Silo A Great Place To Hang Out

Silo A Great Place To Hang Out AG WORLD Ag World For Mike Nistler there s nothing like ending a busy day listening to his favorite tunes out in his remote silo He spent about $4 000 and a big chunk of time remodeling the 14 by 40-ft silo to create Schnitzelbrau Silo a comfortable hangout for family and friends with four levels The rural-based carpenter knew he wanted to do something with the silo as soon as he and his wife Sue moved to their 6 1/2-acre homestead near St Cloud Minn I enjoy the history I love the old buildings Nistler says I hate to see old barns replaced by steel buildings Nistler first remodeled the 1920 barn with plans to make it into an event center but regulations that required an elevator for the loft and a sprinkling system made that expensive His wife used the bottom level for her day care until she moved into another building on the farm In 2009 he started working on the silo Since it hadn t been used in a while it was fairly clean and in good shape He cut in a door and poured footings and a concrete floor He first sealed the inside walls and then started building them out with 2 by 6 studs using Tapcon concrete screws and anchors At 10 ft he installed a deck for the second level and continued to work his way up Because of the small diameter the 25-degree ladder-like stairs are very steep between the floors Nistler used canoe paddles for railings The biggest challenge was dragging everything up two and three pieces at a time Nistler recalls He removed the silo doors and replaced them with double pane windows Each level offers something different The lowest level has a hot tub The second has swings hanging from the ceiling which Sue s daycare kids like to swing on Made of chains and tractor seats one swing is painted John Deere green and the other International red The third level is where Nistler hangs out It has a 1904 bar from a St Cloud business in front of a peek-a-boo mirror five mirrors to see five images of yourself a stereo system a table and five chairs and exercise equipment The top loft has three chairs You can see the prairie pretty well from the top two floors Nistler says The combination of the speakers at the top and the round shape are great for listening to music he adds The silo isn t insulated so it s only used seasonally and stays fairly cool in the summer Nistler rented a lift to paint a membrane sealant to mend the leaking roof and hasn t had moisture problems Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Mike Nistler 25417 Co Rd 2 St Cloud Minn 56301 ph 320 293-4058; prairievalley@msn com

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