<<<small things like solid doors vs hollow make a huge difference>>>
It's always a tough call for me between hollow and solid. The hollow core provide a lot better sound insulation, but they're awful heavy. The hollow core is a lot better weight wise, but the construction is cheezy and you might as well hang a piece of cardboard in the opening when it comes to sound proofing a room. I kind of wish there was a happy medium. Maybe 1/4 plywood for the skins and a foam core or something along those lines. I certainly wasn't too impressed with the doors I ordered from HD. I guess they figure after making a customer wait for almost 2 weeks for the order to come in, the customer won't have any time left to do anything about getting stuck with junk that should have been culled at the factory. I'll never buy OrePac doors again.
The owner of a small local hardware store told me the box stores carry a lower grade of doors, made specifically for them, and that are only available through the box stores. I thought he was making it up at the time, but now I'm starting to wonder if he knew what he was talking about. I've noticed on other items made by the same manufacturer, and carried by the smaller stores (at higher prices), are a higher quality than similar, but lower grade, carried by the box stores. The hype has always been better buying power, but it looks like the "buying power" is a matter of telling the manufacturers to produce a lesser product to compete against the better grade lines available to outfits without "buying power".
Anyhow, it looks like "you can't fool all of the people all of the time" is showing up in their same store sales numbers. I'm kicking myself for not picking up some puts the last time it bounced over $30. I can't think of any reason why HD would be a good investment before they find a new CEO. If the game plan is to cut costs and improve operations, giving a $30 million a year halfwit his walking papers would be the best place to start. |
