![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fst-sw-2022-01-time-off-michael-mueller.jpg\")
<\/figure>In Germany, Michael M\u00fcller initially worked in Automotive Sales at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST). Later, in Reichelsheim, he worked on sealing technology at Fluid Power Automotive, mainly on applications for transmissions, air-conditioning, steering and shock absorbers. Today, as marketing manager, Fluid Power Automotive, he now works for Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies (FNST) in Findlay, Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the pandemic, M\u00fcller has been working two days a week in his home office in the university town of Bowling Green, a halfhour drive north of Findlay. When he looks out the window, he sees a true jewel that he designed himself and built with his own hands: a garden pavilion, also known as a gazebo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Image: Michael and Crystal M\u00fcller are pleased with their DIY-brand wooden pavilion.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A gazebo made of packing materials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The homemade structure has a number of peculiarities. Though located in Ohio, the gazebo consists almost exclusively of wood from the forests of southwest Germany. This building material in turn originally served as the overseas packaging for a Wickert press shipped from Germany. The press went into operation in Findlay in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I saw the wood lying behind the plant, I thought it was a shame to throw it away or burn it. So I asked whether I could take it home with me,\u201d M\u00fcller recalled. He spent a few lunch breaks performing surgery on the beams and boards so they would fit in the trunk of his car. Once he brought it home, the materials \u2013 then freed of more than 1,000 nails \u2013 was first stored in his garage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI actually wanted to construct a wooden workbench or shelves for my workshop. But my wife had a better idea,\u201d he said. She had really liked a gazebo that she had seen in a park, and she wanted one like it for their backyard.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sw.fst.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/30_37_gazebo05_4c.jpg\")
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M\u00fcller was quickly persuaded. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and produced sketches of a pavilion with an eight-cornered floorplan. In August, he went to work on the structure after acquiring the 120-volt tools, ranging from various saws to a plane, that he needed. \u201cWhen you construct a large octagon, you become a devotee of precision. Exact work is the end-all and be-all,\u201d he said, describing the role of a true craftsman. He then added: \u201cThe gazebo is really massive. It withstands the wind, which blows hard from time to time here.\u201d He is especially proud of the intricate, eight-sided roof construction, supported by sixteen rafters that sit precisely at an angle of 22.5\u00b0 from one another. And why are the eight rafters in the corners fulllength and why are each of the eight middle rafters shorter? \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have had enough wood otherwise,\u201d M\u00fcller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The homemade structure, now painted totally white, has become a topic of conversation in the neighborhood. \u201cOur neighbors from China have already offered to dedicate the gazebo with us over a cup of tea after its planned completion in October,\u201d M\u00fcller reported at the end of September. Assuming the weather is good this fall, six to eight persons can be accommodated comfortably there. The response to his handiwork was also positive at the Oktoberfest in Findlay. The pandemic has long made it difficult to get together with locals and deepen social contacts in his new community. But the gazebo is now practically a catalyst for these conversations \u2013 and yet another reason to sustainably recycle valuable materials \u2026<\/p>\n