Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Amie Galivan, a sales consultant for Hardel Builder's Center on Olympia's west side, displays a compound that is useful in making home repairs. Sales have picked up at building-supply stores because of Wednesday's quake.

Quake keeps registers ringing

Building supply stores report biggest impact

SCOTT WYLAND, THE OLYMPIAN

THURSTON COUNTY -- The earthquake that shook South Sound last week has building-supply stores rumbling along at a brisker pace.

No surprise there.

But dealers believe the big buying wave has yet to hit.

"We picked up a little more retail than we normally have," said Lee Cole, assistant manager for Lumbermen's Building Centers in Olympia. "Saturday was probably twice as busy as it normally is."

Customers were mainly buying fix-it items, such as plywood to cover broken windows, shovels for scooping up debris and putty to fill in dry-walling cracks, Cole said.

But customers also found that the earthquake left Lumbermen's with its own mess to clean up, Cole said.

Cans of paint, chemical sealants and other liquids fell from shelves and burst all over the floor, he said. On the roof, gummy material used to plug leaks popped loose from holes.

"This place is really no different than when a grocery store gets shook up," he said.

One concrete-supply dealer said she is definitely selling more materials for repairing damaged sidewalks and driveways and for reinforcing concrete against future earthquakes.

"It hasn't been a big impact at this point," said Teri Bair, co-owner of A-1 Concrete Supplies in Hawks Prairie. "But it might be. I think everyone's trying to figure out their game plan."

A-1 Concrete closed Wednesday to recover from the quake, Bair said. She and her husband were out of town during the weekend and returned Monday to find a dozen voice-mail messages from earthquake victims, along with a group of customers standing at the front gate.

Still, the big rush is more likely to hit in a week or two, after folks have had a chance to assess the damage, Bair said.

Right now she is getting a lot of inquiries from people needing contractors to do the repair work, she said.

Hardel Builder's Center has had a noticeable rise in business since the quake, said Tom Holladay, the store's assistant manager.

Like Lumbermen's, Hardel has mainly been selling tools and materials for doing cleanup and repairs, including brooms, mortar, caulking and siding.

Hardel has enough supplies on-site to handle what store managers think will be a modest rush at best, Holladay said. The depth of the quake and the unusually dry soil prevented a lot of heavy damage from occurring, he said.

South Sound also has been graced with fair weather in the quake's aftermath, Holladay said. "You couldn't ask for more beautiful days to do the work."

Scott Wyland covers business for The Olympian. He can be reached at 357-0748 or scottolympian@yahoo.com.

Know your damage

The Olympia Master Builders are offering free earthquake damage assessments. Call 754-0912 or (800) 456-6473 for information.

On the web:

Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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