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July 29, 2006

on buying siding

We've been buying siding one pickup load at a time, and this is ok.

We get our siding from Siewers, a local lumber&millwork company. The siding itself is 1/2x7 1/4 inch yellowpine siding and costs just under a $1/foot. Siewers would deliver if we were a bigger job, and we'd actually gotten a largish load delivered last year by using our connection to a local architect. Since we're financing this thing paycheck to paycheck, we buy what we can and then go back for more when we can...

The siding comes in lengths of 8, 12, and 16 feet. The sixteen-foot pieces seem to work out the best for getting most of the siding used, with the eight-foot pieces ending up generating a lot of little pieces left over. The twelve foot pieces have been the compromise choice between usability and actually being able to get the siding back to the house.

Siewers was out of the 12-foot lengths yesterday when we went to pick up the supplies for the weekend (they are closed on the weekend), so we got a load of the 16-foot lengths. Sixteen-foot-long pieces of siding are about as long as the truck itself, so the drive home was a precarious slow-motion experience, with much stopping to resecure the load.

Yesterday was a typical hot & humid Richmond summer day. When other countries get our weather, older folks start to die and it makes CNN... Anyway, on the way out of Siewers, the guy that checks the load & receipt was handing out *cold* bottles of water to everyone. This is a business that has no real competition and mostly caters to contractors. It was a very nice gesture.

Posted by john m at July 29, 2006 04:12 PM

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