Evening star., 1939-11-14


my mind off my irritation at any
rate. Will is the deacon of a col
ored church in his of" moments,
and in his working hours he does,
with a smile, the thousands of
things people ask him to. He can
do little bit of everything except
add, and we had some great ad-
ventures.
After calling in plumbers and
electricians, three of each, to look
the situation over and give us esti-
mates while the walls were still
open, Will and I measured the
house. We had to measure actual
window openings as the sashes were
completely gone. Sizes varied up
stairs and down, and Will shook
his head over them saying, Wen
have trouble getting these sizes
nowadays We measured the door
openings carefully, and the fireplace
openings too, hoping we might find
some mantels.
We contemplated no structural
changes in the house because they
are expensive and because beyond
Walllng up one door they did not
seem feasible. We decided to use
sectional Withdrawing wherever
the walls had been DESTROYED in
large sections, to avoid waiting for
the drying and curing of new plas-
ter. With these plans, Will and I
started of in the truck for a spot
IN southeast Washington where
CLASSIFIED ad had indicated whole
docks OF houses were being torn
down, and doors, windows, bricks.
lumber and all building supplies
were available.
Use Care in Buying
Used Materials.
In purchasing used materials
tnere are several methods of pro-
cedure. II you know something
OF materials, or have a learned
TREND who is willing to get into
his blue jeans and 60 rummapinp
with you, you may go wherever
houses are being wrecked and buv,
right on the yard, materials of your
own selection 'for a song" Fire
brlck, red brick, tile, heavy timber,
many OF the things that are verv
expensive when new, can be pur-
chased for few cents as long as
you know that what you are pur-
chasing is good value. Do not
TOOL with plumbing equipment, pip
ing, storage tanks, electrical equip
ment, BX cable and the like. Un-
less you know what will and will
not pass D. G. inspection, you bet
ter avoid those things.
The next way to buy recondi-
TONED materials is to go to one of
the larger building supply firms
which also sells used materials.
You will pay them a price about
half way between what you paw
on the wrecking lot and what you
pay for new materials. This is rea-
sonaele as they have done all the
"drty work" for you. They have
sorted and graded, measured
stacked and listed everything in the
yard, so that if you say to the yard
man, Il want a 2'8"x6'8" door," he
Can take you right to the stack and
you may make your choice of sew
eral. Here you may buy some
plumbing fixtures with impunity,
and YOU will also lind that such
things as gas and electric stoves
and similar equipment have been
gone over by a mechanic and not
only are lii good usable condition
but are cleaner and better looking.
Will and 1 shopped both ways.
At the wrecking yard Will pulled
out door after door. 1t seemed to
me we went over hundreds. When
we found our size we still went on
because we wished to avoid deep
dents and heavy varnish, preferring,
if possible, paint or enamel finish.
We did not care about color, but
wanted the door an eighth Of an
inch oversize so that we could trim
them down to nice clean edge.
1t was surprising how many we
found at a dollar apiece. We had to
get the front door elsewhere. 1t
is lovely one, very heavy and
nicely paneled of walnut, but it
cost the vast sum of $3.50. Also it