Mike – The (House) Numbers Guy

February 8, 2025

702

He was an auto mechanic by profession and ran his own successful business in New Brunswick for 45 years. But Mike Roth’s real love is working with wood, and he accomplishes that with perfection, creativity and a sheer desire to make others happy. Numbers Guy

The Highlands resident not only builds everything from miniature sea creatures for decorative purposes to massive full-length bookcases and mantelpieces, but he does it all with recycled wood he gets wherever it’s available. That includes pallets from shipping containers to picket fences damaged in storms and put out to trash.

Roth and his wife, Mary Anne, moved to Highlands before Superstorm Sandy when they fell in love with a little house across from the Highlands Marina. But with his mind bent on perfection and his energy and diligence, willing and able, Mike took the house apart, saving what he could from windows to shingles, and rebuilt a two-story home on the site, grateful for the driveway and garage as well.

He also decided the house would be more enhanced by being higher, so he raised the house, affording a full basement underneath and a better view of the marina and the Shrewsbury River to the east.

Six weeks after moving into the finished home, Hurricane Sandy hit and the Roths were owners of one of the very few houses in the Waterwitch section of the borough that survived the eight feet of water that created so many problems for so many residents.

Mike’s wife always loved the location, the marina and the sea area in which they lived, and it was her idea to have their house number posted on one of Mike’s wood cuttings, a lobster.

They called their home their Cottage by the Sea and she also thought how nice it would be if Mike could make a variety of street number signs for all the neighbors, keeping the nautical theme.

After Mary Anne passed away a week before Christmas two years ago, Mike kept thinking of his wife’s idea and decided to make and present the themed décor for his neighbors, in her memory. He also made other small nautical themed wooden species for décor, all of which can be seen traveling through the Waterwitch area.

At the same time, the mechanic turned woodworker continued to respond to requests for larger and more intricate types of design.

When someone commissioned him to make bookcases, he did it.

When a local shopkeeper wanted to cover up the electrical panel on the wall of the shop, he boxed it in, then took a pair of old shutters and converted them, hardware and all, into attractive covers.

When his daughter wanted her bookcases to include a wine rack, he designed something unique so it wouldn’t all look the same. He went everywhere, picking up scrap wood put out for trash, getting those pallets from local stores after deliveries were made, and hauling it all home to scrub, clean, sand, split apart, stain, and become that new bookcase or kitchen cabinet, or decorative house address number.

It’s Mike’s dedication to perfection that makes his work so much in demand. With no formal education in woodworking, electrical, plumbing or construction work, Mike traces his ability to learn back to his childhood when as a youngster growing up in Robbinsville, he worked along his dad on the farm, making repairs and in general doing everything “because it had to be done, so you learned how to do it. It’s that simple.”

He isn’t sure where his passion for wood came about, or why, but he recalls he’s always had an affinity for trees and what they represent about life, living, and natural beauty.

Being able to take solid pieces of wood that have already had life as parts of trees, then as pieces of furniture, items of interest or houses and give them yet another life of bringing beauty gives Mike a feeling of contentment and achievement.

Some of Mike’s challenges have been unique, all of them have been fun, he said. There was the New York designer who wanted a floating entertainment center. He was able to build that, then, because there were so many electrical wires needed with it, he designed a false back so they could remain hidden. Then he attached it with magnets so it would be easy to access them whenever necessary.

He used roof rafters to create a magnificent tabletop, windows from old doors to create attractive transoms, the list goes on.

Mike also works with tile and has done several bath showers complete with rain showers as well as the standard side and spa showers; he converted a Jacuzzi into a soaker tub complete with tv for a client in need of a relaxation spot, and he is proud of the palette wood he was able to secure from Fort Hancock that was being tossed out and he salvaged as a reminder of its service during World War II.

Much of the wood holds memories for local residents, since it comes from places including the former Clam Hut on Atlantic Street, or other businesses in town. He has taken pieces of all sizes and designed everything from drink coasters to mantle pieces.

He designs his address number artwork in all sizes, in shapes of nautical life from turtles and horseshoe crabs to seahorses and scallop shells.

There was a recent request where the purchaser wanted a gift in a nautical theme that would memorialize a number of events in the life of the recipient.

Mike listened to the story, then designed an enlarged street number sign to be posted in the front yard of the home. The Sea Horse was requested since the recipient was a Navy diver, the school of fish to recall her years of teaching, a piece of Jersey sea glass to represent her home state, an anchor and Navy emblem nestled in the coral signifying years in the Navy and even a piece of coral resembling a cloud in the sky, representing the recipient’s son who is a helicopter pilot for the Navy.

The coral from Hawaii represents where the couple met, and a clown fish sitting on anemone to represent the importance of interaction and friendship and cooperation among all. And the entire artwork was then created out of wood from around Highlands, where the recipient grew up and learned her love for the sea.

Prices for Mike’s artistry vary by size, intricacy, and the amount of time it takes to create each piece. They start at around $125, and since they are created from salvaged wood, each is distinctly individual and cannot be duplicated.

Anyone interested in having this artist in wood and master in tile create something special, be it a wall of bookcases, a miniature address sign or something in between can contact Mike at 609-638-6673.