Doors and Granite, 7/06

Once we figured out that Craigslist was a great source for rebuilding materials, I started looking frequently (maybe that is an understatement).

Doors and granite showed up in July. Maybe it was even reposted. $500 for all of it.

Nine doors total. Five at 7' by 3' and four at 7' by 2'. From a hotel in South Carolina. Two hour fire-rated MDF.

And several pieces of granite, approximately 50" by 30" that came off the side of a bank building.

We were somewhat disappointed that they were not solid wood; however, they met our price criteria for usage and were pretty cool looking with the three large panels.

Note: I should probably define the price criteria for usage as it has been a determining factor for either going after or passing on various items. Because we are not in New Orleans, costs such as transportation and time delay have to be considered in addition to the amount that we pay for an item. And, while difficult to factor when discussing price, cool is important, too. Sometimes it can trump the decision made solely on the basic pricing criteria. Another difficult to determine value that we try to factor is the value to us of recycling vs buying new. In the case of doors, the comparitor used was the basic framed, hollow core, six panel MDF carried by [insert big box home store name here]. The house had these doors when C purchased it and they were pulled out when the house was gutted. While functional, I hate these doors. They have no soul. Kinda tin man. But (as C will tell you) I am ridiculous about these things. The price post-katrina for the big box store doors, framed, was ~$100/ea, depending on size. We felt that we would optimize our value by obtaining unframed, used doors for ~$50/ea. P felt that it would take less than an hour of his time (~$30) to frame a door. At that price, we would end up with a higher quality product than the comparitor for less than or about the same price (once transportation was taken into account).

When we asked the seller (another example where we do not have the email anymore) for what price he would sell just the doors without the granite, he said $400. He really just wanted to get rid of the granite.

There were seven pieces of granite. We did not really know what we would do with them, but it seemed like a good deal to get granite for countertops (later we found out how much it would cost to cut it!). So we borrowed a trailer and drove into Atlanta to pick up the goods.This stuff was heavy. Luckily, the guy we were buying from helped. And he was pretty strong. Apparently, he had been collecting this stuff and his roommate just wanted it gone. Good for us!

If I remember correctly, these doors helped us form the basic design for the back apartment (more modern, sleek, and white).

The granite is still in the yard in GA. Now that we are using slate for the counters in the front apartment, we will use some of this granite to build a table outside (I hope!).

At $400 for nine doors (~$45/ea) and $100 for seven big pieces of granite, we were pretty satisfied with the acquisition.