One way to keep costs down during a home-improvement project: Skip the big-box stores and shop at the warehouses packed with salvaged or donated supplies that mirror the chain stores’ inventory, but at sharply discounted prices.
Whatever do-it-yourself tools you may need are here. There are nails, screws, electrical-outlet covers, radiators, door and window screens, laundry tubs and double sinks, bath tubs, gas-log fireplaces, laminate flooring, carpeting and carpet padding.
Most of the inventory is donated by building contractors, often from building projects that the recession closed down. Technically, this is salvage — not pricey antique architectural salvage, but new or slightly used merchandise.
The savings are staggering. Toilets from $25, double- and triple- pane windows from $75, paint for as little as $1 per can.
The trade-off for customers is a slightly grungier shopping experience. But ask anyone who’s found a mint-condition Chico’s outfit or barely used fishing vest at a thrift store: The atmosphere runs a very distant second to the bargain.
With some people now scurrying to wrap up home projects before summer’s end, see Page 6D for a list of some nearby home-improvement warehouses and their noteworthy bargains.
1. ReSource
Among the standouts at the Boulder warehouse: Drafting tables with metal doors ($45), double utility sink ($50), concrete roof tile (50 cents each), wood-burning stove insert ($300), metal and porcelain kitchen sinks ($15 to $60).
The deals at the Fort Collins location included a white dry-erase board ($20), a free-standing wood wine rack ($25), a restaurant heating tub ($25), wood fencing panels ($25 per panel), new Velux skylights ($100), pedestal sinks ($50 to $150), and wooden shutters ($5 to $10 each).
6400 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, 303-419-5418; 1501 N. College Ave., Fort Collins, 970-498-9663
2. Extras
This vast north Denver warehouse is a little hard to find. Just off Furniture Row, Extras is behind a restaurant-supply store that’s worth a trip on its own. The parking is shared with large tractor-trailer trucks. Inside, customers are left to themselves to wander among aisles bristling with raw lumber and molding, and stacked high with everything from ladderback chairs to swamp coolers. The best deals on a recent visit: 6-inch and 7-inch black walnut flooring ($7 per square foot); fluted 12-foot- tall columns ($125); bags of play sand ($2 each); crystal chandeliers ($100 and up); 2-by-6-inch-by-8- foot and 2-by-8-inch-by-18-foot redwood boards ($1 per foot); unfinished knotty-pine cabinets ($75); and swamp coolers ($50 and up). 400 W. 53rd Place, 303-296-8090
3. Bud’s Warehouse
One of the first discount home- improvement stores in Denver, Bud’s also is a place to teach job skills to people who were once homeless or imprisoned. The staff is knowledgeable and helpful in navigating the dim interior of a relatively small warehouse that’s in the shadow of Interstate 70. Recent bargains included upscale new cabinets in cherry, oak, maple, birch ($150); used cabinets ($25 and up); cove base molding (25 cents per linear foot). 4455 E. 46th Ave.; 303-296-3990
4. Metro Denver ReStore Home Improvement Outlet
Colorado has 17 ReStores altogether, which stock everything from doors to pipes. Interested in upmarket furniture? Visit the ReStores in such well-heeled locations as Carbondale and Evergreen.
From the outside, the Denver ReStore building looks small. But inside, it’s dense, especially the aisles where doors line up like tall, narrow books. The furniture ($25 and up) includes dining- room sets, sofas, mirrors, bookshelves, easy chairs that are clean and attractive, a few notches above the standard fare at Goodwill or ARC; toilets ($25 and up); countertops and cabinets ($20 and up); pre-mixed cans of paint and spray paint ($1 and up); a gorgeous set of wide white shutters ($60); and elegant hanging lights ($15 and up); gardening supplies ($1 and up); and wrought- iron security doors with screens and glass ($75 and up). 70 Rio Grande Blvd. (just west of Santa Fe Drive at West Ellsworth Avenue); 303-722-5863 or 5864
5. Metro Denver ReStore Home Improvement Outlet
This modest, low-slung building is crowded but orderly, with furniture arranged in living-room groupings, and military rows of toilets. Notable offerings included a commercial hot-air hand-drying machine (unpriced); a fancy low-flow European-style toilet ($150); a variety of molding (15 to 75 cents per foot); bathroom vanity cabinets ($5 and up); wooden double bed headboard and footboard ($24 and up); a barnyard-style exterior door with diamond pane window ($25); a maroon security door with glass lever window and screen ($75); carpet squares ($1.25 each); Pepsi machine ($75); and a hydraulic jack ($10). 10625 W. I-70 Frontage Road, Wheat Ridge; 303-421-5300
6. Blue Spruce Habitat ReStore
Wow! This is a gold mine for offbeat finds, including an enormous antique free-standing iron wood stove ($1,000); sofas suitable for a Parade of Homes living room ($50 and up); wingback chairs ($50); ladderback chairs ($30); an old Remington adding machine ($25); and a huge dome divided in half that might be suitable for an observatory. Except for furniture and inventory susceptible to rain and snow, most of the stock is arranged outside like a huge yard sale. 1232 Bergen Parkway, Bergen Park/Evergreen; 303-674-1127
Before you go:
Make a list of what you need, including any materials you want to avoid, to save time and keep on task at the store.
Write down the measurements of the window, door, cabinets or other items you want. Bring a measuring tape along with the notes.
Double- and triple-check each piece. Look closely for cracks, warping, water damage or other problems. If you find damage, is it something you can repair? Or live with?
Buying salvaged tile? Examine the pieces for bits of attached mortar or concrete, which can be difficult to remove, and result in an uneven surface.
