Re-purposing Grain Bins!! Another upcoming homesteading adventure/project!
If you have ever traveled through the upper midwest (and it is probably true in many other rural parts of the country), then you've probably seen old grain bins scattered across the countryside, many of them relics left over from the days of the small family farm. As farms grow in acreage and size, so have the grain bins. This has left many of the smaller grain bins unused and unneeded.
So, could these old grain bins be re-purposed? We think so :)
As we work to revitalize our dilapidated old farmstead, we have formulated many different ideas. We keep feeding a myriad of dreams we have for this place. Some, we've axed before implementing. Others are on the back burner until we complete the house. Most, well, they just get adjusted a bit...
Take for example, our silo. One of our past ideas involved building a guest-house in our old silo. It's a perfectly solid and straight structure. It could be five 200sqft levels of un-square guest house awesomeness! As we've examined certain details of that endeavor, like how to add a proper door or egress windows, the task proved to hold more than we were ready to take on right now (currently, we are entertaining the idea of indoor climbing wall, although I am sure there are plenty of other ways to spin it!).
Enter, our future grain bins.. This Saturday, we begin dismantling three grain bins off-site, so that we can transport them to our farmstead. Image, 400 sqft (200 sqft/level times two levels) of inexpensive interior space, per bin. Tiny house meets the farm! Discrete, off-grid, low maintenance, self-sustaining structures. How about having a place available for someone to stay in hard times or times of transition in their life? Maybe it'd be nice to have a place for distance family, friends, or fellow Steamians, to stay when in the area.. Now imagine adding a couple of grain bins to an existing farmstead. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Completely discrete and not out of place at all!
What would you do with a grain bin on your property? Have any out-of-the-box silo ideas?
-Jeremy
Blog: http://mnhomesteader.com/blog/
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I would totally live in one. I'm in county. I think that itd be cool to use one as an outhouse or recording studio. Question I have is how hard would it be to add the windows and doors. Do you need a welder? Also, how do the hold up to tornados?
I've been asked about the windows and doors a lot. It is not that difficult, actually, almost no different than a traditional steel building (like what most sheds and garages are now made of). Just requires an angle grinder with a cutting wheel or an electric shear (~$50USD for either tool). From there you can use the same flashing/trim as a steel building or get creative with some old barn wood or other recycled materials. No welder required. As far as handling a tornado, I could see if you set the bin correctly, that it could possibly be safer in heavy winds than a traditional square building. Then again, I have seen solid brick buildings toppled from a tornado, so I guess it is all a big, "it depends". Probably, the best bet there would be to build forms for a small crawlspace/storm shelter before pouring the concrete pad.
Awesome! I thought they were much thicker than the barn or garage steel. That sounds a lot less intimidating than welding. Lol
True, the panels are a little thicker, but you can cut through it easily enough. Another note (which you probably already know), with these bins as least, they have thinner panels on the top and they get thicker as you get closer to the bottom of the bin.
Great idea to restructure grain bins and silos as guest homes. Round buildings are beautiful interior spaces to live in, especially when they are as unique as these.
Surely there is someone out there who would love to help create these guest homes in trade for a proper place to stay on their travels and some meals during the build!
Thank you! We are pretty stoked to have the bins on our property now, even if they sit in storage for a year.
That could very well be an option! We are looking forward to getting them done and meeting people from many backgrounds during and after the build next summer.
That's a great first step! Having the materials you need is a huge step forward in the overall process of building and creating a new space to enjoy.
Hopefully through continued engagement with the Steemit Hospitality Engagement Program will help manifest the #shep-heard help you need!
It would be cool to re-purpose them as guest quarters. Unfortunately, zoning will not let us do that here. :((
Sorry to hear about your local restrictions! Thankfully, we don't have any building codes in our county (yet). And if anyone asks, they are just grain bins (that may happen to have a door and windows facing the south). I might even store a few bags of feed in there. If someone we know happens to, say, fall asleep in one of our grain bins, I can't see how that would be much different from them napping in our garage or hayloft :D Who am I to prevent a friend from catching a little rest!
Well now That is an interesting way of repurposing the grain bins! My husband still has use for some of their smaller bins, and we plan on using one for our own consumption storage.
Does your husband grain farm? If we are successful at taking down all three, the third will be turned into a sauna and changing room. I miss the sauna from my childhood. They would also make a good rodent free place for food storage. Now you got me thinking... I wonder if you could insulate it and do the whole freezing 5 gallon buckets of water through the winter thing, and set them in there once frozen, making it a year round off-the-grid cold storage....
Yes he does! We use his wheat to make our own flour. What a difference! Plus, if we can get a coop built this year, he’d save some sunflowers for them, too. Wow, that sounds ambitious and very creative! The possibilities sound endless. Doesn’t hurt to give the cold storage thing a try?