We are turning a formerly working farm into our new residence, and while I have no problem finding uses for most of the outbuildings, I can’t think of a good use for my silo.
One neighbor I talked to mentioned that his son created a deck on top his silo. At 60′ in the air, the views are pretty impressive.
Anyway, I am wondering if anybody out there has experience or has seen a silo used in a residential application?
Thanks!
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Replies
In Ohio, we hit golfballs at them.
wind tunnel for parachutist?
james
What's it made of? What's the inside diameter.
FHB featured a silo some years ago, coopered staves fastened with big screws and hoops. It was only two stories high, so not nearly as dramatic as yours.
We used to drive past one near Townsend, MT, on the highway between Bozeman and Helena. It was made of red clay tile. Not very tall, probably less than 30'. I used to think about making it into a house. Run the stairs along the wall. Bedroom at the top, kitchen at the bottom, living room and other rooms in between.
There used to be a disused grain elevator in Denver, six big attached siloes, on the order of 50' diameter by 120' height, with an attached rectilinear building. All in concrete. I thought it would make a nifty condominium project. They tore it down a few years ago for a highway project.
Made of concrete, and probably about 20' in diameter.
20x60?
There's yer guest house fun project sittin' there starin' ya in the face.
Always wanted to do a silo.
Bob has good idea--guest house. Or if any of you are budding or wannabe artists or writers, would be a great loft or studio. If any kids are in transition for leaving for college or whatever, could be their new bedroom. Or "mother-in-law" apartment (except most older people aren't going to want to climb 60' to their bedroom).
This is a silo, yes? Not a cement block corn crib? That would have innumerable open "slits" in it. Some guys turned one of those into living quarters real close to here about twenty years ago. They cut kajillions of pieces of plexi to fill the the openings. Lots of natural daylight that way.
A word of warning.........you might want to check into getting a permit before you get too far down the trail of converting to living quarters. Some of these types of conversions to living space have failed to pass muster in some locales around the country because there's nothing in the codes to cover it and they were denied a variance. Unfortunately, some of those denials ocurrred after much labor and materials had been invested.
Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Light house...
See what you can get to sail in or land..
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Pocket rocket wall of death. Skateboard park. Spiral stair form. Laundry chute. Good place to hide your missile.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Targets..
Most everything gets thrown at them during tornadoes...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
You into star gazing? How about a amature observatory?
There are a couple of things I've seen in farm magazines.
One guy converted his into a climbing wall. I think then they rented the place out, or charged others to use it, or something like that. I think theirs had a roof on it, and the climbing blocks (or whatever ya call 'em) were attached inside, so they could use it in most weather.
The other one I remember was someone in a very cold climate. They set up a water spray on one side of the silo to keep water running down it. The water oviously froze, and they ended up with a huge ice climbing surface.
If you end up building a deck on the top, I'll be Stan Foster will build you a heck of a set of curved steps to get up there. (-:
White people ought to understand, their job is to give people the blues, not to get them. [George Carlin, You Are All Diseased]
A fair number of the larger ones have been converted into homes. I even heard of one case of large grain elevator silos being converted into apartments.
There is at least one apartment complex in Minneapolis built out of converted commercial grain elevators. A friend of mine lived in one some years ago, it was very nice. The concrete walls are several feet thick so the apartments are very quiet, I remember they had a heck of a time cutting in windows when they renovated the structure.
I know of one farm silo just outside of Rochester, MN that was converted into living quarters. It was pretty neat (I haven't seen it for probably 15 or 20 years, I assume it's still there and in use.) It's the kind of silo that's built out of concrete staves and held together with large band clamps around the outside. It has five or six floors in it if I recall correctly, with a spiral staircase going all the way to the top. Each floor is a single room; the kitchen on floor, the living room on another, etc. so there was a lot of climbing stairs involved. On the top level there's like an observation deck, with windows all round the perimeter. It was owner built, on a farm out in the country, so I have no idea if it conformed to any building codes...
There is at least one apartment complex in Minneapolis built out of converted commercial grain elevators. A friend of mine lived in one some years ago, it was very nice. The concrete walls are several feet thick so the apartments are very quiet, I remember they had a heck of a time cutting in windows when they renovated the structure.
That was a cluster. We stayed there on a business trip, very nice. Several units were kept as guest quarters for the benefit of the residents. Great to see utilization of something obsolete, but with great potential. Not an inexpensive project.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Home based business. You could subcontract to Homeland Security.
One of these might just fit.
You don't have time to work on the silo, you're wife is going to keep you busy working on the house. ;)
If he works on the silo then he'll need it. Wife won't let him sleep in the house.
Billboard space for a Viagra ad !
Greg
too funny!
In the book "How Buildings Learn" there are a couple of pics of what was once "the monumental grain silos...of the Quaker Oats Company" in Akron, OH and is now (1990) the Quaker Hilton.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.