Entering one of the three grain elevators that stand like giants over Kenaston, Sask., is like walking into a museum.

Old-growth wood houses machinery from another era and rickety lifts with a dusty rope lead to the top of the 30-metre-tall tower.

Rural landmarks like this one are on track to be nearly wiped from Saskatchewan’s map. They fall into disrepair — and subsequently fall victim to fire — or become more expensive to maintain than they’re worth, leading owners to topple them.

But Alvin Herman looks at each weathered board as having potential beyond the landfill.

“I just found myself allergic to demolition and burning and polluting the environment,” the 75-year-old retired farmer and self-proclaimed workaholic said.

His first project was dismantling a 111-year-old elevator he owned himself in Milden, Sask., a village about 90 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon.

Herman said the elevator was “past its best-before-date” and had become a liability to the town and his kids, for its potential safety issues and as a breeding ground for pests.

But Herman, 75, wasn’t willing to give up the thousands of feet of lumber that made up the elevator.

That idea ballooned into ABMT Wood Solutions: a team on a mission to deconstruct grain elevators and repurpose their wood into construction materials and affordable housing.

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