Silo Addition Expands Farm Home

Silo Addition Expands Farm Home SILOS Silos 31-5-3 For the past year, 76-year-old Garold Bradley of Lansford, N. Dak., has been engrossed in a labor of love as he works to complete an eye-catching addition to his farm home. The retired dairy farmer is adding the top half of a metal silo - which he used for 31 years - to one end of his home. "I got the idea when I saw a round grain bin sitting out front of a Seattle grocery store. It had two floors in it that had been made into offices," he says. "It seemed like a good way to add a two-story addition that wouldn't require any siding, shingles, rafters, or sheeting. All I'd have to do is finish up the inside." His original house is 30 ft. wide and the silo addition is 30 ft. 6 in., so it was a good fit. While he was dairying, the silo held 700 tons of oats, peas or corn silage, and it continued to be used even after Bradley shut down his dairy in 1995. For the next 10 years, neighbors stored grain in it. In July, 2006, Bradley dismantled the top 17 ft. of the 40-ft. tall silo using a big crane to lift the 7 1/2-ton structure and set it onto two 40-ft. power poles on the ground, which were used to skid it 120 ft. to the south side of his house, using two big tractors. Bradley had already built a foundation and a 32-ft. sq. floor that was level with the existing home, using 4 by 8-ft. tongue-and-groove plywood. The silo was set onto the floor and fastened down with about 150 3/8-in. lag bolts. The floor is held up by 18 posts that are cemented 4 ft. deep into the ground, he points out. He opened up the end wall of his single-story house, and also removed some of the silo's lower panels to join the two structures. Then he built two short walls to close in the side gaps between the silo and the house. "I squared it (the silo) off to the house from the middle on each side, creating an upper level bathroom on one side, and a storage room on the other side of the top floor," he explains. "After I had put in the second-story floor, I cut out doorways for these rooms from the silo wall." Bradley framed in the interior walls with 2 by 6 studs and installed 6 in. of insulation. "A partition down the middle of the lower floor divides the family room from the master bedroom. It also serves as a support for the second story floor," he says. "By combining our original living room with the silo's family room, a 15 by 42-ft. room was created. The master bedroom is 15 by 30 ft., including a 6 by 12-ft. walk-in closet." In the open area where the house and silo meet, Bradley built a spiral staircase. Bradley put in two windows and one patio door upstairs, plus two patio doors downstairs. "I'm going to cathedral the top floor where the dome is, insulating it with spray insulation. I also plan to put in a skylight," he explains. "The top floor will be a recreation room with an outdoor wrap around deck, and an exterior stairway down. The whole silo added almost 2,000 sq. ft. to our house." Bradley says he's not planning to cover the outside, and will instead paint it to match the house (light tan trimmed in brown.) If he finds that the addition becomes too hot in summer because of the metal, he says it wouldn't be a problem to put on lap siding. He'll bolster the house's current heating system with the addition of a corn furnace in the silo. It'll have a fireplace mantel and pipes going to the upstairs, he says. "I imagine I've got about $25,000 worth of materials into it now, but I've bought most of my supplies so it won't be much more than that to finish construction," he says. "I've been doing most of the work myself, with some help from my sons, my son-in-law and a couple of neighbors. We hope to have it finished this winter." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Garold Bradley, 3011 - 77 St. N.W., Lansford, N. Dak. 58750 (ph 701 784-5494, cell 701 720-4398).

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