Cleaning out barn

[Conservation]

Will it ever end? I have a pole building with 2/3rds of it being dirt floor. Or should I say poop floor? Last owner had horses. I am using a box blade to pull the old, compacted poop out. My question is, how do I know when to stop? The poop just keeps on coming. I can tell where the concrete level is, so I can level up the gravel with that. I want to store trailers and equipment in there in the future to keep them out of the weather.
It's been 4 years since a horse stood there, but today it smells just like they were there yesterday!

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Will it ever end? I have a pole building with 2/3rds of it being dirt floor. Or should I say poop floor? Last owner had horses. I am using a box blade to pull the old, compacted poop out. My question is, how do I know when to stop? The poop just keeps on coming. I can tell where the concrete level is, so I can level up the gravel with that. I want to store trailers and equipment in there in the future to keep them out of the weather.
It's been 4 years since a horse stood there, but today it smells just like they were there yesterday!

Don't you have a FEL ?

 

[TYMinColton]

Been there, done that. Just keep digging. Keep in mind you may never ever get the urine smell out. . . .
good luck!

 

[jdmar]

Can you get under it and lift up "chunks?" I did the same at my last place. I was also lucky enough to find where he buried a few dead goats...I was wishing for just urine smell about then! But you do want all that poop out so you can have a stable base for concrete in the future.
Peter

 

[Conservation]

Thanks for the replys. I do have an FEL, but the stuff is so compacted that the FEL just won't cut it. If I had a tooth bar, it would probably be more effective. What stinks (LOL) about the box blade is that the poop compacts in there so tight that I have to get off and help it out with a shovel every drag. I am using a bunch of weights on the box blade to get it to dig in, but the scarifiers are not needed for this job.
This is just going to be a shed for storage, not a shop. So a gravel base is fine for this. But, I don't want to put the motorhome in there and have it come out smelling like poop or urine!
Burried goats?! Yikes!
I still need to get a couple stantions out of there, and next year I plan on putting a big door on the short end so I can get big stuff in and out.
Sounds like I just need to keep going for a bit. The gravel I tend to use has a lot of fines, and packs well. That should help, but I wouldn't count on it totally cutting the smell. Funny that it really didn't smell until I disturbed it! I am letting it dry out a couple of days before going back at it. I have a pretty big pile of poop going outside. I drag it out with the box, then pile it with the FEL.

 

[Gizmo2]

Sounds like a set of forks on your FEL would work pretty well, if nothing else you could break it up with the forks. I put down powdered lime to rid the smell of horse urine in the stalls.

 

[RobertBrown]

Have you tried backing a disc in there and pulling it out with some weight on it?

 

[Conservation]

Well, no but....I pulled some more out today, and I am getting down to the last of the wet dirt. There were some very bad smells from time to time, and I am no stranger to the barnyard! I think I will clean up the edges by hand, since I don't have a helper to watch, and I am chicken with the bucket. I am within 8" now. I need to get a friend's stuff out of the other side and pull some posts and get that area cleaned up too! Then gravel!

 

[foggy1111]

I beleive I would sanitize the area with a few bags of barn lime before your base is placed.

 

[Conservation]

Where do you get the lime?