ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701200081
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WOODSBORO, MD.
SOURCE: DAVID DISHNEAU ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alexander Grabenstein was in his early 20s when he tore down his first barn and sold the lumber.
It didn't take the hungry college dropout long to see his future in the weathered wooden buildings scattered across the agricultural landscape of western Maryland.
``I could see the potential for getting lumber quite economically just for putting the labor into it,'' said Grabenstein, now 45 and president of Vintage Lumber, one of the country's largest lumber recyclers. ``I didn't have to put up much money to be in business, but the cash flow was good and I enjoyed the selling end, too.''
Grabenstein, an amiable man with a short gray beard, no longer knocks down barns; he buys the old lumber from sharp-eyed pickers from as far away as Indiana and re-mills it into antique wood flooring.
Vintage Lumber's hardwood products, along with its reputation for filling orders quickly, have won it some high-profile customers, including retailers Nordstrom and Timberland, and celebrities Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey, Grabenstein said.
It is among the largest companies specializing in reclaimed wood flooring and handles the widest variety of woods, said Bonnie Holmes, spokeswoman for the National Wood Flooring Association in St. Louis.
Its competitors include Mountain Lumber of Ruckersville, Va., near Charlottesville, and The Joinery Co. of Tarboro, N.C., east of Rocky Mount.
The Maryland company lists 13 types of wood flooring in 20 grades, from new white pine at less than $3 per square foot to vintage distressed chestnut at $11.75 for widths of 8 inches or more.
The higher price of the vintage wood reflects processing costs: the recovered lumber must be dried, cleared of nails, cleaned and squared before milling. About half of it ends up as scrap.
``All our guys burn firewood,'' Grabenstein said.
The company's 1996 sales of $1.5million, up 20percent from 1995, place it among the top 20 of the country's 40 or more reclaimers of wood flooring, he said. Vintage employs 21 people, most of whom have been with the company at least seven years.
The wood flooring industry is growing. Shipments of hardwood flooring rose 7percent to 330million square feet from 1994 to 1995, according to the National Oak Flooring Manufacturers Association.a
Grabenstein said rural areas of the Northeast, dotted with 100-year-old dairy barns, are rich hunting grounds for the lumber pickers who recover old wood. One barn can yield 5,000 to 20,000 board feet of lumber.
Prices of old lumber have skyrocketed with those of new lumber. Grabenstein said recovered rough wood averages $1 per board foot, three times more than a few years ago.
``I've talked to six guys in the past month who said they're just getting into barn demolition,'' he said.
Vintage Lumber has a handful of regular suppliers but won't turn away pickers who, as the young Grabenstein once did, show up with a single load to sell.
``Alex has a reputation for buying what they bring,'' sales manager Mark Harbold said. ``To keep the pickers coming, you can't be too picky yourself.''
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Alexander Grabenstein (left) and Mark Harbold haveby CNBmade a career out of turning old and otherwise useless barn wood
into high-quality custom flooring. They process 10,000 to 15,000
board feet of lumber a week.