Silos

BY RACHEL BITTON

Part One

It is not a secret my requests to build the perfect farm are not small. whether it was the 25-foot antique windmill or old grain silos, somehow, my husband figures out how to get it done. I still remember the day he called me and said, ‘Don’t get your hopes up too high, but I might have found silos.’ I had been on the hunt for about two years for a silo that we could repurpose into an outdoor kitchen/entertaining area. An old farm had been sold and was being developed in Layton and there were two old silos ready to be demolished by the wrecking company. One silo had a worn-out bottom ring and the other had a smashed top, but after negotiations with the wrecker, we decided to take both. Figuring out how to get them home was another story.

used his trusty ratchet/tow straps hooked to the framing to lift the silos one by one. Each was placed on a flatbed trailer and carefully driven to Hooper. Once the silos made it home, we removed them from the trailer with a rented Gradall Excavator. I even helped with that part! Driving a 14-foot silo that was swinging by a tow strap was a bit nerve-wracking. I am grateful my husband figures out how to make all my crazy ideas a reality. The silos lived in our pasture until their final resting spot was ready with power stubbed and cement poured… more silo fun coming in part 2.

Stay Tuned!

Doing my Part!

Moving silos is no small feat. There are basically two options – remove 5 million bolts and disassemble ring by ring or move the entire silo whole. My husband preferred to move them whole. Silos are designed to hold weight from the inside, so you can’t just throw a chain around the outside of them and pick it up. They will collapse. Our silos already had some wood framing inside the roof area, so my husband added to it and shored it up. Then he

Doing his part!