Dust control inside equipment barn

[cdaledave89]

I have a sheetmetal enclosed pole barn with a dirt floor that I use to store all of my toys. I used to have water problems with runoff from the hill causing mud and dampness but I took care of that a few years ago with a retaining wall and french drains. Now, the problem is the opposite. The dirt is like a dry, fine powder that goes all over everything when even the slightest breeze blows through the gap under the sliding door. And when the barn door is open, it is much worse, of course.

I want to apply something to the dirt floor to bind the dirt and reduce/eliminate the dust. However, I don't want anything that is going to be corrosive to equipment or steel lying on the ground, nor do I want any oil or petroleum based product that could track into the house and cause a mess.

Is there something that will fit the bill, or am I asking for too much? Anybody have a suggestions? For those that might suggest concrete, please provide ideas on how I might keep tractor tire chains from tearing up the concrete in the winter.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[charlz]

What about a few inches of washed coarse sand?

 

[zzvyb6]

Last Fall I just had a fellow drop an inch of crushed asphalt on my gravel driveway and the dust went from desert bloom to zero. Its old, dry material so it doesn't have an oily appearence, its a softer base material with the same particle size as my 21AA limestone. I like the way it packed down. Made the snow plowing a lot easier, too because it didn't tear up like the gravel use to do.

 

[LBrown59]

I spread slag just deep enough to cover the dirt floor in part of this building .

The slag is only about an inch deep but it sure did knock down the amount of dust.

I put about 2 inches of slag in one stall of this metal building and built a set of doors for that stall..
That would be the stall clear on the end .
Right end/side of photo.

 

[radioman]

actually crusher run from your local quarry is great. just put down an couple inches and water it down. Once it dries, it will be like concrete like surface that doesnt shift and it great for wet tractors from rain/snow and no dust in summer. I have it in my new expanded garage last summer. I didnt have to water it down, it was already laid down while i was consructing it and the rain did the wetting for me. After it rained and dried up I was pleased with the results. If I needed to do digging or leveling, a simple scoop from fel works.

 

[kenstrac]

I would use nitpack or stone dust about 2" and spread Portland on top with a lawn spreader and then wet it down It's almost like concrete floor when it sets up

 

[AlanB]

You might look at what are called Soil Tackifier

soil tackifier - Google Search

I would look at Crusher run and pack it.

 

[cdaledave89]

Thanks everyone! I'll look into all of these ideas. I was hoping to get away without excavation since the dirt is at about the "right" level now. However, I can use this as a justification to the wife to get a toothbar for my loader! Nice!

-Dave

 

[tallyho8]

Are there any grain elevators nere you? I get old conveyor belts from the grain elevators and they work perfect for floors in barns and sheds.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I did a job not too long ago that had the same problem the soil wasry and powdery and but was nice wet. The owner had trouble wit hthe wheels on his torch cart or hand truck sinking in it. he didnt want to ad crusher run at the moment for some reason or another. He had several bags of sackrete left over from a fence job. I told him about the way you stabilize a roady way with a giant tiller. I took my 3000 Yanmar and 5 foot tiller and tilled up the shed floor. Then we added the sackrete about 2 inches thick then re tilled it and dampened it a little and then used a 2500 pound roller on it. Then we dampened the top on mre time and let it harden. now his boxblade wont even cut it.