Getting there....

The grain bins are now up and the tops have been painted red to match the barn and one of the other outbuildings. The roof material that will be in between the grain bins will be a grey color. So, we are thinking that the colors will be red,grey,tan and/or green. We go back and forth on the colors but still have time to make that decision later.

We laid down a layer of foam over the gravel in the bins first. Chris ended up finding some 1 1/2 inch foam on Craigslist and bought it to use. At $10 a sheet 20 feet long it was a bargain. We purchased enough to put foam  under all of the concrete for $300. Unfortunately, once we got it home and unbundled it we discovered that there were alot of places where the foam had bad spots we had to piece together. So, our great deal ended up being a good deal still but we had to use 2 layers of foam where we were going to use only one. Honestly, it is probably better because now there is 3 inches of foam to insulate the concrete instead of 1 1/2 inches. Live and learn.
 

Again the rebar came off of craigslist. We paid $4.50 a 20 foot stick. This rebar was new and basically leftover from other jobs that a contractor was selling. We got enough rebar for the entire downstairs ( almost 200 sq foot) for less than $1000.

Chris decided that it would be best to extend the rebar out of the grain bin ( since we will be pouring the middle at a different time). Then all of the rebar will be tied to each slab that we pour and it will help to keep the slabs from ever cracking or shifting.
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The start of laying the radiant tubing after laying out all of the rebar. 

We went around on the inside and outside of the bins and coated the places that would be under concrete or under dirt with a waterproofing tar.

We are getting close to pouring the concrete!! Now we cross our fingers that the weather stays good on the weekends so that we can get it done!

This is the sun set view that our front porch will have.

Going vertical !!

We started working on getting the grain bins up over the weekend. The first one is now up and we are waiting on parts for the second. We hope to get the second one up this weekend.(Fingers crossed!) When we took them down we number each piece, so it went together like a big puzzle. The best thing we bought for the grain bins....grain bin jacks! When it was taken down Chris had made his own version of bin jacks but we were able to find some at an auction earlier this year. They cost $250 for 4 of them BUT we should be able to sell them for the same cost when we are done with them.

First you have to put one ring together and then assemble the roof. This is by far the most time consuming,frustrating part of the assembly. Chris thought that by putting up two rings instead of one it would make it easier...it did not. So, we learned what not to do with #2.

Two rings put you six feet in the air for the side walls and the center is 72 inches higher than that. The ladder climbing was horrible. I am thankful to my brother-in-law Cory for coming to help most of the weekend....I didn't have to climb as much, which is good because I hate heights! 

This is what the jack looks like. There are also two on the other side.

Close-up of the jacks. They are really simple but made the whole process easier! On a side note....there are approximately 300 bolts per level of the grain bin...and at least that many in the roof too.

To add a new ring you have to lift the whole bin. There were a total of 7 rings that went around it. 6 of them were 32 inches and one was 24 inches. Each level of the bin is a heavier gauge metal. the heaviest at the bottom.

One up!!! The second one started. I took the picture from farther away to show you just how big the bins are. To me a 24 foot circle on the ground seemed small but with the bin up it seems HUGE!

Shelter from a storm....

One day we were outside working on the foundation and someone pulled into our driveway. The lady asked us if we wanted a storm shelter. Well, in fact we were going to put one in someday...it just wasn't going to happen yet. She said that they had lived in a trailer while building their home and had a shelter put in. Once the house was built they no longer needed the shelter. ( they built an earth contact home). So, we drove over there and took a look at it. Chris spent a few evenings digging it out of the ground with the backhoe. We called a concrete company that sets septic tanks and they were willing to move it for us if we had a place already dug out to put it in. We spent the next few nights digging out a place for it to go. Then had it moved. The cost of the new storm shelter- $280 to move it!!!  We have to dig out a bit in front of it and put in some retaining walls. We are going to use one of the grain bin doors on the front of it because it needed a new door. It will just have to wait still until it is finished...the house is higher on the list of things to get done!

This is what you use to move 12000 pounds of concrete.

It had to be held out on the boom and then spun 360 degrees.

It will have a lot more dirt around it before we are done. We have to have dirt moved in to go around the foundation of the house and this storm shelter. I will update when we get it done!