Old grain bins can be used to make low-cost hoop buildings, says Brent Brueland, Boone, Iowa, who took down a neighbor's 5,000-bu. grain bin piece by piece and converted it into a 20 by 30-ft. hoop building that's 14 ft. high at the center.

The bin was originally six rings high, with 11 sections per ring. He first built two 3-ft. tall wooden  knee walls  spaced 20 ft. apart. He bolted five bin sections together on top of the walls to form the roof. He closed off one end of the building and left the other open for easy access for storing hay and machinery.

 My total cost was only for the knee walls and end, new bin bolts and caulk to assemble the roof panels,  says Brueland.