be extra prepared, lol...

I keep 8 fire extinguishers (4 in garage, 1 in kitchen, 1 in living room, and 2 in my cars, one each) and several smoke/carbon monoxide alarms placed strategically around the home, but yes, escape in case of fire is critical.
As more rooms get done, the fire extinguisher count will increase as well. Eventually i should end up with 11, if you include the 2 in the trunks of my cars parked in the downstairs garage.

If i need to escape there are windows in all of the upstairs rooms- and a 50 foot spool of parachute cord.

What can i say, i was a boyscout.

\"Be prepared.\"

Cool, so what's the outside look like?

I'd love to do something like that...buy an old city building and fix it up, but I chose to move to the country into an old farm house instead. Tired of the city life, and since I was raised in the country this is now home again...heh.

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SoWW #2485
Cave Putorium!

I'll have to take some pix of the exterior for you. It is totally nondescript looking though. Which i actually like, won't attract attention from thieves.

WOW, swords and samurai swords!!
You got also an evil broomstick

Without joking, impressive collection and you did a lot of good work.
Keep going on with that.

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73-1664

Looks like a great project, Snipe! You'll definitely learn alot. But the burning question is...is the brass pole still there?

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\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

Hahaha, sorry, no pole. At least not yet.

WOW, That is time and money well spent Lad! Great digs and amazing how well you pulled it all off. I'd kill for a garage space like that, though for me personally, I'm not wild about the vertical nature of the place. Too many knee injuries, 3 stories would be the end of me. Great Models too!

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Slow is Fast, Fast is Slow
Violence may not be the best option, but it IS an option

Looks awesome snipe.

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\"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives\"

Nice what you're doing with the place, and no doubt better when it's done.

And would that invite to pay you a visit still be on the table? I'll be forcing myself to not focus on work as much until Spring or Summer.

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Sure Luna, its a big place you can come any time.

Any of the hoglets are always welcome at the firepower house.

And I just got done reading an article about everything those trapped miners are having sent down to them..soon they may have better digs than The Firepower House, and if it gets too fancy they may not want to leave.

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It shouldn't be long before the two photoshoots this week have been mopped up. And maybe by then your new place will be that much more renovated.

There's also this place in Center City to mention. Along with the ground rule that was also passed on to me:

If you have room for salad, you have room for meat. If you have room for desert...you have room for more meat.

http://www.fogodechao.com/

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Fogo de Chao = $70/person version of a $5/person restaurant in Bolivia. I still can't make myself go there.

If you're gonna be in town, let me know luna.

I know I planned a similiar trip last year. But I'll plan another one again!

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