crushed limestone pole barn floor

[blenderbender]

I'm planning on a pole barn soon and was talking it about with friends. After saying I was going to do a crushed limestone floor one friend commented that would rust out all my equipment prematurely. I had never heard this and have googled it without turning up much. Has anyone had any experience with equipment rusting from being stored on a limestone floor?

 

[LD1]

Never heard of that before.

See plenty of vehicles that get parked in limestone parking lots/driveways. Dont seem to bother them any more than a gravel driveway

 

[dave1949]

Maybe it's not the limestone itself. Any finely crushed stone will draw moisture from the ground. A good vapor barrier under the stone and reasonable building ventilation should help stop that.

 

[BarnieTrk]

Yeah,,, what dave1949 said.
Without moisture - stuff will not rust. It's not the limestone doing the dirty deed of rusting equipment stored on it.

Insure your pole barn has a good roof (preventing moisture attack from above) install a moisture barrier under the limestone floor (preventing moisture attack from below), slope the perimeter (15' around your pole building) to keep moisture from seeping toward it from the sides. If you keep it dry inside, your stuff should live a long and rust-free life. :2cents:

BarnieTrk

P.S.
Consider this too: When the weather in your neighborhood serves up a drastic change in temperature and/or humidity, keep your pole building doors shut. If you open up the doors & allow in warm/moist air into your cool barn, the cool objects inside will draw the moisture out of the warm air and condensate onto it (commonly referred to as, sweating). What you've allowed to happen now is the same as spraying EVERYTHING inside with a water hose (Just like the outside surface of your cold beer can does on a warm day). To make matters worse, typically after an hour or two, you close the barn doors.
Now you've just trapped the moisture INSIDE your building and it will sit there and rust your stuff up BIG TIME. :thumbdown:

 

[EddieWalker]

Your neighbor is a good example of people seeing something, but not understanding what they are seeing. Rust on tools in a barn is caused by humidity in the air which leads to condensation when the outside temperature changes enough to bring the moisture of the air on the inside down to the point of forming water moisture on the surface of everything inside the building. The most common place this happens is on a metal roof. This is exactly like what happens on a cold soda can on a hot day.

There are several solutions. The best and easiest is air flow. Venting allows air to flow over the underside of the roof and dry off the moisture as it forms. If you have enough air flow, you will never notice that it's happening. Then air flow through the entire building will solve this on tools and other items that tend to rust. Remember, rust is just what happens on metal. Mold loves moisture on wood, paper, cardboard and just about anything that can decompose. The other way to deal with moisture in a barn is insulation. This gives you a barrier from the outside temperature changes and keeps the inside at a temperature that the air can still hold the water vapor. Lastly is to pay for a dehumidifier. This means using electricity, and depending on the size of the building, it can be rather costly.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

And if you are going with crushed limestone, be sure to get it with as small a size of rock as you can, or top it with a fine rock. What happens is over time those bigger rocks work their way to the surface and you are always tripping over them!!!

Eddie

 

[BarnieTrk]

Your neighbor is a good example of people seeing something, but not understanding what they are seeing. Rust on tools in a barn is caused by humidity in the air which leads to condensation when the outside temperature changes enough to bring the moisture of the air on the inside down to the point of forming water moisture on the surface of everything inside the building. The most common place this happens is on a metal roof. This is exactly like what happens on a cold soda can on a hot day.

There are several solutions. The best and easiest is air flow. Venting allows air to flow over the underside of the roof and dry off the moisture as it forms. If you have enough air flow, you will never notice that it's happening. Then air flow through the entire building will solve this on tools and other items that tend to rust. Remember, rust is just what happens on metal. Mold loves moisture on wood, paper, cardboard and just about anything that can decompose. The other way to deal with moisture in a barn is insulation. This gives you a barrier from the outside temperature changes and keeps the inside at a temperature that the air can still hold the water vapor. Lastly is to pay for a dehumidifier. This means using electricity, and depending on the size of the building, it can be rather costly.

Eddie

Hi Eddie,

I agree with your comments on using insulation. Insulation is great, but the vast majority of implement storage pole buildings do not get insulated due to the extra cost. I wish I could afford to insulate my shed/pole building, but the required funds will likely never be in my budget.

I agree with what you said above regarding air movement. However, I'd like to add this point: Air flow is great, but it should be DRY AIR.

If you mechanically blow in or allow moisture-filled air to come in contact with cold surfaces, the moisture will condensate out onto the cold surfaces. Sure, as the air continues to flow in & by the cool surfaces, the air will eventually warm the surfaces and eventually dry the surface and all is well - just as it would on cold soda can example. BUT, where you aren't simply dealing with a smooth surface, rather you have stuff inside. If enough condensation is produced to cause condensation droplets to run down the cool surfaces and be trapped in the cracks, crevices and seams - this will allow for the rusting / molding process to begin. Why let the moisture-laden air inside in the first place?

Yes, my shed has roof eve or soffit venting. This is a very passive ventilation system and I have not noticed that it has allowed moist outside air inside the shed at a rate high enough to produce condensation inside. After 24 hrs or so, typically my shed air temperatures have 'caught up' with the outside temperatures and I can open up the big door and not have condensation be produced as a result of large amounts of outside air being allowed inside. It works for me!

BarnieTrk

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have used crushed limestone on my driveway and parking lot for years. The stuff I get lately is more like a dust and they call it stone dust.

I would make it nice and level and compact it. Should be a nice floor actually. Maybe, and I say maybe even better than concrete which sweats with temperature changes.

 

[BarnieTrk]

I have used crushed limestone on my driveway and parking lot for years. The stuff I get lately is more like a dust and they call it stone dust.

I would make it nice and level and compact it. Should be a nice floor actually. Maybe, and I say maybe even better than concrete which sweats with temperature changes.

THERE YA GO -- SWEATING CONCRETE!

It makes for a slippery & dangerous floor; and anything around at the same cool temperature is also becoming wetted with condensation.

NOT GOOD!

BarnieTrk

 

[Industrial Toys]

You ain't seen dangerous until you have seen my steel troweled floors, and aprons! Stupid, I know. I have to post warning signs for the unsuspecting. A little skiff of snow and it's more slippery then the slickest ice! And the more you care about your concrete floor, the more stuff that starts leaking oil and scratching the heck out of it.