- Shop at second-hand retailers and salvage yards, and shop often. Like a thrift shop or a discount clothing store, salvage stores get new stuff in all the time, and it’s likely to be completely different from the items you saw there last time. To get the best deals, visit your favorite spots regularly.
- Ask for what you want. Describe what you’re looking for to salvagers and shopkeepers, who can keep an eye out for similar pieces when they’re collecting inventory for their stores.
- Start your search online, but buy in person. Like any building material, a photo of a salvaged item might differ slightly from the physical piece in quality, texture or color. And unless you find a one-of-a-kind heirloom piece that you can’t get anywhere else, avoid buying from out-of-town vendors. There’s no sense paying to have a second-hand toilet shipped to you when you can pick one up from a salvage yard a few miles from home.
- Scour classifieds and auctions, in newspapers, in person and on Web sites like craigslist. And don’t settle only for what others have posted; post your own ad so readers will know what you’d like to buy.
- Talk to your neighbors. If you see someone who just installed granite countertops hauling a butcher block slab to the curb on trash day, take it off his hands. You can sand it down and use it in your own kitchen, bathroom or home office.
- Look around your own house. When you redecorate or remodel, consider whether you can relocate some of your would-be discards to other areas of the house. Your neighbor, for instance, might have been able to repurpose that butcher block countertop as a laundry room folding station in his own home.
- Visit construction sites. When someone nearby is tearing down a house, adding a room, building a new home or doing a major remodel, let the owner and the contractor know what you’re in the market for.
- Get permission if you want to do the salvaging yourself. Abandoned buildings often are picked clean by locals who strip everything from door hinges to copper plumbing pipes, but that’s not legal. If you want to remove something from a property that isn’t yours, get permission from the owner first, and make sure the place is safe to walk around in.
- Insist on quality. Just because something is free or dirt-cheap doesn’t mean you should take it home. Hold out for items you know you will use and that you believe are well-made and operational.
- Inspect every item before agreeing to take it. Steer clear of used carpets because they’re often full of pet hair or other irritants that can cause allergies to flare. Same with garbage disposals because nobody gets rid of one until there’s something wrong with it. Likewise, look for signs of mold, mildew, a musty smell or insect damage.
- Expect to pay. While you can snag materials headed for landfills for free or nearly free, salvaged or recycled products don’t come without a price. Even if you save considerably on the cost up front, you might have to pay extra for labor if you need help working with older materials whose installation is tricky or with pieces that need repairing. And plan on spending extra time shopping, transporting, cleaning and refurbishing second-hand pieces.
- Measure twice, buy once. Lots of second-hand building materials stores post that caution because they don’t take returns. Save yourself the headache, and the heartache, of hauling home a heavy, antique claw-foot tub to a bathroom that’s too small for it.
- Insist on a warranty for appliances. Reputable shops will offer an exchange or a refund within 30 days if you get your refrigerator, washing machine or stove home and it won’t work when you plug it in. Walk away from appliances that are so old and energy inefficient that they’ll send your energy bills soaring.
- Consult with your contractor. If you’re buying anything structural or an item that you’ll need help installing, let the contractor help you with the purchase so you don’t wind up with something you can’t use. This is especially important if you’ll need a permit to install it.
- Get the lead out. If you buy anything old and painted, it probably has lead in it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it, but you should take precautions before sanding or scraping paint from cabinets, doors, wood flooring and other items made before 1978, when the federal government banned lead paint in homes. Work on the piece outdoors, keep children out of the area, wear a respirator, gloves and goggles, and clean up with a HEPA vacuum. Too much trouble? Don’t buy the piece.
- Bring a truck. Few salvage stores will deliver your items. Arrive ready to haul away anything you buy.
- Be flexible. Chances are, you’re not going to find exactly what you want in the right size and perfect color, especially if you’re in a hurry to get it. But you might find something you love and can use, even if it’s not what you were looking for.
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