CUYAHOGA FALLS: Imagine installing a barn wood wall in an hour or so.
Now imagine taking that wall with you when you move.
A local company is making that possible.
Waddell Manufacturing Co. this week introduced Artis Wall, a reusable wallcovering system made from reclaimed wood. It’s designed to go up quickly and come down without leaving any damage, so you can get the trendy weathered-wood look with minimal commitment.
“It’s like investing in a piece of furniture” that can be moved or replaced when tastes change, said Will Kimmerle, the company’s director of operations. He’s also the guy who thought up the idea after he went searching for barn wood to install in his apartment and couldn’t find anything that wasn’t permanent.
The innovative part of Artis Wall is its installation system, which uses hook and loop tape —sort of a less fuzzy version of Velcro brand fasteners. One side of the tape sticks to the wall with a removable adhesive that’s similar to the stuff used on Post-it Notes, but strong enough to hold the planks. The other side is attached to the back of the wood.
You just adhere the strips on the wall 10 inches apart, and then stick on the boards perpendicular to the strips.
The lightweight planks are less than a quarter-inch thick, milled from siding that’s been reclaimed from barns and other buildings across the country, said Bill Kimmerle, the company’s CEO and Will’s father. The planks are made by planing off both sides of a board, so the side that was exposed to the outdoors is a weathered gray and the side that faced indoors is brown.
That gives Artis Wall color variations and an authentic depth and texture, said Pat Cartellone, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing. Unlike planks made from vinyl or other materials that look like barn wood, Artis Wall is the real thing.
The planks can be oak, poplar, pine, even chestnut — whatever species of wood were used years ago to construct the buildings, Bill Kimmerle said. The company can produce more planks by replacing the old with new boards and letting them age naturally for 10 years, he said.
Not only is the product innovative, but the company is taking an uncommon approach to marketing it. Waddell Manufacturing is introducing Artis Wall on Kickstarter, a platform usually used to raise money for new ventures. In this case, a Kickstarter campaign will allow the company to gauge interest in the untested product before in invests heavily in inventory, Bill Kimmerle said.
Still, he’s optimistic. The company already has purchased the equipment needed to mill the boards in its Cuyahoga Falls facility, which already produces wood products such as table legs, flagpoles and tool handles. Before the boards are milled, they’ll be kiln-dried at a sister plant in Hicksville so the planks won’t expand or contract much.
“We’re certainly poised and ready, and we’re certainly able” to produce the product, Bill Kimmerle said.
Artis Wall can go onto pretty much any indoor surface that’s smooth, clean and flat — anything the adhesive strips will stick to, Will Kimmerle said. They don’t stick well to rough or porous surfaces such as brick, although in testing they did stick to painted concrete block.
The product is not designed for ceilings, areas such as bathrooms that have high humidity or places where the planks might come into contact with water, direct sunlight or high heat.
The 5-inch-wide planks come in random lengths ranging from 1 to 4 feet, They can be installed vertically or horizontally, or in a configuration such a chevron pattern, Will Kimmerle said.
The product sells for $250 for 20 square feet, plus shipping. A wall that’s 8 feet tall and 10 feet long would cost $1,000 to cover.
The cost is not insignificant, but Will Kimmerle pointed out there’s no need to hire a professional to install the planks. “You can do a whole wall in like 45 minutes to an hour and a half,” he said — practically instant gratification.
The system has room for error. If you discover the boards aren’t straight or you don’t like the color pattern, you can just pull them off and start again.
Installation doesn’t require elaborate tools, either. The boards can be trimmed by scoring them with a utility knife and snapping off the excess.
It’s not necessary to secure the planks, but you can if you wish using brad nails, construction adhesive or staples. That might be the best option for restaurants or other places that don’t want people peeling boards off their walls, Bill Kimmerle said.
The product is currently available only by pre-order at www.artiswall.com. Shipping is expected to start in late April or early May.
Only the brown and gray combination is available now, but the Kimmerles hinted that other kinds of wallcoverings besides barn wood may be introduced eventually.
What Bill Kimmerle especially likes about the product is it’s American-made and locally produced, so quality can be controlled.
“It’s from our barns. It’s coming from our factory,” he said. “It employs people right here in Akron, Ohio.”
Mary Beth Breckenridge can be reached at 330-996-3756 or mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com. You can also become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MBBreckABJ, follow her on Twitter @MBBreckABJ and read her blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/mary-beth.