This morning D & I were getting the house ready for Albert (D’s dad) to arrive and help with the final three windows in the never ending project of window restoration. (Really, it is a huge pain in the butt. But overall, totally worth it.)

As I was cleaning the dining room and D was gathering the materials and tools, D discovered a serious situation. We were three weights short.

Our windows are double hung and require 8 pound weights to help them go up and down and stay in their various positions- opened or closed. Each window requires four weights, and since we were three weights short that meant one window may not get restored yesterday.

I started calling various salvage & surplus stores, lumber yards, and even the Habitat for Humanity store. No one had the needed 8 pound cylinders. It was still early and the one salvage store that we figured we could count on was not answering its phone yet- Apex Surplus & Salvage on Dodds Ave. That store has everything and we decided to take a chance and just go over there.

Albert arrived at the house and after the pleasantries of “Hi! How are you?” and “Look how big Fuller is!” Fuller & I took off for Dodds Ave.

The store is a converted house that I think the owners still live in. Since there were some other people talking to the one employee, Fuller and I browsed the aisles. The aisles are over flowing with old, used and new electrical equipment, house lights, plumbing fixtures, and in the back it is stacked to the 24 foot ceiling with old windows, doors and panes of glass. When the other customers left I approached the employee with my question, “Do you have window weights?” I was holding Fuller on my hip and he called out, “Hah!”

After explaining what window weights were, the guy knew exactly what I was asking for and had us follow him to the back. On the floor stacked about three high and twenty across were many window weights. I asked how much they were and he replied that it had been so long since they sold them that he would have to check. He then went on to say that people usually buy them to beat other people up. Shocked, I replied that we really needed three for our window restoration. He turned and said, “Well then, we will give you the non-gang discount.”

A trip to the ATM later, Fuller and I walked out of Apex with three 8 pound weights (the owner carried them out for us) for a total of $15. I highly recommend the non-gang discount, it is highly affordable.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS