Little Things That No One Seems To Have
Being an apprentice at home and car repairs, I shouldn't be tackling projects so complicated that the local stores can't meet my material needs.
However, in the past 18 months, the quest to find certain items has gone from frustrating to hair-pulling to resignation.
Examples:
Window Muttons
Our home is missing a couple of the little crossbar thingies, but they cannot be found in any Beaumont home-improvement stores. You pretty much have to buy the whole shooting match.
Glass
I need a piece of glass, but the search has been frustrating. One major home-improvement store carries the size but won't cut it. Another cuts glass but doesn't have anything big enough. It is doubtful I can buy the glass at one place and have it cut at the other. I guess I'll have to go to a glass place.
Window Screens
Pre-constructed window frames seem to be a thing of the past. A few places carry them, but they're not the size I need. What a homeowner has to do these days is buy the parts and build screens himself. What's next? Building AC filters to fit?
Brick-sized Tiles
The upstairs fireplace needed two tiles. I needed something the dimensions of a brick, only about half as thick. All the home-improvement places had were the big floor tiles. Finally, someone at a hoity-toity tile place sent me to a brick place. The brick place had the size I needed but not the color, so I decided to go ahead and get the bricks and then just paint all the bricks one color - black. To obtain the bricks, I had to drive across town to the brickyard - and pay with exact change. However, the brickyard people told me I had to pay at the initial place, so I drove my exact change and two bricks back to the first place. They again said I couldn't pay there and called the brickyard. After 10 minutes of conversation, they just threw up their hands and said the bricks were free. That was nice of them. Oh, and the fireplace looks GREAT.
Window Locks
All they have at the home-improvement stores are the big expensive ones. I just need a couple of the wingnut-looking ones to replace some old ones. After an intensive search, I finally found them, but whoa are they expensive!
AC Vent Plate
During some master bathroom reconstruction under our home's previous owner, half an AC vent got covered up, and the other half was just a plateless hole that allowed an unacceptable percentage of expensive air to do little more than keep a toilet cold or toasty. The choice was to either put a grating on there or cover the sucker completely. Unable to find the right size, I used a hacksaw to cut an old grating in half. It looks like crap, and it busted the saw blade, but the grating will do for now.
Door
I have some old stained glass that would be perfect for a door. I also have a door with some cracked glass (see above). My wife cracked the glass awhile back. My youngest son, Luke, was playing with a backyard guy wire for a power pole. My wife thought he was playing with a live power line and, to get the boy's attention, smacked on the window, which cracked. I'm not really sure how to repair it, so what I want find a door and install that stained glass. However, finding a door with the proper hole size has been futile. Besides, doors are wicked expensive, and a custom door built for stained glass would cost thousands. All I want is an old door with a proper hole in it. Heck, I'd take solid block of wood that fits the doorway and cut a hole myself. If you've got any non-expensive ideas, let me know.
Ski Mask
There have been some odd disappearances around the house. Missing are some of my dad's bolo ties, a tape measure and now the ski mask I wear while running in the cold. I wore it in anything under 40 degrees. It went missing, and a massive quest for a replacement has been a failure. Most stores carry the hat, but they don't have the pull-out mask. Academy and Gander Mountain folks said they sold out months ago. That's some pretty bizarre demand for Beaumont. I had to settle for a ski hat I bought at a dollar store for, yep, $1. Woot!
Sombrero
This is my current mission. Yesterday, I drove all around The Avenues area of town, looking for a stupid sombrero to send to a friend in Chicago who recently visited San Antonio. He bought a sombrero and tried to bring it on the plane, but security confiscated it. I'm not sure of the link between sombreros and terrorism, but I'll leave it at that. Anyway, I hit a bunch of stores looking for a sombrero but couldn't find one. I don't know about the door, ski mask, screens, glass, AC vent plate or window locks, but I'm going to find a damned sombrero if it's the last thing I do.
However, in the past 18 months, the quest to find certain items has gone from frustrating to hair-pulling to resignation.
Examples:
Window Muttons
Our home is missing a couple of the little crossbar thingies, but they cannot be found in any Beaumont home-improvement stores. You pretty much have to buy the whole shooting match.
Glass
I need a piece of glass, but the search has been frustrating. One major home-improvement store carries the size but won't cut it. Another cuts glass but doesn't have anything big enough. It is doubtful I can buy the glass at one place and have it cut at the other. I guess I'll have to go to a glass place.
Window Screens
Pre-constructed window frames seem to be a thing of the past. A few places carry them, but they're not the size I need. What a homeowner has to do these days is buy the parts and build screens himself. What's next? Building AC filters to fit?
Brick-sized Tiles
The upstairs fireplace needed two tiles. I needed something the dimensions of a brick, only about half as thick. All the home-improvement places had were the big floor tiles. Finally, someone at a hoity-toity tile place sent me to a brick place. The brick place had the size I needed but not the color, so I decided to go ahead and get the bricks and then just paint all the bricks one color - black. To obtain the bricks, I had to drive across town to the brickyard - and pay with exact change. However, the brickyard people told me I had to pay at the initial place, so I drove my exact change and two bricks back to the first place. They again said I couldn't pay there and called the brickyard. After 10 minutes of conversation, they just threw up their hands and said the bricks were free. That was nice of them. Oh, and the fireplace looks GREAT.
Window Locks
All they have at the home-improvement stores are the big expensive ones. I just need a couple of the wingnut-looking ones to replace some old ones. After an intensive search, I finally found them, but whoa are they expensive!
AC Vent Plate
During some master bathroom reconstruction under our home's previous owner, half an AC vent got covered up, and the other half was just a plateless hole that allowed an unacceptable percentage of expensive air to do little more than keep a toilet cold or toasty. The choice was to either put a grating on there or cover the sucker completely. Unable to find the right size, I used a hacksaw to cut an old grating in half. It looks like crap, and it busted the saw blade, but the grating will do for now.
Door
I have some old stained glass that would be perfect for a door. I also have a door with some cracked glass (see above). My wife cracked the glass awhile back. My youngest son, Luke, was playing with a backyard guy wire for a power pole. My wife thought he was playing with a live power line and, to get the boy's attention, smacked on the window, which cracked. I'm not really sure how to repair it, so what I want find a door and install that stained glass. However, finding a door with the proper hole size has been futile. Besides, doors are wicked expensive, and a custom door built for stained glass would cost thousands. All I want is an old door with a proper hole in it. Heck, I'd take solid block of wood that fits the doorway and cut a hole myself. If you've got any non-expensive ideas, let me know.
Ski Mask
There have been some odd disappearances around the house. Missing are some of my dad's bolo ties, a tape measure and now the ski mask I wear while running in the cold. I wore it in anything under 40 degrees. It went missing, and a massive quest for a replacement has been a failure. Most stores carry the hat, but they don't have the pull-out mask. Academy and Gander Mountain folks said they sold out months ago. That's some pretty bizarre demand for Beaumont. I had to settle for a ski hat I bought at a dollar store for, yep, $1. Woot!
Sombrero
This is my current mission. Yesterday, I drove all around The Avenues area of town, looking for a stupid sombrero to send to a friend in Chicago who recently visited San Antonio. He bought a sombrero and tried to bring it on the plane, but security confiscated it. I'm not sure of the link between sombreros and terrorism, but I'll leave it at that. Anyway, I hit a bunch of stores looking for a sombrero but couldn't find one. I don't know about the door, ski mask, screens, glass, AC vent plate or window locks, but I'm going to find a damned sombrero if it's the last thing I do.
posted by Brian Pearson at 10:43 AM
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