How to level limestone/gravel floor indoors

[ddb123]

Hi all,

I'm looking for suggestions and advice on my little barn. As you can see, my tractor will not fit. The inside is open space except for two vertical beams in the center. The whole barn is approx. 20 x 30. The floor inside is dirt and probably 100 year old chicken poop. I want to clean it up, remove the rocks and fence in the front, and start using it for storage and as a garden shed. I would REALLY like a better floor in there. It stays dry, but it's so dusty and messy that I can't stand walking around inside. I'm thinking limestone or perhaps some kind of cheaper gravel. I can drop it at the entrance with my tractor (that's how all those large rocks got there) but what's the best way to level the floor (gulp) by hand? Just a rake and a hoe? Is this possible by hand?

 

[hosspuller]

We moved 16 tons of sandrock into our barn & horse stalls by hand.

Pea gravel is easy (relative term) to move by hand. Even easier if you scoop it up with the FEL and transfer it to a wheelbarrow. Let the FEL do the lifting and as much of the moving as possible.

 

[SPIKER]

Like above use FEL for scooping up & lifting the "Gravel" of choice and then dump into a wheelbarrow & you can rent one of the powered versions for cheap. that way it does most of the heavy transport and you can dump when you get it to approximate location in the barn.

I would REMOVE as much of the dirt & garden fertilizer FIRST so you dont waste the good stuff & dump into garden. Pile outside out of the way and use FEL to scoop and dump into garden location of choice.

Yard Rake and shovels for leveling after all the good dirt is out. I would also lay out several layers of plastic as cheap insurance from moisture getting in from below.

Mark

 

[Ed of all trades]

The great wall of china was built mostly by hand, the floor of your building should be no problem.:laughing: No it is not the most fun in the world but it can be done if you want to.

 

[dave1949]

Probably a good idea to wear a mask while cleaning out the 100 year-old poop dust, wet it down with a hose or sprinkling can periodically and get some air moving through if you can.

 

[radioman]

I would not use pea gravel inside. it would move too much. Use something like a crusher run - much more stable. Also the size of that coop is easy for a wheelbarrow. Just take your time and rake it out after a few wheelbarrow loads.

 

[forgeblast]

I would second the modified aka crusher run. You are going to want to dig down and then use a hand tamp to compress the stone. If you plan it out you could then put in 1'' of sand and put stone on top of it, like a paver stone patio.

 

[ddb123]

Sounds like I got some good advice and it will be fairly simple (though tedious) to level the floor by hand. This is on my list of projects for this spring. Thanks to all!

 

[bigtiller]

With a dry barn, have you given any thought to using wood mulch?

 

[ddb123]

With a dry barn, have you given any thought to using wood mulch?

Never thought of it. How long until it would just be dirt again? Seems messy. Is there an advantage to mulch?