O.T. Barn Floors

Mtjohnso · Oct 20, 2014

I live in Western Washington where we get about 40 inches of rain a year. That leaves a lot of moisture in the ground. I have stored hay in a loafing shed on a tarp. But the bottom half of the bale sucked moisture up and started to rot.
As I prepare to build a new barn I wonder what others in wet climates do for a barn floor.
Do you pour concrete, put down plastic, build a wooden floor? Not plans in the barn for an upstairs. Just a ground floor and then loafing sheds on each side.

620jd · Oct 20, 2014

We stack most of our hay on pallets, allows air to flow from underneath therefore stopping moisture problems.

LAA · Oct 20, 2014

I live in Louisiana and we also normally get a lot of rain, especially in winter. All of my barns and hay sheds are built on dirt pads sloping away from the building and guttered from the building to buried fill lines.

redforlife · Oct 20, 2014

If doing cement, make sure your footings go down into the ground and go higher than the intended slab floor inside. Your footing to wall on the outside should also be higher than anticipated snow drifts. Your cement floor slab inside should be higher than ground outside. Probly the cheapest, most easiest way to store hay on dirt floor with moisture problems is as suggested, put a layer of wood pallets down and stack hay on top of them. If you really got wet problems, your pallets might sink into the dirt, but wouldn't think they would to bad over the coarse of 1 year. But year after year, you might need to get some different pallets or re-position the existing ones back up on top of the dirt at some point.

Paul from MI · Oct 20, 2014

I stacked mine on pallets, then removed the pallets every year and cleaned out under them. Worked good for me.

notjustair · Oct 20, 2014

Drainage, drainage, drainage. Build up the land and put a foot of rock down. If I you have gutters running into drains away from the shed and you should help it. For some folks it is a constant battle just because they live in a low area. Have a nice shed (I didn't build) with horrible drainage. It has a cement floor and I wish it didn't - I would start by raising the floor in it. It is an 8 inch pour on a 40x60, so it will just stay like it is.

Mike (WA) · Oct 21, 2014

Use 6 mil Visqueen. Tarps aren't water-tight. The problem with pallets is that your are setting up a Varmint Motel.

Bruce from Can. · Oct 21, 2014

We live were it gets cold, and pallets can/will freeze down, and cannot be moved till spring. And of course you can't drive on them. One guy I now puts large truck tires down, and bales on top. If they freeze in, you can ram them with the loader to get them loose, and they will still work next year. Or just drive on them, and you won't risk a flat tire. Not a perfect solution, but low cost.

Spook · Oct 21, 2014

When we put a cement floor in the barn, we put down a vapor barrier, a thick plastic.

Dave H (MI) · Oct 21, 2014

When I used to deliver hay most everyone either had in a loft (groan) or sitting on pallets on the ground.

ss55 · Oct 21, 2014

Would a course gravel base under the haystack reduce the amount of moisture wicking up into the hay? Cleanup would be tougher than on a concrete pad. Regrading around the barn to drain away surface water will help a lot.

NNP · Oct 21, 2014

had one dirt floor building with a mold/mildew problem.
added gutters
added ditch behind building (ground slope low side)
4" slotted drain tile buried right next to the building on other 3 sides.
3 trenches in the floor and added 3 runs of drain tile under it.
2 right at the outside walls, 1 down the center.
dirt floor stays dry as talc now

gutters and surface trenches help some, but you have to 'steer' that water that is moving underground too

2510Paul · Oct 21, 2014

My brothers Blazer became all rusted on the bottom (burst brake lines so rusty)when stored summers in a dirt floor steel shed in WI. He dug out 3-4 inches, laid down a heavy plastic, then put in a couple inches of washed rock. It is much much dryer in there now.

So my suggestion might be to do what I outlined above, and then do all the good drainage suggestions below. Drainage is king but it still won't block the water vapors that come up from the soil from far below.

Of course if money is not an issue I would put down a great vapor barrier, heavy plastic, and then cement it.

Paul

Geo-TH,In · Oct 21, 2014

NO WOOD FLOOR, TERMITES will sooner or later eat it. Put barn on the highest ground, slope dirt to make rain run away. My barn is on clay. No plastic under 6 inch concrete. I have 1 ft vented eves, no rain gutters to clean. Not sure how well an open lofting sheds on each side would work out with venting the hay storage part. Cows in lofting shed will add moisture through eves,

I think I would put up a seperate building just for hay.

JD Seller · Oct 21, 2014

I stored a lot of square hay in dirt floored sheds. I leveled the dirt out and then laid a sheet of heavy plastic down. I then laid 1/2 plywood down over the plastic. The plastic kept the ground moisture out and the plywood kept the hay from sweating/molding from the top. The bottom bales where usually in fine shape.

I liked where I could pickup the plywood as I used/sold the hay. So I could back a trailer/wagon right up to the pile to load. The plastic I usually cut off as I went back into the stack.

I found the best plastic to use is the sheets made to be used as bunker silo covers.

I used pallets a few times. About half the bottom hay would be in poor condition.

If your building a new barn then I would level the dirt out and then spread a good plastic sheet out. Cover than with 4-6 inches of good gravel. Then use plywood right on that gravel to stack the square hay on. The plywood will last years. I would use plywood over chip board. The chip board will not last very long. I have some of the plywood that is over twenty years old.

GeneMO · Oct 21, 2014

Don waste money on concrete if it is just for hay storage. Dirt is fine, but like several other have stated, it is all about drainage.

You must, must build a raised "pad" with a dozer or scraper to build the barn on. Then do a good job of moving the water away, and put gutters on the shed.

Gene

O.T. Barn Floors

Mtjohnso

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620jd

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LAA

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redforlife

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Paul from MI

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notjustair

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Mike (WA)

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Bruce from Can.

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Spook

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Dave H (MI)

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ss55

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NNP

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2510Paul

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Geo-TH,In

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JD Seller

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GeneMO

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