What to do with a dirt floor

[wotalota]

Having read the THS concrete floor post I thought this might be a good place to ask. I am close to retirement and set out last year to downsize a bit, buy a little low maintenance ranch or a condo. I wound up with an old farm house and a 40x30 bank barn.

I would like to do something with the dirt floor in the barn. Mostly to help reduce the moisture level in the structure. In the fall I treated the lower level for obvious insect activity in the wood and will be watching for that. Also a barn guy came in and re-enforced some of the strucures and put in a sceen door to help the air flow. I hope to have him back when the weather warms to start to pull the strucure back a little into a less twisted posture. It is over 100 years old and I want to do right by it. Head room on the ground level is about 5' 9" and it is somewhat level but slopes off here and there.

I don't personally need the space very much. Another reason to cover the floor is to stop tramping the dirt into the house. I would rather not pour concrete for the cost, the reduction of headroom and the difficulty of getting it into place. However I don't want to rule out that possibility for someone in the future.
I dont think a wood floor down there is practical.
So the best the I have come up with that I could see myself being able to do would be to level it a bit better and put down a strong plastic vapor barrier. Then cover it with a couple of inches of something like 1" stone to provide a clean walking surface.

Are there other alternatives that people have seen?

 

[vallyfarm]

A friend of mine put in stone dust. He wet it to damp all the way through, and then vibro-tamped it. Verry messy for one day, but other than a few places the horses like to dig at, it looks as good as concrete. I wouldnt put a floor jack on it without something underneath, but his skidsteer hasn't chewed it up. Mike

 

[EddieWalker]

Since it's just foot traffic, you can use gravel pretty easily. I'm not clear on how much moisture you get in there, but plastic might hold as much water as it keeps out.

My first thought was to buy those 12 inch square stepping stone pavers from Home Depot or Lowes and set them out where you walk. Then put the rock down on the areas that you don't go to very often, but you still want to cover. Or don't bother with the stone, and just use the stepping stones for a path. They are fairly thin and could even be dug into the ground an inch for added headroom.

Preasure treated wood has made more trails through mud for me than anything else. Eventually I do something permanent, but a 2x8 on it's side has always been a quick, cheap solution to keep my boots clean and dry.

Eddie

 

[Dougryan]

Check out Dirt Glue and products similar to that.
DirtGlue: Soil Stabilization - Erosion Control - Dust Control

Doug

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Watalota,
My neighbor used a tri axle load of Surepack out of Wallingford, Vt. I believe a load is about $200. He covered the entire pole barn floor, this stuff sets up real good, kinda like concrete. Dont know if thats available in your area, but something to think about !

 

[WayneB]

Nothing like down sizing and buying an old farmhouse and barn! So now you have all of your retirement projects directly in front of you.

Stone dust would be a good choice and maybe easier to move around the 1" stone. Once you have it moved around I would rake it out as level as possible and the rent a soil compactor to finish the job.

What is the grade of the land around the outside of the barn and is the surface water running away from the building? If you are sure the moisture is coming up through the ground then lay some drain pipes down before putting in the stone dust.

You could put down a vapor barrier. The concern I would have is it will hold moisture too and might end up being a bigger problem.

Just my two cents.

 

[bones1]

A lot of folks put down some calcium chloride with a spreader and wet it.It's supposed to make a hard surface though I have not tried it.

 

[scagwildcat]

a friend of mine had the same issue that your having, he ended up paving the inside of the barn, the cost was way cheaper then concrete, and it didnt waste head room....

 

[wotalota]

So many ideas and material to learn about. Thank you all. The land is sloped and the long side of the barn is built into the side of hill so the lower level is underground on one side with sealed windows on the down side. On the upside there is a retaining wall and a few yards of flat area to try and prevent the surface water running up against the barn. I will try and rework this one day to make sure the run off is around and away from the barn. This will be my first spring and the snow will be melting this week and with the rains, I'll see how much moisture comes up in the floor then. I think the person who checked out the place for me was recommending plastic sheeting to try and lower the general humidity level to discourage the beetle activity.

 

[vallyfarm]

If you are talking about wood beetles, a good trick is to paint a nice heave coat of paint thinner on all exposed surfaces. This will soak in and make the wood burn them. Has worked for almost 10 years for me with just the one coat. Mike

 

[Egon]

Best wait till the "Barn Guy" has gotten the structural work done as you may require some footing work.

 

[Renze]

If the barn is built into the hill, it might be an idea to dig in a vertical plastic sheet as a moist skirt, on the hillside, to hold water from flowing to the low spot (the barn) as water tends to do..

We have used crushed asphalt, which we got cheap from a friend of my brother who works for a contractor. They mill it off and when the sun is shinging on it at 35°C it gets sticky, so when you compact it during a hot summer it gets nearly as hard as concrete.
It's easiest to spread in cold temperatures because it gets sticky when hot, and the best compacting results are when it's hot..

I just run the road sweep over the milled asphalt as i do over the concrete pavement.

 

[toolaholic]

GREW UP IN MASS. Learned My trade there. My 45 th. year as a carp. gen. contr.
No. Ca. now. I can picture Your wonderful Barn now, I think! I'm guessing the found. is stone,either dry stack, or lime motar, NO concrete footing.
My fix would be a skid steer with the cage off ,for height clearense. Make a 4" cut and remove dirt,staying 18" inside found.Install perf drain pipe in tranch along hillside wall,drain to daylight. If grade is too low install a sump pit with pump. Install 2 1/2" of 3/4" crushed rock , than compact 1/1/2" road base.

Give My best to the old Man of the Mountain,If you can find Him.

Family farm is in Thorton N. H. Say hi to My cousin Dr . TOM Sullivan.
For those of You that don't know , N. H. is a beautiful state. See it in the fall,before you leave this planet!

 

[wotalota]

valleyfarm thanks for that tip, powder post beetle I believe. Treated it with liquid Boracare in the fall and need to see if any new activity appears in the coming months. It was about $350 for 4 gallons, one can probably get quite a bit of paint thinner for that.

Thanks for these suggestions I had not considered lining the hillside wall or installing an inner trench drain but it makes sense. As I look over these, there is some doubt about using a vapor barrier over the soil but drainage control along with a compacted floor base of some kind seems to be favored.

toolaholic, I think at some time the barn must have been raised since there is a concrete foundation on 3 sides. The end under the barn door is still rock. The downhill side looks like the sill was not properly tied to the foundation, one end has pushed out a little and should be pulled back in or at least maintained in place. A slate roof so we will need to go slow and easy. I sense a little nostalgia, I'm from Yorkshire myself and understand. If it helps it was -5 below zero last week, 20 mile per hour wind, snow blowing to a white out. The driveway was a complete sheet of ice. I had to ask my good friend the oil delivery man to delay his monthly fill up. However spring is in the air and soon it will be black fly season. Then there is the New Hampshire summer my favorite month of the year. Followed by the gem, fall, and the popular game of find the car under the leaves. No really I have travelled around a bit and it is hard to beat the true four seasons here. The old Man of the Mountain suffered severe loss a few years back. There was talk of a restoration project but I don't know how it is going. I don't have many pictures but will try and attach one for you from early fall.

 

[toolaholic]

Thank you soo much for that picture. When it flashed on My screen It went into My heart. I am so happy for You and Your family. If we sold out We would get around $850,000 to $900,000. What would that get in Gods country?
I rember doing slate repairs on Harvard Univ. property. I still have My ZAX .
That's a slate hammer that also cuts slate. See Ya .seldom seen Sullivan

 

[Cliff_Johns]

That is a very inviting property. Just beautiful.
Cliff

 

[toolaholic]

OK The **** with the dirt floor,We're hooked. How many apple trees?
Many black Beers peeking in the kitchen bow window? I know there out there!

 

[firefighter9208]

I always love to see a picture where the barn is bigger than the house. Can't have too many square feet in a barn or shop.

chris

 

[bones1]

Thank you soo much for that picture. When it flashed on My screen It went into My heart. I am so happy for You and Your family. If we sold out We would get around $850,000 to $900,000. What would that get in Gods country?
I rember doing slate repairs on Harvard Univ. property. I still have My ZAX .
That's a slate hammer that also cuts slate. See Ya .seldom seen Sullivan

Most beautiful property.How much land do you have?Toolaholic has a good question.What would $800k get ya up there.Your picture really made me stop and think about heading north.
Steve.

 

[wotalota]

Man, $800K would buy you some good land and whatever kind of home you want on it most places outside the big city commute range. $260K for our place last summer before the real estate market softened. Thats the same as for a larger more conventional house in town on a 1/4 acre. 150K is as low as you can go and your not getting much for that. We are an hour or so from Manchester airport probably 1:45hr from Boston though I seldom get there anymore. I was just driving around and after cresting a hill got a great unexpected view of Mount Monadnock you can see some homes in the hills that must have fabulous views. I think the amount of land with the farm house was alway modest but there have been at least a couple of parcels cut out for family homes. It now has 5 acres all cleared with those old stones walls lining the boundries. I count one old gnarled apple tree a couple of newish ones and 2 newish pear treas. There are a couple of giant trees with huge truncks, I love those, maple I think they must be as old as the house. The deer are here regularly it seemed like 15 or more at full gallop came through a couple of weeks ago, gangs of turkey wander through once or twice a day in summer sometimes they get into fights if they show up at the same time. There are tracks around in the snow from night traffice but I don't know what they are. Bears and fisher cats are out there I guess but I can mangage without them. It was not what we were looking for but as someone said I don't have to worry about not having any hobbies. Oh and yes yes I got enough nerve up over the winter to say - you know what this place needs is a tractor.