old silo with no roof - what to use it for?

[cathleenc]

we're becoming the owners of an old farmstead in wisconsin in a couple of weeks. On it is an old ceramic tile silo, dating to turn of the century, with no roof. It looks to be in good condition with the exception of a few tiles where the mortar has come loose in places and freeze/thaw expansion has started to move the tile.

What could we use this silo for? Looks quite neat!

Should we re-roof it?

looking for ideas. thanks!
Cathy

[Big Dave]

Put your home on top of it. Seen it done on a river and it had a lift to pull his boat up out of the water. House was in the shape of the star of David. He said it made the floor stronger.

[ericjeeper]

The best and safest thing we have found to use it for.. Is when we have someone coming to the farm and they have never been here before.
We say,"when you go past the silo standing by itself to will turn left at the next road."
So it is very useful as a marker. .
I have no clue if yours would work for such or not.. But please do not let kids play in or on.. if your mortar is loose.

[OkieDavid]

1. Run hot/cold water to it and call it the worlds largest outdoor shower.
2. Rapelling/belay practice tower.
3. Stick a telescope in it and call it your observatory.
4. Run a ladder to the top and call it a deer stand.


Ok, so it's early in the morning ......I would re-roof it and then examine the possibilities.

[blufford]

Depending how tall it maybe use it to support a windmill or solar panels. Put a roof on it and use the inside (or dig a basement for it) to store your batteries. Also radio or TV antenas.

[hillsidedigger]

In Wisconsin you could run water from a hose down the shaded sides of it and create an ice-climbing wall in the coldest months. I saw a report where someone had done that in Iowa as I recall.

[JJ Grandits]

A really deep swimming pool.

[Highground]

One big water storage tank.

[DaleK]

Paint it, use it as a sign, whatever. There's one here along the highway painted as a jar of salsa to advertise a place that makes... well, salsa.

Don't put a roof on it or try to use it for anything more than that until you've had an engineer or silo company check to see if it's in any way safe.

[cindyc]

Somebody on another post mentioned a makeshift barn (if it has an opening at the bottom) for small animals... just put some kind of roof in it somewhere. Or leave it as shelter for cold weather veggies. They also said pull it down and recycle the old blocks?

That what was suggested to me about the silo. Haven't tried any of it tho-

Cindyc.

[Cash]

First call in an engineer to make sure it's structurally sound. Then find out how it affects your property tax bill. If you don't plan to use it for its original purpose and it's structurally questionable, it could be to your advantage to tear it down. I've never seen a ceramic tile silo, so I can't comment on the recycling potential. Here in Maine the really old silos are wood, and the long, knot-free, often old-growth boards used in their construction sometimes have considerable value.

If you think it's worth keeping, silos have been converted into really unique homes or multi-floor poultry houses (perhaps with a pigeon loft on the top floor?). You could demolish all but the lower 10-16 feet, roof it over, and convert it into a small barn.

[Pigeon Lady]

If it's structurally sound I think it would be nice to put a turret roof on it and make it into a dove cote/pigeon cote like the one in the drawing at the top of this page:

http://www.pigeoncote.com/dovecote/dovecote.html

I'd love to build a real old looking stone dovecote.

Pauline

[Wisconsin Ann]

You could run a spiral stair up it, making small rooms as you go up. Just adding a floor every 8 feet. might be a good place for storage of "stuff".

A room on the top would be awesome. just floor or rather "flat top roof" it, add a stair up to the top, cover the top with, hmmm....maybe a geodome sort of thing. What a place to "get away"

Other than that....they're usually dry and cool, so if you can put metal garbage pails, or old refrigerators or freezers in there, would make good dry storage. (need a "silo cover" tho to keep out the rain.

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by Highground

One big water storage tank.

Hm, I wonder how water pressure would compare to silage pressure? Might blow out the walls and have one heck of a mess to clean up.

[Windy in Kansas]

I have always wanted to convert a structurally sound one into a home. The top floor would be an observatory for star gazing and using a telescope. The top covering panels would swing out of the way just as an observatory does.

The glazed tile ones of dark brown are really quite pretty. The dull red unglazed tiles---well I've had a house of them and wasn't fond of the construction.

If I owned a standard concrete silo with round top covering I would add side "wings" and a "tail" to it and paint it and the round top to make it appear as the space shuttle setting on its tail awaiting take off.

Lets talk water tower---now that would be an ideal home. Cut into the sides for adding round windows and WOW, what a panoramic view one would have.

Until the Greensburg, Kansas tornado struck this spring I never knew of one to ever receive storm damage. The one in Greensburg was totally destroyed and leveled.

[cathleenc]

what a fun thread! thank you so much for your attention and creativity - such fun to have your dreams and input.

It IS the pretty brown/mustard colored glazed tiles. The adjacent former swine barn has the same tiles at the bottom, too. I like them.

thanks! would never have dreamed of a pigeon cote, for example. My husband was all over the second living space idea... but it seems too narrow for practical use.

Cathy

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by cathleenc

My husband was all over the second living space idea... but it seems too narrow for practical use.

Round objects can have deceiving square footage in my opinion. Do you happen to know the diameter?

If you folks are comfortable working at heights you might consider taking part of the silo down from the top, one course at a tme. IF and ONLY IF the structure would not be compromised to do so. A curved platform that could be continually moved around the perimeter on the inside is what I think would work.

Use the blocks that have been removed for porches, bump outs, room additions, etc.

I sure like the color of blocks you describe.

[primal1]

If it's sound enough I would turn it into a guest cottage or an office with a nice view

[cathleenc]

Originally Posted by primal1

If it's sound enough I would turn it into a guest cottage or an office with a nice view

we're kinda over the top on that sort of space right now, believe it or not. The swine barn was turned into a finished-out antique shop with a circular stairway to a 2/3rd upper loft - absolutely adorable. Planning on using it for a guest house or maybe even a bread and breakfast type of thing. Hunters cabin. Something that only needs to have outsiders on the property sometimes. I positively start to panic at the thought of a third building that needs 'clean' type tending as I am not inclined to keep things very clean to begin with (clean yes, tidy no).

An uber cool duck house or geese or turkey house sounds more my speed. We getting 8 midget-white turkey poults next month, one of the breeds in much danger according to the livestock conservation group. A grand house for them to thrive in sounds pretty neat. They can actually fly! And breed. Like birds should be able to do.

again,
thanks!

[KCM]

Incinerator?