About Pukall Lumber Co.
Serving the Building Supply Needs of Northern Wisconsin Since 1937
Pukall Lumber Company is a family-owned and -operated wood products manufacturer
located in Arbor Vitae. The sawmill was founded by Fred Pukall in 1937. Since
that time, Pukall Lumber has grown steadily and is now the largest pine
lumber mill in the state and one of the premier lumber and building supply
businesses in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.
We saw primarily red and white pine logs into dimension lumber for the construction industry, as well as some hardwoods such as ash, maple, red oak, birch and elm. In addition to lumber, Pukall’s manufactures solid wood flooring and paneling, as well as log home packages under the "Woods of Woodruff" trade name. We also make wood sidings and moldings.
Our logs are sourced mainly from northern Wisconsin’s extensive private, state and federal forests, from woodlands that are marked for selective harvesting and timber stand improvement. This means we are able to practice complete quality control, from the selection of the logs to planing of the lumber to manufacture of specialty items.
Our sawmill turns out around 12 million board feet of lumber annually. About 30% of our lumber is sold locally through our retail operations, with the rest going to wholesale customers, mainly in the Great Lakes region but often as far afield as Texas.
On the retail side of the operations, Pukall Lumber caters mainly to the Lakeland area’s professional building contractors. The emphasis is on quality, service and finding the right product for custom jobs. Our building supply yard offers a broad range of products including windows, interior and exterior doors, garage doors, cabinetry, countertops, decorative moldings, power tools, roofing, siding, insulation, decking, exterior paints and stains, hand tools and hardware.
Pukall Lumber is one of the largest employers in the area, providing about 80 jobs between the sawmill, the two retail stores and the shipping department.
Environmental Statement
Wood Products - Nature's Renewable Resource
Wood products have so many cost and construction advantages over other building materials that it’s easy to forget what an environmental asset it is to use wood. We sometimes forget that wood is naturally reusable, recyclable and biodegradable. It is also the best insulator of all structural building materials: a home built with wood requires less energy to heat and cool, thus conserving finite fossil fuels and coal. It also takes far less energy to transform trees into wood products than it does to manufacture steel, aluminum, masonry or plastic products with less pollution of the air and water, too.
Wood is a renewable resource. In fact, more trees are grown each year in the U.S. than are harvested or lost to disease, insects and fire. One third of America is covered with trees today, more than 70 years ago. In Wisconsin, forest land increased 4% between 1983 and 1996, and now covers 46% of the total land area of the state. A growing forest removes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, while giving off life-sustaining oxygen. But forests that aren't managed and selectively harvested fall prey to insects, disease and forest fire.
As world populations increase, the demand for wood and wood products continues to increase. To meet this growing demand, sustainable forest management in Wisconsin forests has the potential to take some of the pressure off more at-risk forests in other areas. Forest products sustainable produced in Wisconsin are a good substitute for products made from wood harvested in tropical or boreal forests, where sustainable harvest is more difficult to maintain.
Serving the Building Needs of Northern Wisconsin Since 1937