Ability to keep grain dry. Grain needs to be protected from precipitation, surface water, and from soil moisture. You need a good roof or cover, good drainage away from the storage site, and a vapor barrier that prevents soil moisture from rewetting the bottom layers of grain. Concrete floors that do not have a vapor barrier under them will, over time, allow soil moisture to move up into grain. So if you intend to store grain on concrete for several months, it would be best to put down a vapor barrier under the grain.

Ability to withstand the pressure exerted by dry grain. Most buildings and older silos will not withstand grain pressure without reinforcement. Alternatives to reinforcing building walls include setting portable bulkheads inside the walls, or assembling metal bin rings inside buildings.

Ease of aerating the grain. In any situation where dry grain will be stored more than a month or so, it is important to install some kind of system for moving air through the grain to control its temperature. Aeration systems in tower silos can be quite simple, it can be tricky to design an aeration system for a flat storage building that contains an odd-shaped pile. Some air movement through the pile is essential. Facilities that have been adapted for temporary grain storage should not be used to dry grain or to hold wet grain in temporary storage facilities.

Ease of moving grain in and out. For each potential storage site, consider how much labor, what kind of equipment, and how much grain damage might be involved in filling and emptying the structure. Tower silos are relatively easy to empty (make sure, though, that grain is withdrawn from the center of the silo to prevent uneven pressures and damage to the walls), but can be a challenge to fill. Flat storage buildings can be hard to both fill and empty. Pneumatic grain conveyors offer a lot of flexibility in loading and unloading a variety of temporary storage structures.

Economics. Make sure that whatever facility you select does not lead to spoiled grain or have excessive cost per bushel (consider costs for remodeling, aeration, labor, and equipment rental). The amount of grain that you can get into a structure is an important part of the cost equation. Flat storage buildings often have a disappointingly low storage capacity. Because dry grain forms relatively flat piles (angle between the surface of the pile and a level surface is often 25 degrees or less), buildings that have low ceilings don't hold very much grain - especially if you can't pile grain against the sidewalls.

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