[00:00:00] Intro: It's around the house when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home. There is a lot to the that you. This is around the house.

[00:00:26] Eric Goranson: Welcome to around the house. This is where we talk home improvement every single week. Thanks for joining us. This is our midweek special. Is where we talk about the stuff that, uh, didn't make it into last weekend show and isn't gonna make it into this next weekend show.

[00:00:42] Eric Goranson: And being that we're coming up on kind of the Halloween week now, considering that's a a week from here and I won't have time to do it for the midweek special next week, I thought we'd start out today with some crazy stories that I've experienced in haunted workplaces in the construction industry. [00:01:00] I know there's gonna be people going, Ah, you're crazy.

[00:01:03] Eric Goranson: But these are my experiences, and every single one of them had multiple people witness them. So it wasn't just me, it was a whole group of people, at least two or three people in almost every instance. So I was working in Tacoma, Washington, down on the waterfront. Now specifically the address was 2105 South Sea.

[00:01:28] Eric Goranson: So this is where, it's what they call the Brewery District of Tacoma. Now the company I work for at the time was old time Woodwork. We built cabinetry. I was, uh, managing the sales department there. My buddy Corey was the, uh, production manager. And we were working with the team to get that company turned around because they were on the quick road to going outta business.

[00:01:52] Eric Goranson: They'd been there for a long time. That was a family run company, but this is in my days when I was kind of helping businesses get their lives turned around and [00:02:00] try to make 'em profitable. And then I'd move on to another one. And this was exactly one of those. So when I started, I had a multiple people tell me, Hey, just, you know, this building's haunted and.

[00:02:13] Eric Goranson: Accept that and I kind of shrugged it off. Went great. I'm getting the new guy treatment already. Somebody's punking with me. And people went, No, no, no. You will, you will hear stuff. You will see stuff. Well, one day I was sitting, uh, in my office and I go walking around the corner and there was a staircase that went right down into the shop.

[00:02:34] Eric Goranson: This is where we built all the cabinetry. And it was in the building kind of next door, which was I think 2107. South C street. That door that was a double swing door, so it swung in, swung out kind of like a a a restaurant door or anything else. Went downstairs. Now this door set there, h stopped to Hing stop and went, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

[00:02:58] Eric Goranson: You could see it. [00:03:00] There was nobody there. That door was over a hundred years. There was nothing messing with it. This was not something where somebody had wired up anything to it. It sat there for no reason, bouncing back and forth. I looked at one of the employees and went, What's that? And they said, Ah, you'll get used to it.

[00:03:18] Eric Goranson: And I went, Ah, holy hell. This is gonna not be good. So a little bit later on. I'm sitting there and I'm closing up at the end of the day, seven o'clock. It's dark outside, so it means it's winter and I'm getting ready to punch the code in for the alarm system because this is a shop in downtown Tacoma, so people would like to break in steel tools, all those different things.

[00:03:41] Eric Goranson: So we had a pretty good alarm system. Crime there is much worse now, so it would be even more of a problem if they were still in business. But I walk over and the second floor is where the main offices over this area in 2105 C Street was. So that's where all the administrative offices for this company, we had [00:04:00] probably 40 employees at the time.

[00:04:01] Eric Goranson: So there was a lot of people working in this building in a cabinet shop. That's where the admin offices were. Well, because you could pop up on the room of the warehouse next door and bust in the building through the windows. We had tons of motion sensors and glass sensors and stuff upstairs in case somebody got in that way.

[00:04:21] Eric Goranson: That was a nice system. I'm sitting there getting ready to hit the button, to hit the alarm code, to arm it as we go out. We're the only ones in the building, and I hear. Thk Thk and it was somebody walking down the hallway, but you could hear it was like a metal tipped boot cuz you could hear that kind of clink of the boot going.

[00:04:48] Eric Goranson: And I tell you what, that was pretty dang wild. And I looked over to, uh, the designer I'm with, and she goes, What are you waiting for? Let's get the hell [00:05:00] outta here. And we punched it. What was the crazy part is during this whole time it was happening, if someone had been up there, it wouldn't have been saying ready.

[00:05:10] Eric Goranson: So it was flashing the ready light, which means there was not a sensor open, there was not a door open, there was no motion for the motion sensors. All that was going on. This was right over our head, which had motion sensors in four different places in that room, and it didn't detect any one of those. We set the alarm and off we.

[00:05:31] Eric Goranson: That was the wild one, got out the door in this same building. We had this, um, you know, the history of this building. First, the basement, Let me step back and tell you the building history. It had been a fire, you know, back in the turn of the century. I'm not sure if anybody had been killed there. This was a building that was built.

[00:05:54] Eric Goranson: You know, turn of the century. But it had tunnels, underground tunnels, kinda like the Shanghai tunnels in Portland [00:06:00] that went down to the waterfront. And I assume that was so they could either take bootleg materials or people down to the waterfront. So this was the brewery district. There could have been people there smuggling things out.

[00:06:13] Eric Goranson: There could have been people smuggling people in and out. And I tell you what, if you know the Pacific Northwest well, There's a reason why they called it Shanghai. That means you got stolen, taken out and put into indentured servitude on a ship going overseas to China, which means you have been Shanghai.

[00:06:33] Eric Goranson: So there's a lot of weird history with this building. Now, the next time I'm in there, this was all over about a year that I worked there. This all happened, and the next thing that was pretty crazy is that. We were in a board meeting in this room that was still an old part of the building, and it was this large room where we had the conference room and it worked out pretty well.

[00:06:58] Eric Goranson: And then, uh, Vern, the [00:07:00] shop owner, his dad, who at that time was pretty elderly, had a sign shop in there that he had had where he made signs. And so there was like poster board and it was very old school sign shop where he would make lettering and things like that. There was this stack leaning up against the brick wall.

[00:07:16] Eric Goranson: This is just a big red brick building with, uh, you know, six panel million windows, you know, that are single hung around the top, very traditional building. Now, what happened was, is we're in this office building basically now we're sitting here in this, uh, in this warehouse, and all of a sudden, This stack of poster board that was probably eight or 10 inches thick slides out across the floor and you go, Oh, no, no, that's no big deal.

[00:07:48] Eric Goranson: The bottom slipped out like it was a DECA cards. No, no, no, no. It tipped the other way. So it went out like a [00:08:00] Deca cards flipping over, upside down. And then they went out like a stack of cards. And so the piece that was the first one out. Was the top one, not the bottom one, and you could see it flip over.

[00:08:13] Eric Goranson: So this thing had to move eight or 10 inches on its own, but being it was up against a brick wall, there was nothing there to push it over that way. So we had no idea what happened there. Then my last story on this one, which is really crazy, we had. There was a piano in the same room, and it was an old upright piano.

[00:08:36] Eric Goranson: And Verne the owner, loved to play piano, but like everything in that building, it wasn't very well maintained. And so this piano had, well, it was really at tune, so it was like the d and e keys were out. They were just way flat. So it was very distinctive when that played. And there were other keys that were a little flat as [00:09:00] well.

[00:09:01] Eric Goranson: Well, we had a modern phone system in here because that's a whole other story that, uh, of us setting up the voicemail and stuff on it with an iPad. Back in the day that was, you know, that was state of the art at the time. We come back in after a weekend and Corey was helping run the company that day cuz uh, owners were out of town.

[00:09:23] Eric Goranson: And we sat there and went, What is going on? There was a message, Message flash. On the answering machine and now this answering machine doesn't have another way to go in. It didn't have a digital in. This was a pretty basic answering system. And so what's crazy about this is this answering system had this like four minute message on it that it sound like you were a 1920s, 19, you know, teens kind of bar speakeasy club.

[00:09:56] Eric Goranson: But you could hear the piano playing, and the exact same keys on the [00:10:00] piano were the ones that are flat in this recording as well. So we have no idea what happened. And on the caller id, there had been no previous calls since. Well, those things were done, and it said it had come in on Saturday, but there was no record on the caller idea of a phone call coming in on Saturday, and you couldn't clear that caller ID out.

[00:10:22] Eric Goranson: So for a decade, me and my buddy thought each one of us had punked each other on it. Nope, not sure how that stuff happened, but, uh, you know, this isn't a paranormal show, but this was a crazy time working in this building and, uh, there were no easy explanations for it. Now talking to Clyde Lewis in years past, and I've told him these stories, he said that, uh, yeah, that place was haunted.

[00:10:46] Eric Goranson: But, uh, that's, that's his opinion. Now I'm gonna post this up on social media as well, over on Facebook. So go over to around the house, basically on Facebook. You'll see us, you'll see the around the house with Eric G over there. I'm gonna post this up [00:11:00] there, um, later today. Take a look over there. Maybe now by the time you're listening, it's up.

[00:11:06] Eric Goranson: And take a look at it. I want to hear your ghost stories down below in the Facebook comments. I think this is gonna be really fun to see what they are and uh, I would have a lot of fun seeing what those are, and I'm sure you would too, and that could be kind of interesting. But now these buildings have turned into, You know, old time woodworking to finish that story went outta business.

[00:11:27] Eric Goranson: Uh, actually I left, It was in the black. We had turned it around. But unfortunately the recommendations that we had done with the solid business plan to turn it back around once we left, like many business owners that, uh, fail in business. Once they leave, the business goes, once the people that were consulting leave, they go back into the old habits they had before.

[00:11:50] Eric Goranson: And that's exactly what happened. So a year later I got to watch my desk and everything else get, uh, auctioned off online when the bank took that place back and over. And, uh, [00:12:00] it was in really great shape when we left it. But, uh, unfortunately he went backwards into those bad habits and it was gone. Now the other thing is now there's an insurance company in there.

[00:12:11] Eric Goranson: There was a restaurant, uh, where the old warehouse is next door. They have actually, uh, done some work on that. I think they have actually added. Four stories over the top of it. That building had a really cool elevator that you could technically put a car in. So it was a huge industrial building that you could do a lot with.

[00:12:32] Eric Goranson: So that was pretty fascinating. And the right across the street was the Heidelberg Brewery, which was pretty cool. And Heidelberg has come back now, but um, that beer has been revived in Tacoma, Washington. That was a very west coast, northern. Kind of beer and unfortunately we're part of that wine. Uh, part of that brewery was, there's now a Holiday Inn Express and Suites right there.

[00:12:54] Eric Goranson: But this was kind of just an amazing time working at this building. And, um, there was a lot going [00:13:00] on there and it's just fascinating to see what is going on with this and how these buildings are changing in this, uh, you know, industrial area that is now, quite frankly, a pretty good building site. So, uh, it's gonna be all mixed use building stuff down there.

[00:13:15] Eric Goranson: Now I had a listener question Come in. This'll be subject number two of this one. They wanted to know how do you get started on a remodeling project when you feel overwhelmed, like your house has got so many projects that you can't even get started because you're basically frozen in place. Cuz there's so much to do, you don't even know what to start.

[00:13:42] Eric Goranson: And you know something when you're in this point of being overwhelmed and just kind of frozen in place and go, I don't even know where to start. I'm gonna kinda get into some psychology here. And I took a little in college, but that's not my medical profession, nor do I pretend to be one. [00:14:00] But my theory is go find yourself a win.

[00:14:03] Eric Goranson: So find yourself a little project that's gonna look good. That's a quick, easy one. Maybe paint a room. Paint a bathroom, which is harder than paint in a bedroom. Do some little things that make an instant impact so you can feel like you got something accomplished. I've had that happen before. It could be as simple as painting base trim around the living room, and all of a sudden you're like, Oh, that made a difference.

[00:14:35] Eric Goranson: Maybe it's painting an accent wall. Maybe it's something very simple, like changing out a new door lock on the front of the house, whatever that is. Get a couple little winds under your belt and then come up with a really solid plan of what you want to get accomplished and just lay it out. Sit down on a yellow notepad and go, Okay, what do I want this to look like?

[00:14:59] Eric Goranson: And then [00:15:00] start breaking that down into little projects. Maybe you've got that second bathroom that you've always wanted to do and you don't know how to get started. Well, maybe it's going in there and taking some of the junk outta there, getting that going. Maybe you've got a garage or shop that is completely stacked full of everything.

[00:15:18] Eric Goranson: In that case, go out there, take a look around what doesn't belong in that space. Garages and workshops get to be great dumping spaces. So go on out. Get rid of all the stuff that's trash, get rid of all the stuff that doesn't belong there and if you've got wood or project stuff, get that put away someplace.

[00:15:37] Eric Goranson: And that's a good start. So you get that visual win cuz we all wanna see that visual win And then you can go through and uh, have something a little bit more enjoyable and that will help motivate you get going on the rest of the project. And that is what makes us fun, is getting those little wins so you can sit there and enjoy.

[00:15:57] Eric Goranson: Because it's a good time. Maybe get a [00:16:00] tool. Maybe it's a good time to do something like that where you feel good about it and it's less overwhelming. But when it's overwhelming, the best thing you can do is get that little win and come up with a really solid plan. Write it down. Ask some friends, ask me, Hey, how do what's, what's the process?

[00:16:18] Eric Goranson: If you wanna get ahold of me, head over to around the house online.com and you can fill out the contact us and I will get back to. So if you're stuck on something, get ahold of me. We'll have some fun, and I'll get you lined up with the correct order so you don't do something twice. All right everybody.

[00:16:34] Eric Goranson: We got a great show ahead this weekend. We're gonna be talking about how to hire a contractor as well as some exterior tile with William White. So we're gonna talk about how to do outside tile. Maybe it's a patio, maybe it's a front. Maybe it's, uh, something on a rooftop deck. Either way, we're gonna be doing that.

[00:16:52] Eric Goranson: Have a great rest of the week, everybody. Enjoy the Halloween next week. That's what the first part of this episode was. Some [00:17:00] Halloween fun. And again, thanks for listening. to around the

[00:17:03] Intro: house,