You watch with a keen eye, whether there are rubbish containers with possibly recyclable content somewhere on the roadside, and make a report. But the dealers also maintain direct contact with demolition companies, who in turn have an interest in it. Because by the building material recyclers before demolition everything- and expand, what else can be used, reduce the volume of rubble, hence the landfill costs, and secondly, they show their appreciation in marks and pennies.
What's in it for the customer?? Let's assume, in an otherwise intact roof, twenty beaver tails broke during a storm. A roofer with the range of the current roof tile production will wave him off, because the measure can no longer be obtained. his suggestion: everything new – power, we say, 75 000 Mark. The old roof tiles are still available in the antique building materials trade. Cost: races 50 Mark.
Or: There are two in an old family house, three of the traditional casement windows are now so rotten, that something must be done urgently. The modern solution: insulating-glazed plastic windows - each of them a break in style in the historic facade. The complex solution: custom-made new products from the carpenter – each of them a blood-letting for the purse. The practical solution: a call to the antiques dealer – either he has it, or he puts the interested party on the waiting list.
In addition to the practical and financial gain, the aesthetic gain plays a role. No doubt: Aluminum fittings fulfill their function, even in an old building, inexpensive and easy to care for. But brass fittings from the time the house was built are more beautiful.
There are customers, says Rainer W. Leonhardt from the Berlin company "Antike Building Materials", they don't want a single new piece on and in their house.
"Someone was there recently, for him we had to painstakingly rework an elaborately carved garden fence made of wrought iron, so that the garland decor at home is again perfectly symmetrical.