I thought I would show and tell some about my corn crib. The crib has been on our farm since horse and wagon days of corn picking. I found in the concrete, that the steps were added in 1963 probably to keep in from falling over, as the pillars were not on a footing, just in the ground about 6 inches. And they were leaning a lot. is crib hasn't been filled since 1990 for sure but probably much longer. I decided that making the crib structurally sound would be the best and least expensive way to store my corn rather than getting a used wire crib, and moving it and pouring a new base.
The crib is 4'-6" wide 8'tall and 20' long. By my rough calculations I figured it would hold my couple acres of corn. The first thing I decided was it needed more support as the concrete piers were 10' apart. I added support at 5' and 15' to make it support weight 5' on center instead of 10'. I dug down about 10" and put in gravel, and concrete block, then laid treated 4"x on the blocks, I had all this laying around. To save money, I cut some large white oak rounds and de-barked with a chainsaw, I placed these on top like a soda can would sit, then jacked up the crib a little and slid a oak 6"x6" beam in on top. After I got both sets of white oak center supports in , I jacked up the weight off the columns and straightened them up with a front end loader and come along / chain. After I got them more straight and upright I dug under one side and supported it with a concrete block, I repeated this around the 2 piers. After that I dug pout underneath some and formed up a footing and wider base for the old piers. I mixed the concrete from Portland sand and gravel, and filled under and around the old piers.
After the base was secure, my wife and I re- nailed the loose slats ( I'm thankful for nail guns), then I scrounged some 3'x4' 3/4" inch new plywood from a friend that runs a wood recycling business. I used that to put in a new smooth floor over the old boards. I figured would be easier to shovel off of. All complete with 2 boxes of hitachi nails, two bags of Portland, 1,000 lbs of sand, and 1,000 lbs of gravel, scrounging and ingenuit. I had less than $100 in the project. Here's some pictures from the project.
A few of the pictures are sideways, and they aren't in the order I wanted, but you'll get the idea, may just have to look sideways, heres a couple that didn't come through the first time.
Thanks! It really didn't take all that long, and was definitely economical. I also like the thing and didn't want it to fall down. I started cleaning it out and around it on a Saturday morning, and we filled it the next Saturday, so about 1 1/2 days and 2 long evenings to get it shored up and fixed.
