Wauwatosa's Hoppe Tree Service reuses diseased, dying trees in new Urban Wood Lab

Hoppe Tree Service has added a retail gallery and showroom to its Wauwatosa-based business that will give new life to otherwise diseased or dying tree wood.

The concept, known as The Urban Wood Lab, is positioned as "a higher calling for the urban log" according to August Hoppe, owner and general manager.

All trees that are removed from residential properties by Hoppe Tree Service will be cut, dried and sold to contractors, architects, craftsman, hobbiests and woodworkers from The Urban Wood Lab for them to make anything: cabinets, counter tops, doors, artwork etc.

"A trend we're seeing in new construction is to use re-purposed wood," said Hoppe, whose father and grandfather founded the tree service in Wauwatosa in 1972. "We are taking a dying and diseased tree and cutting it down but not wasting the wood. We are getting the maximum value from it."

The Urban Wood Lab is located next door to Hoppe Tree Service at 6117 W. Bluemound Road and will open officially Friday, Oct. 3.

An in-house craftsman, Dan Barsch, has already begun the beautification process with urban wood.

From dried and cut ash, oak, cherry and poplar trees, Barsch created an intricate wall design in The Lab showroom and installed its hardwood flooring. His contracting business, known as Poetree Woodworks, shows examples of how urban lumber can be re-purposed into farm tables, work benches, butcher blocks, crown moldings, coasters, doors and more.

"Each tree has a story," said Barsch. "It could be a tree taken from your yard that becomes a piece in your living room."

With the threat of emerald ash borer, which was first detected in Wauwatosa one year ago, Hoppe said one of the business's biggest goals was to reuse ash trees.

"That was one of the driving forces behind this," said Hoppe.

Tree services in Michigan have a similar business model as The Urban Wood Lab, but Hoppe said his business is one of the first to do everything in-house: milling, drying, cutting the tree and incorporating it into a gallery space.

Trees take one year to air dry, but Hoppe Tree Service uses a dry kiln at its Grafton tree farm to dry a tree in 22 days, bringing it down to 6 to 8 percent moisture.

Mike Glime, a sawyer, will cut and dry the lumber in Grafton before it is available to customers in Wauwatosa.

And instead of removing the wood's natural characteristics, The Urban Wood Lab preserves its distinctive shape, knots and colors.

"It's a lot more character than what is found in a typical lumberyard," said Hoppe. "We want to scale this up and not let it go to waste."

Urban wood programs in Wisconsin require that trees can't be cut solely for the timber value.

"We will only use trees that were destined to come down already," said Hoppe.

Hoppe Tree Service employs about 16 arborists. It purchased its current building on Bluemound Road in December 2013 and moved into its showroom in July.