Metal that fell through C'ville roof came from landscaping machinery

The first surprise Saturday was that a piece of metal that fell through the roof of a Carpentersville house Friday was not from an airplane but a grinding bit that flew off a machine at a nearby landscaping business.

The next surprise was that the matter is apparently being resolved without lawyers.

Dane Willman, the owner of the house on the 200 block of Orleans Street, initially suspected the metal piece to have fallen from a passing aircraft.

Willman found the 4-by-3-inch part on the floor of his bathroom beneath a hole in the ceiling. He discovered it had pierced every floor of his house up to the roof.

Carpentersville Police Cmdr. Tim Bosshart said the piece actually came from a piece of machinery that grinds asphalt and spins at 2,200 rpm.

Friday afternoon, about 400 feet away from Willman's house, workers from Illinois Wood Fiber Products, at 99 Day Lane, were using the tub grinder to turn logs into playground mulch.

"For the very first time in 16 years, a tooth came loose and flew in the opposite direction of where the tub was facing," company owner Steven Johansen said.

It's rare enough for such bits to come off at all, but when they, do they almost always land in the tub itself or no more than 20 feet away, he added.

Johansen speculated the bit must have ricocheted off a log in the grinder and flew rapidly in the other direction. Because it was already the end of the day and the bits are usually not hard to find, the search for it was put off until the next day, Johansen said.

It appeared Saturday the homeowner and Johansen were settling the matter amicably between themselves.

Johansen said he's already met with and apologized to Willman, whom he already knew casually from the neighborhood, and agreed to make all the repairs necessary to his home.

"This has just never happened before," Johansen said. "It's such a fluke. But we take ownership and responsibility for it, and we'll do the right thing."

Johansen admitted such situations aren't always resolved as amicably as has been the case with he and Willman.

"I'm just happy and proud that he's the kind of person he is and that I'm the kind of person I am," Johansen said.

As unusual a circumstance as it was, Johansen said a recurrence would be physically impossible if the contents of the tub were more dense than on the day of the accident. From now on, the company will put previously processed material in the tub to keep loosened bits from flying away.

Tony Molinaro, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration's Great Lakes Region, said the FAA was initially contacted about identifying the part but concurred with the Carpentersville police's findings.

Drillbit: Metal piece flew off machine from nearby landscaping business