Don’t diminish your hard work by storing your grain in a poorly maintained silo! The time leading up to harvest season is the time you should spend making sure your grain silo’s coating, roof, insulation, and foundation are all in perfect working order. Here’s our checklist every farmer should follow before they start storing their goods.
Inspect Your Grain Silo’s Coating
Your grain silo coating is essential to preventing corrosion and safeguarding grain against water infiltration, insects, and rodents. If your coating shows any peeling, spalling, or chipping, it will not correctly serve its essential functions throughout the winter and spring.
Thoroughly inspect the surface of your silo’s coating before you fill it; if you notice a crack, pinhole, or any other damage that represents a pressing threat to your bottom line. If you frequently fill and empty a grain silo that has not received modern elastomeric coating like the NIJAC team installs, then wear and tear has probably already necessitated an upgrade.
Inspect Your Grain Silo’s Roof
Whether metal or concrete, your silo’s roof is its first line of defense against the elements. Even a tiny crack can create a large enough leak to spoil sensitive grains quickly. As always, ensure you observe proper safety protocol while checking your roof for signs of corrosion and cracking – or engage an authority on silo roof maintenance to attend to this pressing task.
Inspect Your Grain Silo’s Insulation
Your silo’s insulation is crucial to saving energy and preventing grain condensation, the latter of which can quickly dampen and spoil corn. Good insulation will seal contaminants out of the silo to more effectively preserve its contents.
As with its coating, carefully inspect your silo’s insulation for any signs of cracking, spalling or hole formation. If its integrity is insufficient to create an airtight seal, it is time to upgrade to state-of-the-industry spray foam insulation.
Inspect Your Grain Silo’s Foundation
Your silo’s foundation does far more than protect its contents from mold growth; it is essential to the silo’s structural integrity and provides thermal protection, reducing energy costs.
Before you load up your silo again, thoroughly check its foundation for interior and exterior cracks, as well as any other signs that it can no longer effectively seal out moisture. If you detect that your silo’s foundation is no longer impenetrable, then the Rub-R-Wall spray-applied system will most likely quickly correct your foundation waterproofing problems.
Inspect the Area Surrounding Your Grain Silo
The land immediately surrounding your silo is essential to its integrity as well. Seek out signs of erosion, as that can destabilize your silo and cause its collapse. You also want to remove any branches or debris from your silo’s surroundings and mow it regularly, as these measures will discourage rodents and insects from living nearby.
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The NIJAC team provides expert grain silo coating, roofing, insulation, and foundation services; American farmers must protect their hard-earned crops. Our headquarters are in Sioux Falls, SD, but we serve our clients nationwide. If you want to learn more about how we can create outstanding value by maintaining your grain silo and surrounding property, we welcome you to contact us today!