Barn No. 4
Built in 1900.
Diameter, 90 feet.
Capacity, 105 cows, two rows heading together.
Cost, $3000.
Foundation, width at base and top, 18 inches; depth in ground, 20 inches, (not sufficient).
Sills, 2 × 8s, sawed in short lengths, and placed flatwise.
Studding, 20-foot 2 × 8s, placed 3 feet on center and toenailed to sill.
Supports, first story 4 × 4s placed between stanchions in each row, making two rows of supports between the outside wall and the silo; 4 × 4s cut to a circle placed on top of these supports. The outside span, over cows, is 13 feet 6 inches; middle span, over feed alley, 6 feet 8 inches, and inside span, over cows, 13 feet.
Joists, 2 × 8s placed 3 feet apart at studs on outside wall. There are as many joists in center of barn as at the outside.
Supports, second-story, consist of one row of posts running around at a point immediately under the break in the roof. These are 16 feet apart and are made of three 2 × 8s kept 2 inches apart by horizontal braces which run from studding near the eave thru these posts to studding in silo. See [Fig. 31].
Plate, rafter is set on top of each stud, and no plate is used.
Rafters, 2 × 6s resting on studs at outside and on circular plate at break in roof.
Fig. 30. Barn No. 4. 90 feet in diameter; One of the few dairy barns with sufficient light; Same scale as drawing on [page 37].
Fig. 31. Silo in center of Barn No. 4; Upper portion in hay loft. Lower portion in cow stable.
Siding, 8-inch drop siding, put on horizontally, nailed with 10d nails. Ends holding well.
Windows, 12 light, 10 × 12 glass; one window every six feet. This gives an abundance of light in the center of the barn.
Doors, built on circle; (not satisfactory).
Silo, round; diameter, 24 feet over all; height, 53 feet, exclusive of 12-foot space for water tank on top; capacity, 500 tons. Studs of silo, 2 × 4s placed 12 inches on center. Ceiled inside of studs with two thicknesses of half-inch lumber with paper between.
Fig. 32. Interior of Barn No. 4, showing stalls and feed alley.
Remarks: Considering its size, the construction of this barn is apparently too light to be substantial, as the joists and studs are too small and too far apart, yet it has stood for nine years with no more evidence of wear than is common with any barn.
Were the owner to build again he would place the studs only 21⁄2 feet apart and use 2 × 12 joists, 21⁄2 feet apart at the outside wall. He would also use cement plaster on inside of silo.
The owner says it would have cost him as much to have built a rectangular barn without the 500-ton silo, and containing 1300 sq. ft. less floor space. In other words, he gained a 500-ton silo and 1300 sq. ft. of floor space, besides an immense amount of mow room, by building a circular barn.
Fig. 33. Arrangement of cow stable in Barn No. 4, 90 feet in diameter; Two rows of cows headed together.