converting an old silo to a drying kiln??

[LKasdorf]

I am considering buying a farm that has a nice old barn and a tall concrete silo.

I've been trying to think of what coudl be done with the silo, seeing as I have a sawmill. Seems to me that maybe I could build drying racks to store wood vertically and have convection drying.

Here are pics of the barn and silo:

http://www.lkasdorf.com/houses/john_wolford/barn.htm

Anybody done anything like this with a silo before? Or anythinguseful at all for that matter (an observatory comes to mind...)

[beenthere]

That place looks like a dream come true. Good solid looking barn and place in mow for stickering and stacking and drying lumber too.  I've seen old pictures of standing lumber on end to dry, but would think it would be tough to arrange getting it in and out of a round silo, and once in, would run out of room to stand much up. Are you thinking of adding a door (couldn't tell if it is concrete silo block or poured concrete).  I would give consideration, if mine, to tearing it down unless it is to be kept for aesthetics.

The only downside to that barn is the apparent pigeon problem. And control is a bit of a problem unless all the holes can be covered over.

Really looks like a place that a small sawmill could fit into real nicely, though. Keep us posted.

[Buzz-sawyer]

I saw a guy build a really interesting HOME in a silo..elevator right up through the middle and obviously he had 5 floors

[Norm]

We've got one on our place and have never figured out what to do with it so I'm not any help. Neat place thou. I sure like the barn.

[DanG]

Great looking place, Lynn! 8)  I hope it works out for you. Spring must have already sprung, there, with all that white clover blooming everywhere. :D
I have a squatty little silo on my place, and I use it to store my empty beer cans. It's about full now, so I'll have to make a run to the recycle place and cash in. ;D
Since you run a Mobile Dimension mill, you might want to consider "storing" your sawdust in there. When you get it full, you could just move. ;D :D
I don't mean to sound flippant, but I just don't see the silo as a practical place to dry lumber. You would have convection alright, but the heat would all be at the top, and the moisture would settle back to the bottom, where the boards are. It really would make a great sawdust bin, though, if you have the augers they used to fill it with. You could let it build up till you had enough for a semi-load, then auger it out. You might get a  good price for it, considering the volume you could deliver at one time.

[shopteacher]

Careful Lynn, some of those silos still have missles in them.  Make sure its not loaded before you start jamming wood in there. :D

[rebocardo]

A field stone barn and it looks like a poured cement silo. Probably at least six inch walls. Nice! A door, forklift, pallets, and racks, I think you could built a kiln easily.

FWIW: Never store sawdust in silos unless you know what you are doing. I have heard of them blowing up like a 1000 pound bomb.

[DanG]

Good point, Rebo!  I thought about the combustion potential today, after posting that last night.  Of course, that would solve the problem of what to do with the silo. ;D :

[Den Socling]

If you blow wet dust into a silo, combustion probably won't be your main problem. The main problem is getting it out. I've worked with several silos and unloading systems and they all can be a pain. The dust on the bottom can pack together until it's like particle board. It won't fall into an auger.

I once had a Belgium system. They thought that it would be smart to scrape it off the top and auger down the center. That worked until we overfilled the silo and rammed the paddles into the roof. Then we had to work on top of a 100' column of sawdust (in the summer, of course) with a 100' hole down the center. It was not fun. Sure glad those days are behind me.  

[rebocardo]

Ever see the Max. Exposure video of someone trying to take down a silo and it falls right on the dozer? Good thing they come with cages.

[LKasdorf]

Actually, I'd love to see that video. Your post made me search for the maximum exposure site- very interesting stuff. I looked at most of the clips, but I guess it didn't make the "greatest hits". If you know where this one can be viewed, please let me know.

Thanks-
Lynn Kasdorf

[beenthere]

Picture a guy on a crawler with blade, chipping away at the lower silo blocks, and pushing them inward. Then suddenly (I suspect) realizing that he had just made a big "notch" on the side that the silo would likely fall due to no support. Upon that realization, he puts the crawler in reverse and went straight back at max crawler speed. But not fast enough, as the top of the falling, crashing silo layed silo block all over the canopy of the crawler. All on video. Not hurt, but a bit of dust!
Another video is of someone using dynamite under the silo on the barn-side, apparently thinking that the dynamite would raise that side of the silo and it would tip over, away from the barn.  Hel-l-ooo - the dynamite blew a big hole, blowing away all the support on the barn side, and the silo layed over against the barn like the leaning tower of Piza.  
 ;D   Caught on tape.

[Norm]

We have the kind that's clay tiles layed up with steel bands. I would like to take it down but don't have the nerve to use the excavator. Anyone have any ideas how to do it?

[Furby]

The crawler and silo originally appeared on America's Funniest Home Videos. I think it was in one of the first three seasons (a long time ago).
The story was that they had knocked out every other block in a row on one side of the silo, ran a chain around those blocks still there, then back through the center of the silo and out a small hole on the other side. They then hooked the chain to the crawler and pulled. After several tries and removing many blocks this way, the silo was still standing. Thinking they could just push it over, they drove into it. As the driver backed away, the silo followed. There was no mesh on top of the crawler if I remember correctly. There was however, a small tree growing up through the center ot the silo that came down on the cage and saved the driver.
Unfortunately I don't know where you can find that video. :-/

Norm, I could give you a few ideas, but none are tried and true. :-/ I think it may be a bit dangerous! ;D

[rebocardo]

Furby, that is the one!

re: taking one down

Crane with ball and chain would make short work of it.

[Furby]

Hey.......I didn't think of that one. But that would cost $$ and you wouldn't have the fun of running for your life.  ;D ;D ;D

[pigman]

Norm_F,  I know how you can take that silo down real fast.  8)Take a bunch of dinomite and put it in the silo and set it off with a short fuse. The excitement comes with trying to out run the flying rocks. ;)
Bob the demolition expert

[ScottAR]

Actually, explosives wouldn't be bad...  If one had a local army or national guard base around that had combat engineers.  Offer it as a training excercise.  

My other idea is make a stinger for the excavator out of an I-beam with a flat plate on the end.  20feet or so plus the boom reach?  Go at it kinda high so one is not dealing with all the mass at once...  Hmmm, there may be some problems with that last part I'm not seeing... any comments?

[Furby]

Uhhhhhhhh, guys?  I think he may be trying to save the barn.  :
That may mean being a little bit more gentle then say, oh I don't know, ummm, "EXPLOSIVES"!!!!  ;D The explosives would be just fine, in the "right" hands, but I'd try the stinger or something like it first.

Of course you could blow in a bunch of dry sawdust and do a little bit of "experimenting".  : ;) ;) ;D

[Norm]

It's too close to the house and sawshed for explosives although I could do the side away from it. My concern is if I don't get it to fall with the first blast I'm screwed. I like the idea of a stinger on the end of the arm and starting up high. But the cost to fab it up would be kind of high. Even in high speed ole link don't back up very fast so I'm kind of nervous about using just the arm to try up high with it.

Still like the idea of blasting... if I could just remember where I put that C4 at. ;D

[Bill_B]

Norm
In the 60's my brother and I took down a cement block silo with 2 10 pound mauls. You start at the point you want it to fall. One man goes in one way and the other man in the other direction. You knock out each block in the row.  We were 3/4 of the way around befor it fell.
At the home farm we had a poured concrete silo taken down by an expert blaster. That silo was 3 feet from the barn. No damage.

[Norm]

Your a braver man than me Bill. Did you have any warning when it was getting ready to fall? I'd like to hear the story about how he did the poured concrete one.

[Bill_B]

Norm It wasn't being so brave. It was younger and dumber.
On the concrete silo  he laid det cord around the bottom about 2/3 of the way. Then I think that he used half stickes of dynomite and covered with crushed lime- like fine sand. This was to create a shaped charge. When it went off  it tipped right over . The man who did this used to do a lot of blasting.

[Bill_B]

I forgot your other question. No there was no warning. One swing it was standing the next it was falling.
That is the way most block is.
At work I have removed some brick and block walls . They are almost the same. You remove over half before it will fall.

[Plowboy]

A couple of years ago Dad helped take another one down by using a maul.  They got it down alright, nobody got hurt anyway.