Floor Options For Pole Barn (Not Concrete)

[gstrom99]

My screening'd area packed down well, all by itself. It's soft to kneel on and not dusty at all. Packed road gravel would be brutal.

 

[ovrszd]

My screening'd area packed down well, all by itself. It's soft to kneel on and not dusty at all. Packed road gravel would be brutal.

I'm guessing screenings would work with limited traffic. I've been in two machine sheds with screenings that are used to park tractors, etc. Both are horribly dusty inside. Both have a powder/dust layer an inch or more thick depending on where you look.

I agree, road gravel isn't something you want to lay on. I don't lay on the floor in my machine shed so it works fine for me.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a gravel driveway, and my shop is concrete. If I have the space, which means if I'm not working on a project of some kind, I do all my work inside my shop. But when I have to work on something out on the gravel, I've found that large cardboard boxes work great for something to lay down on and move around under the vehicle. I try to always have at least one stored away for when I need it.

 

[ovrszd]

I have a gravel driveway, and my shop is concrete. If I have the space, which means if I'm not working on a project of some kind, I do all my work inside my shop. But when I have to work on something out on the gravel, I've found that large cardboard boxes work great for something to lay down on and move around under the vehicle. I try to always have at least one stored away for when I need it.

I've got some plastic campaign posters that are two ply. About the size of a creeper. They work great!!!! I get wayyyy more out of the signs that I did from the candidate.

 

[3gunr]

My dad used old carpet for lots of things , the garage floor , rows in the garden to keep weeds down. insulation in weird places, It does work well for a floor in a barn , But last year i had a new garage 28x36 built and had concrete poured, 52oo dollars, love it, The old shed 16x28 was full of mice and groundhogs kept burrowing in.

 

[51allis]

The best product available for me in my storage lean to's that didnt have concrete was....crushed block. I live near a concrete block manufacturing facility and they have a sand/gravel yard...they would offer "crushed block" made from defective blocks/pavers etc. and recycled old blocks that people would bring them...real packy but can be dusty in dry weather but then I would put down some calcium chloride mixed with water in sprayer...once that crushed block was compacted...hard stuff especially once it mixed with rain.

 

[davejstl]

I'm guessing screenings would work with limited traffic. I've been in two machine sheds with screenings that are used to park tractors, etc. Both are horribly dusty inside. Both have a powder/dust layer an inch or more thick depending on where you look.

I agree, road gravel isn't something you want to lay on. I don't lay on the floor in my machine shed so it works fine for me.

I have quite a bit of square footage with screenings. It works ok, but it can definitely be dusty. If you get it at different times, different loads might not pack the same either. We've had some loads that are more like fine gravel and others that pack almost like concrete.

Screenings will break up a bit as you work and drive on it also. Driving and walking on it is fine, but if you want to roll a tool chest or a floor jack across it you'll start to have trouble unless it was recently packed.

I think the theme of what most people are saying is that you might save money temporarily by using something other than concrete, but you need to factor in how much time you're going to spend dealing with or fighting that material on a regular basis.

I'm hoping to put up a new building in the next few years. I don't have time to do anything but concrete. The extra cost will save me plenty of time in the long run.

 

[Alien]

I put crushed in my old barn that was supposed to pack down hard. It did not. The tractor tyres break it up too easily. Wish I had never put it in there.

The 'new' barn I did it 'right' the first time.

 

[JWR]

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.

Put in concrete. Period. If you have to go in debt, go in debt. I built a similar sized pole barn 12 years ago and the WORST thing I ever did with outbuildings was to go on the cheap and use gravel. I regretted it soon after. I have regretted it for 11 years and will regret it for life. My building is filled with equipment and parts and shelves and tools and work benches and ... it would take me a week to unload it and then the floor would be poor because the site was not prepared right for concrete. good grief man !! Pour the cement ! And while you are at it make the doors a foot higher than you think have any need for right now and add as much size to the building as you can. Never big enough. Lessons like this are hard to learn and most impossible to reverse when you already made the mistakes. Far cheaper to do it right and do it once.

 

[Jims1025R]

Yes, I agree with those saying to put in a proper concrete floor first. You will never be happy if you don't. I built an airplane hangar, and could not afford the concrete floor at the time. It worked, but was never a good outcome. The only thing I did right for the floor. Was to dig out a bowl shape within the hangar, and drain the lowest center area of the bowl with big O, then fill the whole thing with 1" crushed stone. That did work. I later poured a 6" pad big enough for the plane to sit on, and that worked, as it had a few feet of crushed stone to sit on.

If freezing in your area is likely, you really need to insulate under the floor, whether concrete or dirt/gravel. If you don't, and it freezes underneath, it'll heave, and you'll be extra unhappy. A few feet deep of crushed stone counts as insulation or, use foam insulation. The non gravel dirt floor side bay of my hangar heaved every winter, 6" or so. It was a dirt floor, so not much harm from that, but not nice either. Remember that if your winter would normally have six inches of snow, and a few months of freezing the roof keeps that snow away, so it does not insulate the floor, and it heaves.

I also tried used rubber conveyor belt. It works, but constantly bunches up, so is never flat, and will catch under a blade, and bunch if you steer over it.

Pour the concrete floor - if your barn lasts you 25 years, is it worth $500 for each of those years to never have a worry about the floor?