| This past weekend I built a corn bin to store corn | | | | slid the blocks over the rebar as I built the wall, |
| for our corn burning heater. Let me explain. The | | | | and then filled the holes of the blocks with |
| house that we bought is a ranch style house that | | | | concrete as I went up. If you are picturing this, |
| was built about 30 years ago. At one end of the | | | | you can see that the rebar is not attached at the |
| full basement was built a pop out in the standard | | | | tip. So, what I did was when I only had 1 more |
| rectangle foundation block foundation so that later | | | | layer of block to install I welded rebar to the |
| on someone could build a stone or brick | | | | I-bean at the top of the opening and also to the |
| foundation. Well, a fireplace was never built on it, | | | | other vertical rebars that were inserted into the |
| and we don't want one. So in the basement there | | | | floor at the beginning. The las layer of block then I |
| is a 6 foot by about 2 and a half foot extension | | | | had to cut notches into to install around the block, |
| to the foundation, and outside there is a little roof | | | | then of course filled the hole and filled in the slots |
| covering it from the weather. | | | | that were cut into them. I also installed 3/8 rebar |
| Here is what I did with it. I walled it up flush with | | | | in every other layer of block and drilled holes in |
| the inside basement wall. Before I did that though | | | | the existing walls to insert that rebar. |
| I built a sloped floor in the pop out (Future Corn | | | | The last thing I have to do is put a thin layer of |
| Bin) so the corn will flow to the center. When I | | | | surface bonding concrete over the wall in the |
| built the block wall I also put a hole in the wall for | | | | basement. This is a special concrete made for dry |
| a grain door, so that I can fill up a bucket to | | | | stack concrete walls. It has fiberglass in it and |
| carry over to the corn burner. I also installed 2 | | | | gives great tensile strength to a block wall. I think |
| glass blocks into the wall so that I will be able to | | | | that this will be a good additional insurance policy |
| see when the level drops to a level where I will | | | | so to speak. |
| want to get more corn. | | | | All in all I probably overdid the steel in the wall, but |
| My calculations estimate that the size of this bin | | | | better to much strength than not enough. The |
| should hold about 2500 pounds of shelled corn. | | | | last thing that I want is to find a pile of corn and |
| That is over a ton of weight to hold back. So, | | | | blocks in my basement after filling my new corn |
| when I built the wall I drilled into the concrete | | | | bin. |
| floor and put 3/8's rebar into the floor, and then | | | | |