Just had a customer insist I use her old carpet pad from the 80s
She swore it was "good as new" and saved her money before. I was sure it would be dust and fall apart. We pulled it up in her Phoenix condo, and the foam just crumbled into powder... like brown snow. The whole room smelled like a basement. What's the weirdest thing a client has tried to get you to reuse?
How do people think stuff from the 80s just... survives? That brown snow thing is so real. I feel for you, and totally get what @david176 means about spending more time than it's worth. It's like they're trying to save a buck but end up creating way more work. That basement smell never really leaves the room either, does it?
That "brown snow" is the perfect description. I had a guy try to get me to reuse some ancient wood trim he'd pulled off his own house. It was so warped and full of old nails it was basically modern art. I spent more time trying to make it work than it would have taken to just cut new stuff, so the joke was on me.