Barn Renovations: Phase Two

We have finished most of the preliminary cleaning of the barn, though it is nearly impossible to keep it clean until we weather proof it. Because our funds are extremely finite, we opted to go with the cheapest type of mats we could find. They're 2x2 connector floor mats. I've rolled on them before at another school. They're not the most pleasant mats I've ever grappled on. Hard, with the concrete floor. But when we wear gis it's not that bad. When we put them all together, it looked pretty darn good.



The plan is to use these during the winter and save up for real mats. Several of my youth from church are wanting to come over to the house and grapple. I figure some hard floors will convince them to contribute money to the cause if they want to grapple in more comfort.

Also, we started padding up potential hazards, like beams and sharp corners. Our "padding" is pretty ghetto. Just some foam sleeping mats that we wrapped around the pole three times. We tested them out with our own bodies. They work. lol

Our ghetto safety padding, complete with duct tape.

Stephanie working her inverted flexibility.


Another issue we've run into is that the siding on the barn is pretty flimsy. So we're having to create barriers where the mat is near the wall so people don't roll out into the yard.

The next step is to continue to get rid of all the safety hazards, work out some inexpensive ways to weather proof the bard and install some fans that we can mount on the over-head beams.

Long term, we'll do insulation, dry wall and air conditioning. The big price tag is connected to the air conditioning. And I don't want to close up the barn until we can do that because I'm worried it would get moldy inside with all that fantastic Florida humidity. We'll see. I'm going to ask a friend of mine who is a contractor to come out and tell me what it would cost me to make the place livable.

But at least the barn is functional now. Tomorrow we're going to hang a punching bag, put in an elliptical machine, a treadmill, a small weight bench and a few weights, some resistance bands and an exercise ball. The place is starting to form into a nice little home gym.