He Gives Haircuts In a Silo Barber Pole

1996 - Volume #20, Issue #6, Page #19

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"It's the largest barber pole in the world," says David Gumieny, Elkhart Lake, Wis., who gives haircuts right in the middle of a 13-ft. dia., 42-ft. high cement silo that he painted with red, white, and blue stripes.
Gumieny, who lives on a 6 1/2-acre hobby farm on the edge of town next to a prominent lake resort, set up his silo barber pole shop in 1976 - the year of the U.S. Bicentennial. The cement roof is painted blue and has an American flag flying over it at a height of 54 1/2 ft.
He tore down a milk house that was adjacent to the silo to build a waiting room for customers. To make room in-side the silo, he first poured a cement floor, then covered it with carpeting. He attached 2 by 4 studs to the walls and ran 2 by 12's across the top of them to make an insulated 8-ft. tall ceiling. He put three layers of 3/4-in. thick plywood on top of the ceiling as protection in case cement ever chips away from the roof. He also insulated the outside walls and then sheetrocked them, giving the room a 9-sided look.
He used a cement saw to cut a door in the silo wall that leads to the waiting room. He also added a bathroom at the bottom of the silo chute and covered the chute's open windows with plexiglass.
"The poured cement silo walls are about 8 in. thick and with the insulation it's so quiet inside that you don't even know when there's a storm outside," says Gumieny.
It took a while to figure out how to paint the stripes on the silo. He used a fruit jar to test his design. He penciled squares on a sheet of paper and made colored stripes at a 45 degree angle, then wrapped the paper around the jar. It worked. Then he used chalk to mark the silo in 30-in. squares and started painting. "I use latex paint which lasts for about five or six years. I've painted the silo twice since I moved in," says Gumieny.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David A. Gumieny, W6032 Badger Rd., Elkhart Lake, Wis. 53020 (ph 414 876-2690).

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He Gives Haircuts In a Silo Barber Pole AG WORLD Ag World 20-6-19 "It's the largest barber pole in the world," says David Gumieny, Elkhart Lake, Wis., who gives haircuts right in the middle of a 13-ft. dia., 42-ft. high cement silo that he painted with red, white, and blue stripes. Gumieny, who lives on a 6 1/2-acre hobby farm on the edge of town next to a prominent lake resort, set up his silo barber pole shop in 1976 - the year of the U.S. Bicentennial. The cement roof is painted blue and has an American flag flying over it at a height of 54 1/2 ft. He tore down a milk house that was adjacent to the silo to build a waiting room for customers. To make room in-side the silo, he first poured a cement floor, then covered it with carpeting. He attached 2 by 4 studs to the walls and ran 2 by 12's across the top of them to make an insulated 8-ft. tall ceiling. He put three layers of 3/4-in. thick plywood on top of the ceiling as protection in case cement ever chips away from the roof. He also insulated the outside walls and then sheetrocked them, giving the room a 9-sided look. He used a cement saw to cut a door in the silo wall that leads to the waiting room. He also added a bathroom at the bottom of the silo chute and covered the chute's open windows with plexiglass. "The poured cement silo walls are about 8 in. thick and with the insulation it's so quiet inside that you don't even know when there's a storm outside," says Gumieny. It took a while to figure out how to paint the stripes on the silo. He used a fruit jar to test his design. He penciled squares on a sheet of paper and made colored stripes at a 45 degree angle, then wrapped the paper around the jar. It worked. Then he used chalk to mark the silo in 30-in. squares and started painting. "I use latex paint which lasts for about five or six years. I've painted the silo twice since I moved in," says Gumieny. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, David A. Gumieny, W6032 Badger Rd., Elkhart Lake, Wis. 53020 (ph 414 876-2690).

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