So, obviously my life can get a little strange sometimes. Eat some weeds, move a copperhead to a safer location, propagate a fig tree, buy a few grain bins to live in. Yeah, that’s actually something that we did.
So, tiny homes are gaining popularity. Living off the land and self-sufficiency is getting more popular. People are now exiting the cities and basically “opting out” of what the American rat race has become. These days, they are even turning old grain bins, or grain silos, into houses.
We are apparently next.
I guess, it just makes sense, sort of.
We sold our house.
I quit my job.
We sold our furniture.
We gave away our extra vehicle.
We withdrew the 401K early.
We said our goodbyes.
We moved to Arkansas. Yeah, Arkansas, of all the places in the world. (Who does that?)
Isn’t buying old grain bins to build a house out of the next logical step?
All the events listed above are true events that have happened to us in the past year. This month, I’ve got to tear down and move some grain bins that I bought earlier. Though, exactly what we are going to do with them is still debatable. This was the original concept.
DREAM HOUSE?
Originally, we had planned to use two grain bins in the structure of the house we plan to build. Since they are about 21 feet in diameter, and about 20 feet high, we figured that we could get two levels out of each bin, with an approximately 18’ X 18’ room on each level. My goal was to frame them in square on the inside, and build closets, cupboards, and shelving units into the recesses in the walls where the 18’ square structure left a gap with the circular shape of the grain bin. Everything else in-between the walls would be insulated.
We planned on joining the two bins with a large rectangular room. The rectangular room in-between the bins would be the dining and living room, combined into one. This is where guests could enter and hang out, in a large, open, inviting space. On the bottom level of one side would be a large kitchen (about 18’ X 18’, remember?). I really do not like tiny, narrow kitchens. It simply is not enough room to cook like a mad-man. It really isn’t. We have had a few tiny kitchens in a row now, and now we have six mouths to feed. I’m tired of having to kick everyone out of the kitchen just to be able to cook them a meal.
Above the kitchen would be the master bedroom for my wife and me. Again, little shelves and closets would be built into the walls and we would have a good sized area that wasn’t just mattress. We’ve had a few of those rooms too. In the other bin, on the other side of the living and dining room, would be the children’s rooms. Either girls upstairs and boys downstairs (just one boy for now), or vice versa. We figured that 18’ X 18’ rooms for the kids would be plenty enough for a few bunk-beds and whatever else they would need.
The plan was to coat the roofs of the grain bins with the sealant people use for camper and RV roof repairs, because it would both provide and extra layer of protection and be white, reducing the amount of heat received from the sun. Under the whole structure I planned on pouring a concrete foundation with a rocket mass heater inside it. The cement could remain nice and cool in the summer heat and the rocket mass heater could be fired up in the winter, and give us a nice warm floor, radiating heat all night long.
The bathrooms would probably go off the back side of the dining and living room, and perhaps I would build an attached greenhouse on the south side. Now, of course, this is just one option, but it has been the plan up until now.
Additional Considerations
The next derailed train of thought was to set up both of our grain bins separately. One would be used for storage for now. We are paying $75 a month just to keep some of our extra stuff from Wisconsin in a storage unit right now, and I’m trying to cut every cost that we can so we can buy the land and build the house, both debt free. The second one I am now considering turning into a guesthouse, and moving into it while we build the “real house”. A neat little grain bin guesthouse on the property would come in handy, and it could house us until we built a larger house, perhaps without grain bins in it.
Either way, it looks like we should be living in a grain bin before too long.
For some interesting ideas on grain bin or grain silo houses, do a simple online search.
They are catching on in popularity.
I am going to try to build some grain bin jacks this week so that I can disassemble the bins we bought and move the pieces here. Apparently the best way to break them down is from the bottom up, and the nearest place that I can find to rent grain bin jacks is Nebraska, so that won’t work.
My friend @bluerthangreen and I already removed the two bottom layers from one of the bins, but there were some pretty dangerous moments, and although we got the layers off, we can’t really say that we were actually successful. Hopefully, the grain bin jacks will work much better.
I will keep you posted on our progress. If you have any ideas or suggestions about any of this, please feel free to reply. I read them all, and even reply to some and upvote some too. Thanks for the support.
