Items salvaged from former Electrohome building for sale
Bricks, beams and posts saved from demolished factory waiting for new homes at The Timeless Material Co. in Waterloo
WATERLOO — Decades of neglect may have spelled the end of the former Electrohome building in Kitchener this year, but thousands of salvaged items may soon find a new life in Waterloo.
In January, Kieswetter Demolition began what it called a “sympathetic deconstruction” of the building in the middle of a residential neighbourhood at 152 Shanley St., recovering about 10,000 yellow bricks, a few thousand square feet of tongue-and-groove roof decking made of spruce and pine, and thick posts and pillars of Douglas fir.
The items are now for sale at The Timeless Material Company on Northfield Drive in Waterloo, also owned and operated by Kieswetter.
“At the time of the demolition people in the neighbourhood were coming out to say they might have an interest in the items,” said Timeless Materials manager Will Currie.
The brick-by-brick deconstruction of a building takes more time and labour than simply knocking it down and carting away the debris, said Currie, “but it’s the cornerstone of our business.”
Most of the bricks have already been sold to a church restoration project near London, Ont., Currie said, but there are plenty of posts and beams still available. They are more than four metres long (14 feet) and about 20 centimetres (nine inches) thick. The beams are square with a slightly rounded edge.
“They’d make a cool fireplace mantel or timber coffee table,” Currie said.
Workers are also preparing to mill the wooden decking into flooring and other lumber stock.
“I foresee us doing a lot of tabletops or counters with that material,” the manager added.
A few doors and other miscellaneous pieces, such a joists, are also available but the windows had to be removed by a specialized subcontractor because the caulking contained asbestos.
The former furniture factory was built in 1898 by Leander Klippert for his Diamond Furniture Co. It was sold in 1936 to Dominion Electrohome to build hardwood TV cabinets. Later, the building was used to make plastic and foam components for cars, then as a signpainting company.
The city declared the building unsafe last May and ordered the previous owner to either repair the building or demolish it.
Toronto company Shannondale Developments bought the site in November, saying it intends to redevelop the site as a mid-rise mixed-use building.
The factory building had been empty for the past 30 years and had major structural problems, including large sections of collapsed floors on three of its four storeys.
A demolition permit was issued just before Christmas, and demolition began in January. The entire project took several months to complete.
Timeless Material was closed during the pandemic but has reopened Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to about 3 p.m., by appointment only.