ebay all the way, often buy it knows, you can get everything, tools, fixings, etc are often cheaper, with cheaper p&p and they come the next day. sometimes get stuff at last minute with no bids for 99p. Look on Money Saving Expert for ebay tips (only bid last few seconds, buy stuff that ends at 2am or 13.34pm ,etc)

one word of advice - check things out yourself before you buy and be very clear what is included:

We bought some reclaimed flooring at auction - this wasn't necessarily the plan but we had a large reclaimed flooring manufacurer a couple of miles away. Looking at their website one Sunday (I think) evening there was a footnote from the administrators that they had gone bust all all items were being auctioned. On Tuesday...

I couldn't get the day off work as viewing was on the following day so we sent the builder round to have a look. There were hundreds of lots of wood in their warehouse - the builder identified one lot of reclaimed oak flooring that he "thought would provide enough floornig for our cottage". We duly bought it (internet bidding) the following day

When I turned up at the weekend to size up the task of collection, it became clear that the lot we had bought wasn't just the couple of pallets that the builder had seen - there was a giant pile behind them also included. In all, three loads on an articulated lorry to move it.

If anyone wants any reclaimed oak strip, do let me know as at this time, I still have ~28 pallets in storage in a warehouse, which is costing me a fortune to store.. The easy way out would have been to take it outside and torch it but would be a criminal waste. On the plus side, the 3 pallets of flooring that the builder chose is absolutely perfect for our cottage.

-Steve

>Oops. Where abouts is it?

London/Essex border, near the dartford tunnel

ah, just noticed a couple of whispers - one of them a year old - sorry :(

Anyhow, to answer the question - all gone now, sorry. Sold the lot a couple of months ago at a huge loss (storage costs). live and learn - however we got a beautiful floor out of it so overall I am happy !

-Steve