He Builds Houses Out Of Firewood

He Builds Houses Out Of Firewood FARM HOME Building Techniques 17-6-20 About seven years ago, Joe Metker decided to make a small building out of stacked firewood - not to live in, but to draw attention to his firewood cutting business. His rust effort was so popular with customers that every year since then he and his crew have built a new "firewood cabin", each one more sophisticated than the last. The cabins are made out of 40 to 50 cords of split wood. Metke, comes up with the design and a crew of college kids puts it together. All of the firewood from each cabin is eventually sold, making room for next year's model. "It's a lot like building a house out of Lincoln logs as a kid. I try to add a few new touches every year. It's kind of fun to see what you can think of next. "People come from all over the county to see the cabins. In fact, some out-of-state customers tell us they buy their wood here each year just to see what we've come up with. "Each cabin takes only a day or two to construct and about three days to landscape. We usually put up the cabin in April. We sell all the firewood that's stacked outside the house first. Then we sell firewood from the building itself, cord by cord, until the last piece of wood is gone. That usually happens by mid-February, and then it's time to design the next project." "People can't seem to tell that it isn't a livable house," says Metker. "A woman stopped by one morning and asked if she could rent it. I didn't know what to tell her, so I said I didn't have the right zoning to rent a home and she left." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joe Metker, Metker Enterprises, 1421 Edison St. N.E., Hartville, Ohio 44632 (ph 216 877-3313).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.