How to waterproof the grain bin?

[BJ]

Our farm has an old grain bin that we would like to use for storage. It is on a concrete slab. Whatever was used to seal the metal to the concrete many years ago is long gone and now rain runs under the metal and across the floor. One old farmer told us to seal it with tar. Tar??? We can't find any. We've tried to use the expanding foam type of sealant...it doesn't last. The tubes of caulking aren't a wide enough band of sealant. Surely farmers who actually store grain must occasionally reseal these bins. What do they use...or what can we use to refurbish and seal this grain bin so that it can be useful to us?

[tooltime]

Try looking for "grain bin sealant" or "hot rubber sealant" or "coal-tar enamel" We don't have any trouble getting tar around here to help seal some leaks on the bottom of bins.

You might want to check to see if the concrete pad the bin is sitting on is still in good shape. If they didn't pour the slab thick enough where the bottom ring of the bin sits, you may have some cracks and heaving in the concrete, and that's a tougher fix. You might also want to think about what shape the panels on the bottom ring of the bin are in. If they are too "rolled up" might be better to replace them rather than trying to fix exclusively by tarring. The other advantage of replacing the bottom ring is that you could probably use the newer adhesive tape that forms a real tight seal between the ring flange and the concrete. Just my two cents, we have some bins that we're tarring most every year.

[silosounds]

We also use tar we find it a lowes, home depot its sold in 1 gal. or 5gal. buckets we use an old trowl and old fabric glove we smeer it around the edge on the out side so the grain doesnt stick to it this leaves a black band around the bottom of the bin and then we buy silver trailer house coating ( its used for the roofs)
and go over it it blends nice and looks pretty good and it has lasted us 5 yrs so far. Weve even sealed the hole grain bin including the roof by just painting the silver roofing for trailers on it . this really makes them shine just like their new.
It cost us about 50.00 bucks for the hole grain bin.
Terry

[BJ]

Well as a matter of fact the bottom ring is not all that great. It looks like that would be quite a job to replace it. The concrete has some cracks too..we were hoping to use a crack sealant. Maybe this bin is too far gone for practical uses.

[Windy in Kansas]

We used tar around the bottom of all of ours. Any hardware store should have tar available.

If the bottom ring is getting bad you may just want to pour a new floor on top of the old. That would keep water from running in under the ring as the new floor would be higher than outside.

[tinknal]

If you could find some used pallets, you could keep your stuff off the floor and safe from water damage.

[rambler]

I have a similar bin I keep grain in, and seal it with - tar.

You know those small black tubes of roof sealer, the black goo inside? Roof patch? There are slightly different formulations, getting into driveway patches.... I'd read the labels, but I use closer to a roof patch mixture, one that stays elastic a longer time....

It also comes in 5 gallon pails. Get one of those. Apply with a putty knife - big one - or something like that. Will seal your concrete cracks too. Don't be stingy with it, don't fool around with the little caulking tubes. Put a real wide bead of good thick stuff around the bottom. But, only seal around the _outside_ or seal around the _inside_ of the bin bottom. If you seal up both inside & outside, moisture _will_ trap on the tin in between & rust it away - and you won't notice.... Bin will blow away in a few years, nothing holding it down any more....


Should you want to spend the effort, you can also fill the bin with 3-4 inches of concrete - just pour & spread & level. This gives you a new floor, higher so the water stays out, and anchors the bin down real good. This probably is not the direction you want to go for the shape & use the bin is in, but an option.

--->Paul

[Ross]

You could just load in 3 inches of gravel and level that out.