Barn+blower+hazmat=clean? Thoughts?

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I had a nice horse stable built 4 years ago. Except for the tack room it's filled with cobwebs, dust and hay/straw scraps.
On either end are large drive through doors & right now there's no hay. Concrete floor throughout.
One of the best things I ever bought was this Echo backpack blower that can blow leaves into the next county. Hit the throttle and it twists my back!
I see Amazon sells hazmat suits for $26!
Wife thinks it's a crazy idea...but with doors open I bet it would blow clean barn back like new in an hour.
Thoughts?

 

[2manyrocks]

I predict hay dust will be choking unless you have a good respirator and eye protection. Hazmat suits/respirators are also hot to wear.

 

[fatjay]

I have done this. Don't use that crappy respirator. I have a full face 3m respirator with filters that i use. I don't bother with the hazmat suit, just whatever I'm wearing. Blow everything out and it works great. Takes about an hour for the dust to settle.

I also bug bomb my shop yearly. Usually after i blow everything out. Makes a huge difference in keeping the creepy crawlies at bay.

 

[zzvyb6]

Use a pressure washer. A little bit of moisture won't hurt anything, may actually help any wood sections. Mine is a Stihl electric which I feed with a raised horse trough full of water. Spider webs, poop stains, dead bugs, etc. collect on the floor. Then shop vac as required.

 

[drizler]

I just fire up the Echo hand held we have on a very windy day. All I use is cheap a 3M 6000 mask off Amazon with a set of p 100 cartridges . I use the same rig for welding inside. Fire it up and away it all goes out the door back where it came from.

 

[rumwrks]

All I use is cheap a 3M 6000 mask off Amazon with a set of p 100 cartridges .

If you happen to wreck that one for some reason, try a 7500 series on the next round.

The silicon seals on the 7500 are a LOT more comfortable IMHO and the price increase is relatively nominal. I went through a couple different masks for sanding woodturning projects (dust collection is .. not impossible.. but extremely difficult) and found the 7500 series to be the most comfortable of the half face masks I tried (there are some I haven't tried so I'm not claiming it's THE most comfortable.. just that it's nicer than the 6000 series).

I'd agree that the full body suit is probably overkill, but I'd prefer to have eye goggles that are of the actually sealing around the eyes kind.. I've had enough red eye in my life haha.

Also not opposed to the pressure washer idea, but IMHO combining them might be easier if there's a lot of dry trash you can blow out real quick. Pressure washing can also be tricky if there's "barn grade" electrical (not accusing OP of anything, but it's certainly a common thing especially on older buildings... some of the older electrical I haven't replaced on my place is dubious.. at best.. and some I have replaced was .. good enough for right then.. at 4yrs old I'm 99.99% sure his is better than almost anything I'm dealing with), or horse tack, or other stuff that might not be so happy with the extra water...

 

[arto98607]

I had a nice horse stable built 4 years ago. Except for the tack room it's filled with cobwebs, dust and hay/straw scraps.
On either end are large drive through doors & right now there's no hay. Concrete floor throughout.
One of the best things I ever bought was this Echo backpack blower that can blow leaves into the next county. Hit the throttle and it twists my back!
I see Amazon sells hazmat suits for $26!
Wife thinks it's a crazy idea...but with doors open I bet it would blow clean barn back like new in an hour.
Thoughts?View attachment 1315105View attachment 1315106

Big blower for sure - it's just over 30 lbs and I thought my Stihl BR400 was heavy enough at 19.6 lbs.

 

[oosik]

I would suggest the best dust mask you can normally get. You all have mice in your barns. Where there are mice there is always the possibility of Hantavirus. This is nothing to fool with.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Neighbor's cat loves the stable.

 

[old and tired]

For a suit, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGGPGTGD

I've used hundreds of these... You don't want to reuse them!!! You don't need the spill protection that yours provide. It's mainly microbes you'll need protection from.

Plus https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZLFFV7X