For any farmer or agricultural business owner, one of the biggest nightmares no one would want to experience is a silo collapse. The experience of having a bulk storage structure suddenly come undone is an outcome to be rightfully fearful of—especially if you’re responsible for it. Regardless of how tall your farm’s structures are, how old they may be, or how much they’ve taken over the past few years or decades, it’s critical to avoid such a fate.
At this point in your operations and experience, you must take every measure to ensure that your silos remain standing for many years to come. Fortunately, you can protect your structures as best as possible through the use of the right repairs.
A Look into Why Silo Collapses Happen
To understand what you need to do to prevent a collapse from happening in the first place, you must understand the mechanisms leading to why they happen in the first place.
Collapses are often the result of accumulated points for repair that cause stress on the silo’s entire construction. In other words, they are structural failures that are perfectly preventable. Most business owners or farmers fail to understand that all of these collapse-causing issues can be identified during a routine inspection.
Common problems that cause concrete structure and concrete silo failure encompass the following issues:
- Foundation deterioration
- Roof collapse due to roof beam structural issues
- Improper material filling and unloading procedures in silos
- Silo wall delamination or deterioration
- Silo discharge cone or bin floor issues
- Corrosion and buckling (common for steel silos)
Measures to Prevent Silo Collapses
At this point, you might be wondering about what you can do to prevent your silo from collapsing. This is where the use of the right repair services comes in. Here are
the various solutions offered by Borton you can use:
1. Silo Roof Repair
For most kinds of silos, the roof typically receives the brunt of physical and environmental abuse, making it one of the most vulnerable parts that make the structure vulnerable to collapse.
You must enforce proper roof maintenance to keep the materials within the silo safe and dry and prevent future collapse. Through the use of silo roof repair, you can keep everything in order and protect your structure from the implications of overfilling, explosions and overloading, and environmental abuse.
2. Silo Post-tensioning
Silo spalling is one of the biggest issues that silos face. It is incredibly dangerous as it leads to cracking or wall separation. The reason such a problem happens is attributed to the overstressing of the horizontal reinforcing.
The primary way to solve this issue is through the use of silo post-tensioning. This service entails the installation of high-strength post-tensioning strands around the wall exterior as a means to replace all of the original steel reinforcing.
Conclusion
There’s no denying that one of the worst things that can happen to your farm or agricultural site is a silo collapse. Fortunately, it’s relatively simple to prevent such problems from taking place. Through the help of the key points mentioned above, you can protect your vital structures in the most effective way possible!
Borton is one of the highest-rated silo contractors in Hutchinson, KS. We have over ninety years of experience in the industry, and we always get the job done right. Get in touch with us today!
