Barn floor ideas

[Zaffer]

I am purchasing a home in MA that comes with a massive old barn (around 1820’s). The main floor is even with the driveway, but it’s open underneath the floor, about 6 feet from the underside of the floor to the ground below. The floor is in poor condition, but the joists seem to be in pretty good shape. I don’t have dimensions or on center measurements as I currently live in VA.

I would like to utilize the barn as more than a wood workshop. I would also like to utilize it as a garage/workshop for smaller cars, under 3,000 lbs. There is an attached garage on the house I can use to park my DD’s in. Given the floor is not on the ground, what would be a good way to rebuild/reinforce the floor to store my other cars?

I’ve thought about building foundation walls below, backfilling it, then pouring a concrete floor, building a floating concrete floor, or building a wood floor. I don’t have to worry about water on the floor as these cars won’t be driven in inclement weather, and IF they are, they can stay outside until dry. I’m just trying to figure out the most economical way to address this issue. I’ve attached pictures of the barn and vehicles in question (the white BMW, ignore the F30).

 

[sjvicker]

That's a cool barn! What condition is the roof in? You're likely to get a range of responses here with one of the first ones being "talk to an engineer". You certainly have a challenge here to figure out if you should do something more basic and temporary or if you're in it for the long term.

The most economical way to address this would probably be to add some more posts and beams and redo your floor decking where you'll be storing cars. You might even have enough structure there now to support the cars but do you really want to find out the hard way?

If this were my barn I'd probably look into replacing the basement posts a few at a time with concrete sonotubes or concrete walls and then backfilling so you can get a concrete floor on the main level. Doing this would preserve the barn but it might actually cost more than tearing down and rebuilding.

 

[Zaffer]

It is a really cool barn! I would definitely add structure as I’d rather do overkill than not have enough and find out the hard way. I do plan on getting an engineer in there when we move in June, but just want a basic game plan ahead of that as winter is not good construction time, especially for curing concrete, if I go that route. I’d really like to keep a wood floor from a unique standpoint, but floor jacks and jack stands would be an issue, though I’d most likely just use a wood buffer for these things. The main reason I want to utilize it is due to the amount of useable interior space to be able to spread out and POSSIBLY install a lift (I’d use concrete pillars for this). I realize the ideal situation would be to build foundation walls, backfill, and then pour a slab, but I’d imagine something like that would be in the realm of 60-100k, which I’d rather not spend on just a concrete floor. Im not planning to use the WHOLE area for vehicles, just the front half of the building and the back half for wood/shop tool space.

We’re not sure if we are going to try to preserve the barn or tear it down. If we go the preservation route, I’d like to utilize it as a garage space/workshop. The roof is in serviceable condition at the moment, but the siding needs some attention. It’s a HUGE space, which is what we’re grappling with from a tear down or preserve aspect as it might cost way more than it’s worth to preserve.

I’ll take better pictures and get more information on sizes of joists, current spacing, size of the barn, etc when we visit in early April.

 

[Zaffer]

That’s one thing I’ve though about doing. Another one is to install steel I-beams for the main support and then fill in with joists every 12” OC to take the load. Then would come the expense of flooring on top to deal with the weight as well. Most likely I’ll consult an engineer to see what my options actually are. I’d rather not lose the space underneath, but safety comes first, so we’ll see.

 

[Zaffer]

Just a quick update:

We are going to have an engineer, who is familiar with the barn already, look at it again as it’s been 10 years since his last report. Building was stabilized at that time, but 10 years can change a lot of things.

IF the building is salvageable, I would like to utilize the barn as a garage and will most likely go the wood floor route since I can do all of that myself and over time. If this is feasible, I’m stuck with the dilemma of using either I-beams or microlam for the main floor structure and didn’t know which would be better. The structure is over dirt, but I would install a vapor barrier. I have plenty of room underneath to build supports and have whatever height the beams need to be easily available (6 feet between dirt and floor joists currently). Would one material be any better than the other? I’ve read online the pros and cons of both.

All of this being said, what would be a good flooring to use? Painted plywood, 2x12 or 2x16 boards, etc.? It would be nice to use a material that could take epoxy, but other than concrete, what else would be usable? Would building 2 foundation walls (2 already exist), back filling, then pouring a concrete pad be just as cost effective? Are these questions ones an engineer could answer?

Thank you for reading and for any good feedback on the above.

 

[LOW1]

I have a small workshop (16 x 20) and what I got was lower grade unfinished white oak flooring. It comes roughly sanded. I did not even sand it further and simply finished it with a penetrating oil finish. It looks like an old fashioned hardware store floor. I really like it. It is installed over cheap roofing felt paper. I think that it was about $3 per square foot uninstalled. Red oak will usually be cheaper. Installation with a floor gun was easy. If you go this route remember the wider your plank the less your installation time.

With enough money you can get whatever floor you want so a lot depends on your cosmetic preference. But to me that beautiful old barn begs for something with more character than a concrete floor.

Follow your engineers advice re reinforcing the floor. Cheapest and most effective might be to add a wooden cross beam or two and support them with posts on a pad. My contractor told me that three 2 x 12s glued and nailed together will “hold up the whole world.” But your engineer may disagree.

 

[Zaffer]

Low1, thanks for the input! We’re going to have an engineer out to look at the barn and see if it is even salvageable. It’s leaning some (taking a level to figure out how much), so it MAY be a tear down, but if we can economically salvage it, I’d much rather go that route.

As for the floor structure, I’d love to be able to reinforce the floor and salvage it due to the amount of space under roof. I would definitely need to put a vapor barrier underneath and figure out how to mitigate water intrusion underneath as it’s an old (over 200 years) stone foundation.

I’m definitely going to take the engineer’s suggestions seriously. He’s retired, but still does local work and is familiar with the barn.

 

[Skiff Builder]

I built 2 shops with wood flooring. Both held full size SUV's and sedans as well as boats, trailers, tools ,etc.

Shop 1 floor : 3/4" BCX pine plywood, oil stained and polyurethane'd. Hot tires, oil spills, epoxy drips, etc present no problems. If point loading with a jack stand, etc , I'll use a small plywood pad to prevent gouging. about 10 years now -all is well.

Shop 2: 3/4" Arauco ACX pine, primed/ painted with floor enamel. 16"o.c. 2x10's spanning 8'. Overlaid with a 1x10 plank for a Yukon XL tire track.

The urethane surface is easier to maintain in my experience.

 

[chasesmallcraft]

What a neat structure...I just started a thread about my barn situation.
Here is what it has underneath (see pics). The previous antique auto business had A LOT of weight on the shop floor above. They went heavy duty with the steel beams. You can see the poured concrete in the floor above.

This engineer will be your friend....let us know what he says.

Clint Chase
Wiscasset, Maine

 

[Zaffer]

Thank you for the replies and advice! This is exactly what I’m looking for! Clint, thanks for the pictures as they’re very helpful!

The barn is a neat structure, but it’s definitely seen better days. I’d rather keep it and turn it into a garage/workshop area as I’m a car person and would love to have the space, especially for a rotisserie.

I’ll keep everyone updated as I find out more, but would love to hear/see what other people have done in the meantime. If I move forward with repairing/reinforcing the floor, it’ll probably be a mix of ideas here.