4-year START-TO-FINISH Renovation of Abandoned Warehouse in Chicago

This video is a start-to-finish DIY renovation time lapse of an abandoned warehouse-style building in Chicago. This abandoned building was completely trashed when I bought it in 2020, and I spent 4 years of my life renovating it to create my dream home and workshop. I documented the renovation process in over 50 YouTube videos, and I’ve done my best to combine all those videos into one start-to-finish renovation video here.

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00:00 Introduction
01:18 Beginning The Demo
07:29 Replacing The Roof
12:08 Living Room & Kitchen Demo
17:04 Removing the Garage Staircase
19:15 Dealing with the Hole In The Floor
23:29 Framing
26:49 HVAC
28:41 Insulation (BONUS FOOTAGE)
33:19 Drywall
38:29 Adding a Window in the YouTube Studio
41:16 Spray Painting my Entire House
46:14 The Guest Bathroom
54:38 Hardwood Flooring Pt.1
58:52 Window Install & Move In
1:01:48 Hardwood Flooring Pt.2
1:07:39 Garage Murals
1:11:14 The Kitchen
1:20:27 A Near Death Experience
1:22:31 The Master Bathroom
1:35:13 The Powder Room
1:38:40 The Roof Deck
1:48:02 Entryway Makeover
2:02:04 Stairs Leading To The Roof (BONUS FOOTAGE)
2:04:45 The Final Reveal

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[modustrial]

Thank you to everyone for all the amazingly kind words in the comments, and for being with me on this journey! I can't believe its been 4 years. If you'd have told me when I was graduating high school that this is what I'd be doing with my life, I would never have believed you.... Life is strange, and wonderful, and through the ups and downs, its an amazing world, where any one of us can truly be anything we want to be. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share my journey with you, and am so excited for what the future holds... a big announcment is coming soon :) Much love to all of you, and thank you again for watching my videos to make all this possible.

[kylethreewit]

I’m jealous of the people who just stumble upon this video and get to see everything at once instead of waiting on pins and needles for 4 years for the next video to drop.haha. Such an amazing transformation and very entertaining to follow along since the beginning nonetheless.

[eyeanmorris]

RIP to the dual facing toilets... forever in our heart ❤

[vx]

This man almost died, lost his favourite and loved cat, his relationship was done. BUT had the strength to move on and complete what he had started. That's unbelievable! Great job!🔥

[Stevie_Dee]

I’ve never been engaged enough to watch a 2 hour long YouTube video … well done sir 👏🏼

[rudraanandf]

The best part of this video was how you never let your life slip away from your hands despite all the hardships. Never give up. Stay strong my man.

[DavTechCH]

I began watching this series with my girlfriend during the COVID period. It's incredible to think that now she's my wife, and we even have a child together. We've seen every episode of this series and just wanted to express our gratitude for sharing such a fantastic series with us.

[Rapha]

I remember when I started to watch this series... I watched the first 4 parts and then I stopped, 'cause I was facing some health problems and didn't think I would get to see it finish. Now, after 4 years I can watch the whole thing. I'll be watching all the 50+ videos.

[allshadesg]

These jobs are so underrated. The skill, precision, understanding, math, etc it takes to create these spaces is undervalued.

[navalrajnikanth]

I really admire people who not only have the skills, patience and the work ethic required to do this kind of thing but also to have the Vision to see what things could become.

[Freeman]

I started watching the series shortly after my daughter died. My creative Muse was just obliterated. All my 3-D printers were silent. I was making nothing. I was watching videos like yours and some others to try to get going again, but during the journey more stuff started happening to me. I lost my brother during Covid to Covid. Two months later, I lost my only grandmother. My health drastically went downhill and the last two years I have nearly died three separate times one of them a doctor OD’ed me in the hospital and put me in the ICU. But long story short I’m still here and this series kept giving me the courage to get out to my new shop and renovate it. We hold.

[connorgray]

Thank you so much for taking us along for the ride!

[tommyingemarsson]

I started work on my house in 1995, as a farmer it meant working on it after 12-16 hours on the dairy farm. I doubled it in size, from 850 sqf to 1700 but I ran out of money to finish it and now at 65 years of age my body is thoroughly beat up after 50 years of working 60 - 80 hours a week, I still hope to see my house finished one day. it was very inspiring to watch this video, I am deeply impressed with the amazing job you did on this project. I wish you good health and all the best for the future

[DapperIndividual]

Not me fully watching a 2 hour video from a creator I've never watched and a topic I've never interacted with lol

[RLU-wtvi]

Above all, I'm glad that you are now in good health. Losing a best friend can also take your spirit & energy, but bringing Tex into your life was a wise decision. Best of success and continued health.

[RestoringTheWomanofGodinYou]

Wow, thank God the doctors were able to find and stop the bleeding. I'm glad you made it through.

[tysiudamasceno]

I'm one of those lucky enough to have caught from the get go. Thank you. You've inspired, entertained and made my life a little bit happier everytime one of your videos showed up.

[DrDonBoo]

Me and my Mom watched this entire video like a movie and felt all the joys and challenges you went through. God bless you big time.

[staceymccloud]

I stumbled upon this at 3am. 3 trips to finish. It's now 1:18 pm. One of the best videos I've ever seen. Instant fan. Ty.

[SamanthaSweetAnne]

I live in DeKalb, IL. I am super impressed. I showed your channel to my husband and said see honey, he got this entire job done and never got mad or yelled out obscenities. He said why would anyone show you. I said look at Gordon Ramsay and Robert Irvine. Plenty would show that.

We are doing a kitchen renovation. I hope it gets done fast. I am tired of eating microwaved food and washing forks in the bathroom. Major props to you for setting goals and accomplishing them. Most people would have stopped before they started.

That is awesome you did the roof for your pets.