Trench Silo Turned Into Earth-Sheltered Shop
After he quit milking cows and switched to cash crops, William Benson built a 30 by 60-ft. earth-sheltered shop with a 14-ft. high door inside his old concrete trench silo. His friend and mechanic Steve Dionne recently sent FARM SHOW photos of the building, which the men built entirely by hand.
The entire shop is contained inside the walls of the old silo and is earth-sheltered on 3 sides. “The silo was originally dug into a hillside and had slanted-out walls with concrete supports,” says Steve.
“The shop remains at an ideal year-round temperature of 60 degrees regardless of the outside temperature. We can’t believe how nice it stays in the dead of winter. Even with a windchill of 30 below it’ll still be warm and cozy inside the shop. A propane heater mounted on the ceiling is hooked to a 100-gal. propane tank, but we don’t use it very often. The shop is built so tight we could probably use it as a tornado shelter.”
The trench silo originally had 12-ft. high walls, but the men added 4 ft. to support the shop’s 16-ft. high joists.
“Over the years the pilasters that support the walls had cracked so we installed 8-in. channel irons over them,” says Steve. “The I-beams are bolted vertically to the silo walls and spaced to match the supports behind the walls. We welded shorter lengths of channel irons together on top to form hooks that run up and over the supports. The vertical I-beams go 3 ft. down in the ground.”
The men ordered wood trusses to fit from a local lumber yard and used 1/4-in. lag bolts to attach the trusses to the silo’s concrete walls.
The shop is set up for welding and has running water, 220-volt electricity, and an electric/hydraulic lift to work on cars. “We can use the lift to raise 4-wheeled trailers and replace wheel bearings and remove transmissions,” says Steve. “There are two air compressors inside, with black steel pipes along the walls serving as air compressor lines.
“The silo’s floor slopes down toward the front, away from the shop so if we use water to wash something off it’ll run off toward the front apron. We even have a TV antenna mounted on top of the roof so we can watch Green Bay Packer football games,” he notes.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, William Benson, 7812 Benson Rd., Dane, Wis. 53529 (ph 608 592-4789 or 608 438-3516; Sdionne@soderholmfoods.com).
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Trench Silo Turned Into Earth-Sheltered Shop BUILDINGS New Techniques After he quit milking cows and switched to cash crops William Benson built a 30 by 60-ft earth-sheltered shop with a 14-ft high door inside his old concrete trench silo His friend and mechanic Steve Dionne recently sent FARM SHOW photos of the building which the men built entirely by hand The entire shop is contained inside the walls of the old silo and is earth-sheltered on 3 sides “The silo was originally dug into a hillside and had slanted-out walls with concrete supports ” says Steve “The shop remains at an ideal year-round temperature of 60 degrees regardless of the outside temperature We can’t believe how nice it stays in the dead of winter Even with a windchill of 30 below it’ll still be warm and cozy inside the shop A propane heater mounted on the ceiling is hooked to a 100-gal propane tank but we don’t use it very often The shop is built so tight we could probably use it as a tornado shelter ” The trench silo originally had 12-ft high walls but the men added 4 ft to support the shop’s 16-ft high joists “Over the years the pilasters that support the walls had cracked so we installed 8-in channel irons over them ” says Steve “The I-beams are bolted vertically to the silo walls and spaced to match the supports behind the walls We welded shorter lengths of channel irons together on top to form hooks that run up and over the supports The vertical I-beams go 3 ft down in the ground ” The men ordered wood trusses to fit from a local lumber yard and used 1/4-in lag bolts to attach the trusses to the silo’s concrete walls The shop is set up for welding and has running water 220-volt electricity and an electric/hydraulic lift to work on cars “We can use the lift to raise 4-wheeled trailers and replace wheel bearings and remove transmissions ” says Steve “There are two air compressors inside with black steel pipes along the walls serving as air compressor lines “The silo’s floor slopes down toward the front away from the shop so if we use water to wash something off it’ll run off toward the front apron We even have a TV antenna mounted on top of the roof so we can watch Green Bay Packer football games ” he notes Contact: FARM SHOW Followup William Benson 7812 Benson Rd Dane Wis 53529 ph 608 592-4789 or 608 438-3516; Sdionne@soderholmfoods com
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