Before getting too far with my garage conversion project, it was very important to find the windows and door that would make the space more like a living room and less like a garage. Not wanting to special order an expensive window to match the character of the house, I decided to go treasure hunting.
My first stop is usually the Habitat Store downtown. They had been fairly picked over so I headed over to a place on Dickerson Road called Hailey’s Salvage.
I knew about Hailey’s but hadn’t found the need to go there before this project. It’s an amazing place full of old used items that had been salvaged from demolitions or renovations, as well as some new odds and ends of many kinds.
I started down an aisle between two large buildings that were both full to the brim with used doors and windows. They were literally stacked all over the place. They had wood doors of every type from the turn-of-the-century, to common Masonite.
For our project, we wanted to match the other front windows as much as possible which where 8-over-8, which means that the top and bottom sashes each had 8 panes of glass (two rows of four each). Even after sifting through Hailey’s windows I discovered that these were just too rare.
It may have been for the better because we settled instead on getting a double window, which is actually two windows joined with trim in the middle. These were 6-over-6, but were the old style wood windows that originally had weights and pulleys. I might have to scrape them before painting, but they will match the home’s other windows very well.
By the way, if you’re wanting new windows, check Hailey’s first. If you ask nicely, Jim (my guide on the treasure hunt) will take you to ANOTHER huge building across the street where the keep all of their new windows and doors that were closeouts or whatever. Upstairs they have mostly vinyl windows of all shapes, while downstairs (yes, in the cellar) they have more wood ones or wood-vinyl.
The prices aren’t crazy cheap, but for items you can’t find anywhere else I thought it was reasonable. The newer windows were around $175 each which is comparable to most of the stock windows at Home Depot, but Hailey’s has tons of unique sizes and shapes that would easily cost double that amount at full retail.
The used double window I bought was $95 and I also picked up a nice solid wood Craftsman-looking exterior door with four little windows across the top for $110. You could easily spend $400+ for a door like that. It needs paint, but otherwise was in great shape. (Even came with hinges.. 
Anyway, check out Hailey’s for your project. My only advice is to go in the early stages. The more flexible you can be on the sizes you’re looking for, the more likely you’ll find something fantastic.
By the way, they have WAY more than just windows and doors. How about sinks, toilets, mouldings, sidelights, faucets, light fixtures, tons of storm windows, and probably more that I didn’t even get to. That place is huge…
-Peter
