Pole building: to slab or not to slab

[20 20]

A friend of mine has a barn with blacktop for a floor. He has told me it is the worse thing he ever did. It seems that it won't cure without being exposed to the sun and has remained "soft" for the last 15 years or so. I don't know if he just got defective material, but now that I think of it I have never seen asphalt paving used in an enclosed structure other than his barn.
.

Wow that makes for a nasty mess. The guy up the road just did his with blacktop{I quess that would be a better word} about a month or so ago. His is harder then a rock even if it were outside he still wouldn't have gottin any sun, very crappy weather up here. I quess if someone had a bad enough leak{oil diesel gas} then it may eat through, but if that were the case wouldn't ya want to fix the leak ?

I do know they mixed the asphalt some what week{I quess that'd be the right wording, less tar} and told him to let it cure through the winter. Next spring he is suppose to put on the driveway seal coating{brush on}. If I didn't own a dozer{keep it in my garage} I would not hesitate for 1 ny second about blacktopping mine.

I also know that a good base is a must, but isn't a good base a must in concrete also?

 

[20 20]

I wonder if it's possible the garage 20 20 talked of was built over what used to be an asphalt driveway/parking area?
Dave.

No it was not, the garage had a dirt floor. They came in and did everything after the garage was complete. that is the 1 that was done over 30yrs ago{I believe that's the 1 in question?}. The 1 up the road was also complete crushed rock for a base.

 

[20 20]

I would think it would work well if that was it.

I have often wondered about using blacktop inside a building. Being that I try to not spend any more money than I have to for things that don't provide me with much entertainment, such as driveways and floors, blacktop would be the best choice for most of my barn needs if it would work, freeing up the resources to purchase tractors, motorcycles and othe "fun" stuff.

The ones I have seen were great, liked them more then concrete. As life goes though I quess the end result depends on how the job is done.
A friend of mine had a 40 by 60 concrete slab poured and it is JUNK to say it nicely. It has flacked terrible leaving huge holes and bad spots. I have also seen others do this over time. I'm not saying all concrete slabs are bad once again I believe it depends on how well the job was done. One thing I have noticed up here, freezing temps5-6mths a year, is that concrete does not shift well instead it cracks.

 

[20 20]

I think somebody told Karl that it was the lack of sunshine that prevents it from curing. The barn had been used for storage and didn't have any heavy equipment in it that could have saturated the soil.

I really don't understand the sun curing answer. I would sooner say maybe the job was not up to par in the 1st palce. Like I said the neighbor did his and we have had cool temps{20-30s at night} rain and allmost no sun, plus his is inside with all doors closed at night.

How does he plan on fixing his floor, Karl? I wonder if he layed crush rock on top let it settle then topped that off if it'd work????????? A bad blacktop job could be real nasty, I don't envy him at all

 

[Steve C]

I really don't understand the sun curing answer. I would sooner say maybe the job was not up to par in the 1st palce. Like I said the neighbor did his and we have had cool temps{20-30s at night} rain and allmost no sun, plus his is inside with all doors closed at night.

How does he plan on fixing his floor, Karl? I wonder if he layed crush rock on top let it settle then topped that off if it'd work????????? A bad blacktop job could be real nasty, I don't envy him at all

He has been living with it for about 15 years. I am going to see him in a couple of weeks, I will ask him if he is ever going to get it fixed.