Floor Options For Pole Barn (Not Concrete)

[The-AJ88]

I am interested in having a small 30'x40' pole barn built this year. With everything being expensive these days, I will not have a concrete floor installed for a number of years.

If concrete is not an option right now, what floor options do I have? I plan to park a vehicle and equipment inside the pole barn. The building will not be heated, cooled, or insulated. It will be used for storage only, but I do not want the floor material to lead to rusting my vehicle and tractor. A dirt floor is not an option to me since I do not want to deal with the mud.

Thanks for your input.

 

[KennyG]

There are various crushed rock options depending on where you are. Most important is to build the barn high and provide lots of drainage so the final floor surface is well above grade. Also make sure you have good roof venting.

 

[workinonit]

Kenny's end product on his floor is what we should all strive for.

 

[mx1alex]

I would do everything you can to try and get the concrete floor in there now. I did the same thing as you and kick myself everyday for not just putting in concrete when I built it. And now the shed is full of crap that it will be an even bigger job to get it all out of there so i can put concrete in. My shed is on a ridge so it drains really well. I used the smallest gravel I could get for the floor. Have never had any rust problems. Mice on the other hand is a different story.

 

[Rockbadchild]

you could make nice base with gravel then vapor barrier it and have some 1/4 inch plywood as a floor ... or have a nice base (6'' or so) of 0 - 4'' Granular type II nicely compacted this stuff harden like cement a vapor barrier underneath would also stop the humidity. ... you could do interlock paving stone but I don't think you will want that considering your plans.

 

[herm0016]

compacted road base and proper elevation.

 

[jthibodeau89]

As pthers have said, vapor barried and some sort of crushed material. Perhaps crushed conrete or asphalt millings

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

I put in a barn floor about 4 years ago. I had hired a guy to put in a level pad but it was far from level. After the pole building crew was finished I used my tractor to level it out with screened pit run compacted with a plate compactor to within about two inches of final grade and topped it with crusher fines also compacted. Since it was a horse barn I topped that with rubber stall mats. Ours was 36x36 so it took 54 of them at about $50 each, but it made a good floor for the purpose.

For your purposes I would put down a vapor barrier, and use a 3/4 0r 1-1/4 minus crushed material and compact it with a plate compactor for a floor. If it needs a preliminary leveling I used a 2" screened pit run because it was an inexpensive material and didn't have big rocks to make leveling difficult.

 

[QRTRHRS]

The-AJ88, you are correct about the concrete costs. I had a 32x24x10 pole barn erected this past fall, 2 8x10 overhead doors, one man door, no windows. The barn was 10k. The 4000psi concrete with wire was 3820. The Amish barn builder had suggested that his usual sub contractor would have charged 5000.

The concrete company did a real good job so I was pleased with them.

But, yes, when the concrete is going to cost roughly half the barn build, it makes you take pause.

Like 3 Horse Ranch said, crusher fines are easy to grade and will pack hard.

FWIW, if you had not already considered it, I would have a vapor barrier installed under the roof tin. Nothing worse than having condensation raining down on your equipment.

 

[Hay Dude]

I am interested in having a small 30'x40' pole barn built this year. With everything being expensive these days, I will not have a concrete floor installed for a number of years.

If concrete is not an option right now, what floor options do I have? I plan to park a vehicle and equipment inside the pole barn. The building will not be heated, cooled, or insulated. It will be used for storage only, but I do not want the floor material to lead to rusting my vehicle and tractor. A dirt floor is not an option to me since I do not want to deal with the mud.

Thanks for your input.

Asphalt paving if it’s in your budget. If not, I would use recycled asphalt. Compact the ground inside with a vibratory roller. If possible, put down a layer of stone. Get the recycled asphalt delivered. Place material on stone. Rake the material out as level as you can and make passes with it until nice and flat & compacted. It works better than you think and the oil in asphalt naturally helps reject those damp spots.

If you have dampness, I like asphalt paved barn floors because they stay drier than concrete.

 

[jyoutz]

I have a large steel barn built on a stem wall. For years it had a dirt, then gravel floor. It wasn’t much fun to work in and rodents liked to burrow in the floor. Last summer I had enough, rented a large roll off dumpster and cleaned out the barn. Even with hiring high school boys to help, this took days. Then I had the entire barn floor concreted, except for a few animal stalls. Now the barn is an enjoyable work and storage shop. I built dollyies for a few implements and now can roll them around. It’s easy to keep clean with a leaf blower and garden hose. The concrete cost thousands more than it would have several years ago. Do it now and you won’t regret it.

 

[taem]

For a 64x40 pole barn used mainly for machine storage, I put down staymat (small fines and 1/4" gravel) over gravel compacted then topped with stall mats sourced from a dairy that was going out of milking. Pressure washed and then installed with locking tabs. wet each of them handled like a drowned corpse. happy now with the result and less than 1/3 the cost of cement. We use a home made dolly to move equipment and for the most part, the mats don't move

 

[Hoodoo]

Decomposed granite 3/4". Wet it down frequently, it will eventually get hard as concrete (well almost). But I'd do the concrete now if there is any way at all you can afford to....

 

[Cycledude]

I am interested in having a small 30'x40' pole barn built this year. With everything being expensive these days, I will not have a concrete floor installed for a number of years.

If concrete is not an option right now, what floor options do I have? I plan to park a vehicle and equipment inside the pole barn. The building will not be heated, cooled, or insulated. It will be used for storage only, but I do not want the floor material to lead to rusting my vehicle and tractor. A dirt floor is not an option to me since I do not want to deal with the mud.

Thanks for your input.

A lot depends on where you happen to live and so far that seems to be top secret information

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

lots of floor options often dependant on where you live so no comment from me here... BUT since you mention rust I highly recommend that if yo plan to grade up to your bottom grade board you make sure you add vent fan attached to humidi-stat, or enough passive venting in eaves or vented coupula or plan to leave doors open. Depending where you are humidity in pole barns can be very bad and since you mention rust better to think of before than after.

Cheers

 

[jyoutz]

For a 64x40 pole barn used mainly for machine storage, I put down staymat (small fines and 1/4" gravel) over gravel compacted then topped with stall mats sourced from a dairy that was going out of milking. Pressure washed and then installed with locking tabs. wet each of them handled like a drowned corpse. happy now with the result and less than 1/3 the cost of cement. We use a home made dolly to move equipment and for the most part, the mats don't move

If I had to buy new stall mats, it would cost more than concrete.

 

[ovrszd]

A lot depends on where you happen to live and so far that seems to be top secret information

Yep. Until we know that our comments aren't worth much.

 

[k0ua]

All I can tell you is what I did. I used 0 to 3/4 road base packed down. It is working fine, but do I wish I had concrete? Uh, yeah. I also second the plenty of ventilation. I had to put some in myself to prevent the rain inside the barn from condensate. The road base is working for me several years in now, but of concrete would be better of course.

 

[ovrszd]

All I can tell you is what I did. I used 0 to 3/4 road base packed down. It is working fine, but do I wish I had concrete? Uh, yeah. I also second the plenty of ventilation. I had to put some in myself to prevent the rain inside the barn from condensate. The road base is working for me several years in now, but of concrete would be better of course.

Yep. Perfect material.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Yes concrete is nice but it's out of my budget. What I used was reject sand. You can kneel down in it and not hurt your knees. It was cheep, basically the cost of hauling. Because of the clay in it, it compacts very well. A couple of wind driven ventilation fans keep the interior dry enough for my needs. Another option I looked at was rig mats. They were plentiful at one time but I didn't have the budget for them.