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Robert Butler
By Jere Hough Meteorologist / Feature Reporter
Published: Wed, March 14, 2007 - 5:03 am
Last Updated: Wed, August 29, 2007 - 3:35 pm
Last Updated: Wed, August 29, 2007 - 3:35 pm
Jere Hough
Driving the back roads of Butler County, Alabama, you might just come across this familiar farm structure...with a porch- And yes, there's a front doorway! Two grain bins....one very unique house!
The roof of one of the grain bins makes a vaulted ceiling,over the loft. And the fan cools down the circular staircase to the foyer. The woodwork seems perfect...no nails...only screws and bolts throughout. If you're going to hang the front end of a l953 Buick on the wall...you want things sturdy! The headlights are lighted, incidentally.
There's a full kitchen....with an antique gas stove. A dining area.
And that's just the front bin!
Out on the veranda swing sits the man who conceived and built the house, Bob Stackle. He's enjoying a noon breeze with girlfriend Joy Ledbetter and Dixie the Dog. He used to live in a nearby trailer, until he figured he could put the empty grain bins to good use....in spite of what his friends said.
Stackle laughs, "They thought I was crazy."
Stackle was a welder, but had no carpentry experience. He got plenty! After almost two years, he moved in in August 2000.
He built a hall connecting the two bins...the rear one contains a loft master bedroom.
Besides time, what else has he invested here-
Stackle estimates, "I probably spent about fifteen thousand, something like that. It was fairly reasonable really, doing all the work myself"
15 thousand...for a sturdy house of over 2400 square feet! Stackle smiles and says, "I tell people I don't have square footage...I have round footage!"
It's not perfect...hail is really noisy on the uninsulated roof of the front bin. And girlfriend Joy Ledbetter mentions another problem: "Last Thanksgiving or the Thanksgiving before last, we had about fifty people stop...at once." (OFF SCREEN VOICE: "Did they come through-") "Oh yeah...they all came through!"
They get lots of surprise company...everybody's curious.
Meteorologist Jere Hough stands on the stairs and observes, "They say that Michaelangelo could look at a piece of marble and see the statue inside. But who among us could look at a grain crib, and imagine all this...including this custom-made circular staircase. On County Road 5 in McKenzie, Alabama, I'm Jere Hough, News 5."
(TAG) STACKLE SAYS THE HOUSE SEEMS STORM PROOF... IN 2004 IVAN PASSED RIGHT OVER THAT AREA... THE WORST WAS THE HURRICANE'S NOISY RAIN ON THE METAL ROOF.
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