FS Construction Services painting services surface prep

Surface Prep to Avoid Painting Disaster

A fresh of coat of paint is one of the fastest ways to make something look brand new. Unfortunately, a poorly applied fresh coat of paint is one of the fastest ways to be disappointed. Lots of things can go wrong during the painting process and any one of them can ruin your hard work.

FS Construction Service’s resident paint expert Brian Garleb has provided some helpful tips about how proper surface preparation can prevent a whole host of headaches and wasted effort.

First off, painting after wallpaper removal. Removing wallpaper can be a chore, and it can cause damage to drywall that makes painting after a tricky process. Luckily, there’s a solution. Rather than painting over the damaged drywall and hoping for the best, applying a problem sealer coating can lock down the torn drywall or other unstable surfaces like crumbling textures by creating a hard, moisture-resistant foundation that won’t bubble. Damaged drywall should be clean, dry, and free of buildup or leftover wallpaper adhesive before applying the sealer. After the sealer has been applied, the wall can be painted.

Next is the trouble of peeling paint. Peeling paint can be sanded and scraped, but if you’re painting an outdoor surface, peeling paint tends to be a problem that takes more than just a little scraping. Instead, let a power washer do the removal for you. At the right pressure and the right distance, a power washer will remove peeling paint without damaging the surface underneath. After the old paint has been removed, apply a clear building sealer to fill cracks and glue down blistered areas. A sealer can act like a primer, so when it’s dried, it can be safely painted over.

Painting is always simple in theory and nuanced in practice. If you have any questions about painting or need someone to tackle a difficult or timely job, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. We can even match your current color using X-Rite Color Matching. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

FS Construction Services grain systems

Good Grain Means Good Care and Good Equipment

At FS Construction Services, we know that grain has to be taken care of. A small pocket of bad grain in storage can spread and have disastrous ramifications. When grain is stored before it’s completely cleaned and dried it can mold and rot, and damp grain is an open invitation for harmful insects.

When it comes to storing grain there are lots of things that can go wrong at any point in time during the process. Outdated or improperly working equipment can damage grain or fail to clean it or dry it properly, causing widespread loss and low-quality product.

There are a number of practical things that can be done to ensure your grain quality. Slow drying grain limits stress, running handling equipment at low speeds prevents unnecessary damage, and avoiding unnecessary steps means fewer overall opportunities for things to go wrong.

And while these things are crucial to keep in mind, it’s also true that the equipment used to handle that grain has to be up for the job. A good grain distributor will prevent fine material buildup. If material is allowed to collect on the grain mass, it creates moisture buildup and poor aeration. Keeping grain well stirred evens out the temperature and prevents pockets of heat and from building. A high-functioning grain dryer will keep unnecessary moisture from ruining whole batches.

At FS Construction Services, our many partner relationships guarantee that we’re able to help our clients find the right product for the right price. Our job isn’t to find the most expensive solution, but the solution that works best for you, whether that means something new, something updated, or something unique.

If you are in the market for grain storage, grain drying, or grain handling equipment, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

FS Construction Services USC seed treatment systems

Seed Treatment in the Mississippi Delta

Over the past 40-plus years FS Construction Services has had the chance to work with many clients who live in and around our community. Every now and again though, we get the opportunity to go far outside our usual area and work with a completely different community. This past February, our team of FSCS technicians hit the road and traveled to Tunica, Mississippi to work with a customer who helps provide the Mississippi delta region with seed treatments of soybeans, cotton, rice, and cover crops.

The main feature of the installation was a USC LPV seed treater. Our team designed the layout which featured the most up-to-date 4.0 treatment automation, allowing our customer to have consistent results month in and month out. Additionally, we provided extensive on-site user training and support. The increase in seed treatment technology has been a wonderful boon for the agricultural industry, but it’s also come with a learning curve. We want to make sure that each of our clients is set up to succeed, no matter the size of their operation. For this reason, we always make sure there is an FSCS Representative available to troubleshoot, answer questions, and provide whatever support is needed when transitioning to a new system.

No matter where you are, we can provide seed treatment systems, upgrades, and retrofits. Our expert team has years of experiencing working with the smallest setups to the largest operations and are happy to help, no matter where your location.  If you are looking for new equipment or have questions about your current equipment, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

FS Construction Services buildings wood steel storage

New Offices and Storage Building for FS Construction

Red Bud, IL Construction Company Building

Over the years at FS Construction Services in Red Bud, IL, we have built many, many buildings. Whether for farmers, business owners, or homeowners, we have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients. Earlier this year, we did something far less common, and built a building for ourselves. This project was an exciting way to fulfill a couple of outstanding needs we had been looking to address by providing us both with some additional office space as well as a fertilizer storage building.

The building, constructed on a foundation wall, features ample storage space attached to a comfortable office space. Both sections of the building are lined and insulated. In the attached offices, they also built restrooms, a lunchroom, a display area, and a customer service area that’s connected to a 70’ long outdoor scale capable of weighing up to 100,000 pounds with an accuracy of 20 pounds.

On the storage side, there are two 16’ x 16’ Raynor overhead garage doors for drive-through pickup of palleted bulk seed and fertilizer. The walls are made with laminated studs and mounted to concrete steel plates that hold a 50-year warranty, meaning this building was designed to stand for a long time to come.

While we have loved every chance to work with so many clients around the community, it was fun to take our own advice for a time and design our own custom, efficient building that we will get to enjoy for many more years. Our steel and wood building options are a great way to get the space you need for residential, commercial, or agricultural use.

If you have any questions or would like to see what we can do for you, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

FS Construction Services Fourth of July

Finding the Celebration this Fourth of July

It’s no stretch to say that this year has been unlike any other that has come before. For many, it has been difficult, stressful, and if nothing else, strange. For many, it has been a time of waiting, and counting the days until it might all be past. But in the midst of all that waiting, life continues to move forward, including the Fourth of July, and we move with it.

Holidays are often times to slow down, take stock, and consider the previous year. It’s easy to imagine that many of us will be doing that this year, whether we are with family, friends, or by ourselves. There will be a lot to think about, perhaps most of all, how much everything has changed. And yet, despite the year’s struggles, despite the new rules and disruptions that have been added to our daily lives, despite the pain you or your loved ones may have gone through in the process, we hope that there will still be some cause for celebration. Even if it’s a different kind of celebration than we’re used to.

At FS Construction Services, we are grateful for the family, friends, and clients we get to live with, work with, and serve alongside every day. We celebrate the time that we have had and we celebrate the time that we will have. We know with some strength and some grit we will persevere and see better days. And we believe that too is a cause for celebration.

As always, you can reach out to us for any building, grain system, seed system, roofing, garage door, or other service needs. We are always happy to work with our clients on finding the best possible solutions, whether it’s a complex job or a simple task, and we’re happy to answer questions and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to reach out to Gateway FS Construction Services. You can give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

Grain Storage Systems for Future Farmers

Project Profile: New Grain Systems for the Next Generation

Each year at FS Construction Services we get to interact with so many different clients, each with their own specific needs, hopes, and problems to solve. It’s not unusual with our agriculture clients for us to be working late in the summer, or even early fall, to get new grain storage systems installed or repaired as harvest quickly approaches. And we get it. Things break, yields are different than expected, the market changes. Farming will always have a certain unpredictability to it and sometimes all you can do is roll with the punches. Occasionally, however, we get the chance to work with someone who finds themselves in a position where they have the time and the resources to put some equipment in place to help navigate the unplanned things when they come.

Grain Storage Systems for Future Farmers

Last summer, we had the opportunity to work with a client who was looking to add to his existing grain systems for future farmers. Initially, he was only looking to add a drying system to an existing bin, but as he began to think about the next generation of farmers on his land, he decided to do a little more planning. So we also built a brand-new 42’ tall, 7-ring grain bin with a bushel capacity of 34,000. This new structure would be an ideal cooling bin for the new drying system. As for that drying system, we installed a 30’ Shivvers system, which is able to dry 10,000 bushels per day. Additionally, we added two Blue Flame Fan and Heaters with Turbo Boosters.

Thankfully, our client was in a position to act on his forward thinking and should now be comfortably set for quite a long time. If you are in need grain storage or grain drying equipment, whether you’re looking to build something from the ground up or retrofit an existing structure, we have a wide variety of options and our expert team works quickly and efficiently. Additionally, if you have any questions about grain storage, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

FS Construction Services grain systems

36’ Grain Bin Brings a Little Certainty to an Unpredictable World

At FS Construction Services, many of our clients earn their living in an unpredictable world and industry. It may seem like we say it all the time, but for all the advances in technology that agriculture has seen over the past couple decades, farming is simply never something that is completely in a farmer’s control.

New Storage Grain Bin Prevents Spoilage of a Good Crop

This client, a fourth-generation farmer, probably knows that better than most. So last year when he saw himself facing down a good crop in a less than ideal market, he knew he needed to do something or risk losing what he had worked so hard for. With harvest looming, Nathan Koester and his team constructed a 36’ tall, 15-ring commercial storage grain bin with a capacity of 50,000 bushels. This storage bin, which also featured two 10hp fans with shutters, temperature cables, a power sweep, and an air system, will ensure our client has plenty of room to hold his crop for however long he wants to while keeping it at the temperature and humidity level he needs to prevent spoilage.

Sometimes, in the face of uncertainty, it’s helpful to have options. With some quick thinking and a call to us, our client now has some flexibility and a little extra peace of mind. Controlling the weather may be out of the question, but with good equipment and a thoughtful approach, it is possible to weather the storms when they inevitably come.

If you are in need new or updated grain storage, grain drying, or grain handling equipment, we have a wide variety of options and our expert team works quickly and efficiently. Additionally, if you have any questions about grain storage, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

 

FS Construction Services grain bin project profile

Project Profile: A 42’ Grain Bin Just in Time

At FS Construction Services, we often work with clients who experience a truly unique kind of time pressure in their jobs. Despite the advancement of seed and equipment technology, there will always be an element of farming that is completely out of the hands of those planting and harvesting. Time, for a farmer, whether it feels like there’s not enough or too much of it, will always be of the essence.

New Sukup Grain Bin Provides Storage for a Good Harvest

This was the case for a client of ours last August who found himself staring down an impending harvest with not enough storage to contain it. While this less than ideal scenario had an obvious solution, that didn’t mean it was an easy solution. Luckily, the client reached out to our team and we were able to begin and finish the job well within the client’s timeline.

Nathan Koester led the team responsible for constructing a 42 ft. tall, 9-ring Sukup grain bin capable of holding up to 42,700 bushels. In addition to the added capacity, we also installed two 10hp centrifugal fans, a spreader, stairs, and a horizontal unload.

More than just providing raw space, this grain storage unit will help keep the grain protected and well maintained so it can receive top dollar when the time comes. The structure itself has been designed to stand the test of time and weather, ensuring our client’s equipment will continue to work for him and not against him.

If you are in need of new or updated grain storage, grain drying, or grain handling equipment, we have a wide variety of options and our expert team works quickly and efficiently. Additionally, if you have any questions about grain storage, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

Farm King - Farm Equipment

Excited to Announce Our New Partner, Farm King

There are many things that have contributed to our success and longevity over the past 40-plus years, but one of the most important has been the many partners we have had the pleasure of working with during that time, and adding a new partner from time to time. These wonderful companies and manufacturers allow us to provide our customers with the highest-quality products at the best possible prices. Our grain systems have been some of our most popular products and, to continue to meet the need of our clients and make use of the most recent technology, we have regularly expanded our offerings and services provided, particularly in the field of grain drying, handling, and storage.

New Farm Equipment for Grain Drying, Handling & Storage

With this in mind, FS Construction Services is excited to announce that we are adding another manufacturer to our professional family. Farm King is an agricultural equipment company based in Canada with a network of warehouses and distributors throughout North America. Their expertise and top-tier product range make them an ideal partner for us.

Farm King is committed to durable, top-of-the-line equipment and we can’t wait to begin selling and installing their impressive line of augers. From conventional to utility to bolt-on hopper to backsaver to unloading augers, their catalog comes in a wide variety of features, sizes, and functions, to make sure that you have the exact equipment you need for the job. Their wide variety of augers will no doubt provide a great deal of options and customization for our customers for many years to come.

If you are in need of a new auger or are looking for any other kind of grain handling equipment, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

Grain Bin Maintenance - FS Construction Services

Pre-Season Maintenance in an Uncertain Season

This has been a strange year so far to say the least. And with schools, many businesses, and social gatherings on hold for much of the spring, it has felt at times like the world has stopped spinning. But, of course, we know that isn’t the case. The temperatures will continue to go up and the rains will come and the crops will grow. Farmers can’t put their season on hold for a few months and pick it back up again, and so, like always, they must go on, including pre-season maintenance.

However the season may look for you, the fact remains that farming is a hard job, and farming equipment has to stand up to a bit of a beating each year. At FS Construction Services, we know that the wear and tear adds up, and few things are more disastrous than your grain system breaking down on you in the thick of harvest. Unfortunately, these things don’t come with a check engine light, but there are a number of signs that can tell you it’s time for a little pre-season TLC.

Grain System Maintenance Tips

Here are a few indicators that your grain bin might need a little pre-season maintenance.

  • Excess dirt and debris. Look especially close around roof panels, vents, and connections
  • Moisture buildup. Check manholes, caps, and any other opening to make sure everything is sealing properly
  • Unsafe electrical connections. Make sure your wiring is secure and not weathered or damaged
  • Loose anchor bolts. Tighten anything that’s loose and see if the foundation is still level
  • Rust, old grain, other junk. While you’ve still got some time and an empty bin, make sure it’s clean and free of things that could cause rot

Now most of these are pretty obvious tasks that most people are going to be able to perform on their own. But if you’re working with some older equipment or it’s been a while since you’ve had work done on your grain dryer or you’re just the better-safe-than-sorry type, you can let us know. We’ll send a trained technician out to you to perform an inspection on your dryer. Specifically, our techs look at six key areas:

  1. Burners
  2. Fan housing and blades for dirt buildup
  3. Belts for wear
  4. Bearings
  5. Electrical controls and switches
  6. Gas pressure regulators and LP gas vaporizers

It is a little bit of time and money, but we’ve seen time and time again how a little bit now can save a lot in the future. If you would like to schedule an inspection, or if you would like to browse our selection of stir dryers, counter mix-flow dryers, or counter-flow dryers, let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.