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I am currently in the process of converting a 30′ in diam. by 40′ tall galvanized steel grain bin into a living space. Has anyone out there seen or done this? any helpful hints. The inside is being timberframed. location is wester wisconsin.
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Aren't these things self supporting? You will not not need a poly vapor barrier, that's at least my opinion.
-Rob
*Yeah, but you better vent the roof and soffets.Dennis
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stick a rocket engine on the underside of that baby, and when the economy finally goes south you can become the new swiss family robinson.
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Sorry about the vents, but I really know nothing about your project, except I have a place in La Crosse. Where is your rocket, er, I mean home to be?
Dennis
*Dear rjevetsAh yes the American dream, that undeniable right to spend all the money you have to build something no one else would want.Building a house inside a decomposing galvanized steel bin. Got to be a health hazard in there somewhere.How long will it be before we see you asking how do I fit square things onto curved walls?The rest of you guys can have this one.Gabe
*That's taller for its footprint than most houses, which can reduce your heating/cooling duct expenses and space requirements. Have two stairways/duct through each floor at about 180 degrees from each other. Heat the ground floor with a radiant slab (your forms are already in place) and put your A/C on the top floor. The heat will rise and the cold air will fall. You could get unusually uniform temperatres through the house without using lots of fans and ducts.Structurally, I first imagined a central post and circular ledgers built up from 9-1/4" or 11-1/4" inch strips of plywood. Then TJI's going from the center out. But the subflooring would be horrible - all those pie piece shapes. Only worth it if you do pretty solid wood and T+G 2x flooring to show off that interesting geometry. Otherwise, do the ledger but span the 30' with TJI's on 16, 19.2, or 24" centers. Still lots of weird cuts at the perimeter but less wastage.Off-thread: Saw a motorhome in San Diego years back. It was made from the front 35 feet of a 707. The driver looked out the pilot's windshield.
*I wonder where the neutral pressure plane is going to be in that thing???-pm
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Buckminister Fuller designed a house similar to what you are describing. It was not exactly conventional. That was before he invented the geodesic dome. Also, there is a Hilton Hotel in Akron, Ohio that is built inside an old Quaker Oats Silo. It is really spectacular. Like the commercial says: Ya gotta think outside the box.
Scott B.
http://www.hilton.com/hotels/CAKQHHF/index.html
*Rjevets, You'll probably be wanting a family car to park out front of the Silo? Joe H
*Magic, the address of the picture of the car went into the "attached file" slot & clicked once to post my message. Message appeared, NO ATTACHED FILE? No picture of car. Magic I guess? Joe H
*http://www.oscar-mayer.com/wienermobile/1969/1969.html I give up, here it is. Joe H
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Air conditioning in Wisconsin?
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rjevets,
I'd advise consulting a structural engineer before doing to much in the way of attaching loads to the sides of the grain bin. Keep in mind that these things are designed to resist loads in tension against the sides- not compression from the top. That's how they get by with such thin walls. If your planning to timber frame within the space you should make some accomodations for lateral support and wind shear. An empty grain bin is fairly susceptable to wind damage; there's a lot of area vs. the mass. Sounds like a fun project, but I'd have to agree that it will be a difficult place to re-sell in the future.
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Fred:
You have picqued my curiosity:
"With a near perfect external moisture barrier, you must not use any plastic film on the interior of the walls. That means no alkyd paint or vinyl wall paper either."
Admittedly, I am of the old (very old) school, but without a vapour barrier on the inside, will not air-borne moisture migrate through the insulation and condense on the interior side of the steel walls leaving saturated insulation? I know a lot of older houses were built without vapour barriers, but they also did not have much, if any, insulation either.
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just some comments on the comments.
there is not load bearing being done by the bin. the internal timberframe is self supporting.
resale value - what resale value! just something to do. i need a place to live and i am bored.
family car? yes that one would be right up my alley.
where in wisconsin? east of ellsworth wi 6 miles.
or about 50-60 minutes from the twin cities. it sits on 80 acres at the end of a dead end road.
or hwy 72 to 430th. rt to 490th left to the end. drive way on the right. go in 800 ft and there it sits.
internal walls are octagonal - not round. yes there will be deep window wells. the second and third floors are only half floors lofts.
standard stair case to the 2nd floor. possibly circular stair case to the 3rd floor.
broke the mold to begin with so the anything from here on in is an option and a possibility. - even if it doesn't work in the long run.
timber frame is built from 8x10 10x10 10x12's of red oak from the local lumber mill.
air conditioning? for wimps.
moisture build up is my biggest concern. too late now but i should have used spray insul. on the inside of the bin. - similiar is done on metal hulled boats(so i'm told)
oh ya - if only i had a 24,000 bushel but when the project started it was only 12,000. every beer i drank caused the bin to add an additional 1,000 bushels. after 6 1/2 beers, i couldn't add any more so it had to stop.
rj
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Bravo!
*Rj,You have the perfect house for a fireman's pole. If you have kids, they'll never quit thanking you for it.Dan
*Convert it to a pile of haulable trash usnig the buldozing technique. Then build something unique that is more practicable.Or just live under the overpass. Not much difference.Oh yeah, avoid vinyl siding if you are going through with this wacky idea. The purists will crucify you.blueps no vinyl windows either!
*Hey BleuYa get up on the wrong side of the couch, or are you just headin in???-pm
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Check out FARMSHOW magazine at http://www.FARMSHOW.com There have been A number of project's featured using grain bin's and silo's in the past 5 or 6 year's. To all you skeptic's out there you never know what can be done unless you try. Hell, it will still be better than living in A mobile home!.I should know. I spent 18 year's growing up in one.
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I am currently in the process of converting a 30' in diam. by 40' tall galvanized steel grain bin into a living space. Has anyone out there seen or done this? any helpful hints. The inside is being timberframed. location is wester wisconsin.