I am having a pole barn built soon. It’s just for storage of my equipment. I am considering a stone dust floor. A few years ago I was in a barn with a stone dust floor and it was nice. Almost like concrete. My concerns with getting concrete is that some of my equipment leaks oil and I have chains on my plow truck and my tractor. I’ve installed a perimeter drain so it should be dry in the barn. I am considering getting stone dust and renting a plate compacter. I guess I could try a stone dust floor for a couple of years and if I don’t like it I could take it out and have concrete installed.
Around here they call it 304, also have heard it referred to as berm material. The first couple of years after I built the house this is what I had down, a little rain and compaction it is about like concrete. Sounds like a good solution for you, what I would do though is put it in and keep it at sub grade for your concrete, after a few years it will be compacted like concrete and if you do not like it you can dress it and pour over it as a great base. If you remove it you are disturbing your sub base and throwing away time and money.
I've seen a couple of pole barns that have a small section of concrete for a "service area" with the rest stone. Can be tough to roll creapers and jacks on stone.
RCBS, I don't see why stone would have to come out.. Or do mean all the " stuff" that's been stuffed inside..
Yes, the stuff. My uncle once did something similar, kept his pole barn floor as screenings planning to pour at a later date. Piled so much stuff in the building in the mean time that it will never get poured at this point.
If you have access to asphalt grindings, those can be compacted into a nice floor too. My one garage was built over an existing asphalt driveway, it makes for a fine floor. Also I have heard of people adding something to 304 to make it set up even harder...I dunno if it was dry concrete mix or what...was told it made for a real decent floor though. The other option is to go ahead and pour concrete, and then just protect it...put some cardboard down for the oil leaks, and some old beltline, or wood laid down for the chains/studs. Bonus is the oil soaked cardboard makes for great fire starters then! We use the cardboard trick under a couple leaky old tractors at work...works pretty well to keep the concrete clean.
I would think about 2 things. One, do you have any concrete to work on-like another garage or barn? To me, there is replacement for a concrete floor for servicing equipment, mechanical work, etc. As mentioned above, if you do use a gravel product, I would give myself enough room to pour concrete later-keep the final grade of the gravel below your bottom purlins-they are your ready made forms for pouring your concrete.
Jack Straw I have been trying to decide if I want to build a pole barn or a garage for some time. What size PB are you building? I'm thinking that a PB woul be cheaper than a garage. I'm looking in the 24x30 range, possibly larger if the bank acct allows. Hadn't heard of a stone dust floor before, was planning on concrete, or tailings. I just know that I need someplace to work on the vehicles that is out of the weather, and she doesn't wanna clean snow off any more.
Around here we are taxed more if there is a concrete floor in an out building so it behooves us to only install concrete in something like a service area or for machine bases, this at home/ ag area not an industrial area. ( sneaky tax person eh?). Never thought about the crushed /ground up asphalt -have to check that out.
I am having a 24x40 “main” pole barn built near my existing garage with a 12x22 breezeway to attach them together. The breezeway roof will step down from my existing garage (which has a 12’ ceiling) and will tie into the new pole barn which will run parallel to my existing garage. My existing garage is 24x24 with a concrete floor and heat. This is where I do my work. The pole barn is for storage. I plan on parking my truck in the breezeway.
If you get some nice finely ground stuff without chunks (or rake the chunks out) it works pretty well
We're watching the timber retaining walls melt into what used to be the swing set/sand box/play area for the progeny. Prime location to get some of the fueled equipment away from the living quarters. Now I'll start looking at pole barn ideas!
If you're just using it for storage, I really don't think you'll want or need concrete. You already have the garage for work purposes, you can keep the PB for storage only, and either the stone dust or tailings would be good under those circumstances. Not to be overly nosey, but you said your "having it built".. can I ask what price you're looking at for that size?? You don't have to answer obviously, but I'm trying to gauge pricing for our project to see if it's feasible this year. I had a new section of driveway graded and graveled last year, this year I have to address some drainage issues, and I'd like to get something up this year for winter car cover at a minimum. I just don't want to invest a lot of money into any "temporary" structure. When I build it I'd like to make sure it's what's gonna be there for a VERY long time.
Jack Straw-you answered the question I had-you have a garage for mechanical work. I think a compacted gravel floor would work for you. A lot of the large farmers locally build huge (60x 150' or so) pole barns to store tractors and implements, with compacted gravel floors.
Stone dust will pack like concrete. The power company uses it to set high voltage concrete poles. I hauled several scoops of leftover years ago and spread next to my garage. Weeds do not seem to be able to grow in it.
My grandfather had a 40 x 80 pole barn for hay and equipment storage. He put 16’ of concrete in the front and had stone dust/Portland mix in the rest of it. The stone portion was 6” lower than the concrete, but after a few years and watering, the stone was a step hard as concrete and had almost no dust.
I would pour concrete. I know a lot of people think concrete floors cracks when equipment drives over it, but it is just not true. I cleaned my barn out of sheep manure using my bulldozer and the pounding never even put a scratch in the floor. Neither does ladder ice chains on my tractor. You can also save a little money and make Earthcrete flooring too. All you do is spread out bags of Portland cement over your floor, then take a rototiller and mix in the earth and the cement. You can add water and mix it again, or just let the moisture in the ground harden it. If you want a floor that is bulldozer-drive-over-proof, just mix in gravel, cement and water and mix with a rototiller, then add in mesh and float the surface yourself. Basically it is in ordering it from the Redimix truck where concrete gets expensive. I don't know of anyone who has ever put concrete in and wished they never had.
Many good ideas-but I have to agree with Lodged Tree-I never heard anybody regret concrete! My brother built a 40x80 barn 2 years ago. He hemmed and hawed about the floor for 6 months, but finally bit the bullet and had concrete poured. The cost made him cry, but he hasn't cried since!
concrete with radiant heat, you will sleep on the floor in the barn rather than in the house in the bed..................
