To what lengths will you go to avoid a trip to hardware store??

[member=74278]Packard[/member] I used to have rows of bins like that, but found they ended up overflowing with sawdust given enough time. ;-)
 
SoonerFan said:
Like [member=44099]Cheese[/member], I am a Menards fan. The prices around me are better than HD or Lowe’s.  Customer service is great.  And as those who have been in one will tell you, they have a little bit of everything.
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Over the years I've haunted and purchased building materials from every major and minor player...does anyone remember Knox lumber?
I purchase goods from discounters, to big box stores to "for the trade only" commercial dealers. I prefer to save a buck or two but a quality product is always at the fore front of my purchase agenda.

I've always been impressed with the vast amount of products that Menards offers.

I recently wanted to install remote controlled Velux skylights in my garage roof. Because of a construction deadline, I called around to the usual local industrial suppliers and was informed the wait would be 14-20 days as nothing was available locally. The cost would also be in the $1500 each region.

On a whim, I visited the local Menards and ordered the same skylights for $1050 each and was given a 10 day delivery window. I purchased the skylights and took delivery of them 7 days later.  [eek]

What's not to like about that? 
 
We don’t seem to have any Menards on the East coast, so I can’t comment on their stores based on my experience.  However, it has been reported that they have circumvented the Russian sanctions and are selling conflict Baltic birch.

It is nice to still have Baltic birch available, but that buying “coup” offends me. It is like lining up and coming to the aid of Putin. I would probably not shop at Menards if they had stores nearby for that reason.
 
Cheese said:
I've always been impressed with the vast amount of products that Menards offers.
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The Menards selection is great right down to the grocery section!  You can get 2X4s, any needed plumbing supplies, some insulation, and then get some cereal, bacon, milk and syrup for breakfast the next morning all in one trip. 

 
Perhaps my situation is an outlier, but I'm 24 miles (40 minutes) from the nearest Home Depot and 25 miles (43 minutes) from my favorite local hardware store (Parkrose Hardware). I live in the rural area of Clark County in SW Washington state, where goods and services are a bit of a drive, not impossible, but a chore. As such I have invested in over thirty SYS3 organizers for hardware alone. As others have mentioned in this post, I buy fasteners by the box, no more small baggies of screws [big grin]. When the opportunity arises I'll buy wood, such as Baltic birch plywood, and have it on hand. My idea of an ideal project is I don't have to make a trip anywhere. So yes, I have gone to great lengths to avoid a trip to the hardware store.
 
dwillis said:
Perhaps my situation is an outlier, but I'm 24 miles (40 minutes) from the nearest Home Depot and 25 miles (43 minutes) from my favorite local hardware store (Parkrose Hardware). I live in the rural area of Clark County in SW Washington state, where goods and services are a bit of a drive, not impossible, but a chore. As such I have invested in over thirty SYS3 organizers for hardware alone. As others have mentioned in this post, I buy fasteners by the box, no more small baggies of screws [big grin]. When the opportunity arises I'll buy wood, such as Baltic birch plywood, and have it on hand. My idea of an ideal project is I don't have to make a trip anywhere. So yes, I have gone to great lengths to avoid a trip to the hardware store.
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Reading this older post reminded me of a job at the most majestic house I've been to. At the end we needed 9 light bulbs for fans in the new gazebo. I sourced a 10 pack on Amazon for the owner since it was 1/3 the cost of buying 9 individual bulbs. No, he bought 9 individual bulbs because in his mind he's willing to pay Amazon the other 2x to "store" bulbs for him.

This rational is what made the house so majestic. Every detail was in impecable repair yet it contained nothing but the essentials. Imagine bare walls and 2 pairs of shoes in the closet, nothing in the fridge. Nothing in the garage.

He was obviously not a woodworker.
 
Only the rich can afford to have nothing (since they will be willing to pay whatever they have to, when they have to, for whatever they need, when they need it).
 
It is only 2 miles from my house to either Lowes or Home Depot.  Sears used to be even closer.

Plus, Home Depot is directly across the street from Starbucks, where I go for coffee every day.

But even with that, I will occasionally avoid the trip (the reason being usually weather related).

If Amazon, or Walmart offer next day delivery, I will rearrange the order of my work to accommodate the lost day for delivery.  And sometimes I will do that anyway, because I can get a product cheaper online or I can get a higher quality product.

 
There's a Home Despot less than 3 miles from me one way, and a Lowes less than six miles the other way.  What I really miss is an old-style hardware store run by a bunch of old guys that really know their stuff.  Those are a true treat to find, and I seldom miss an opportunity to stop when I see one, just to talk with the old guys over a cup of coffee.  [smile]
 
Tangential but back pre-pandemic (otherwise remembered as the era of plentiful cheap stuff) my habit was to overbuy whatever I needed. Need 20 SF of 3/4 ply, buy 2 sheets "to have it in case I need it". Think sandpaper, fasteners, hardwood, finishes, Festool power tools...

Fast forward to the era of expensive scarcity, and I'm going to design extremes to use whatever stuff I have on hand. I still seem to have 10 years or so of stuff I have to find a use for, not a bad problem to have.

RMW
 
I still regret letting my wife talk me into leaving a stack of a dozen or more dead-straight old growth fir studs in our garage when we sold our house in late 2019.  I moved them from my house after acquiring them from my aunt and uncle in the early 2000s.
 
squall_line said:
I still regret letting my wife talk me into leaving a stack of a dozen or more dead-straight old growth fir studs in our garage when we sold our house in late 2019.  I moved them from my house after acquiring them from my aunt and uncle in the early 2000s.
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Ah...don't feel too bad, I had a bunch of those also but when it finally came time to use them, I had to either use a nail gun, predrill the nail holes or use construction screws to fasten them to anything. They became so hard that you'd bend the nail trying to drive it in with a hammer.

They became useless for stud work, the only thing they were good for was to rip off the rounded edges, glue them together and make a table top from them. They were straight as an arrow though and had some nice vertical grain but 2x4's they were not.  [big grin]
 
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