# Crushed stone or raised floor for wood shed



## bpc (Dec 24, 2016)

Hi all,

I'm starting to plan out my wood shed design and am looking for feedback from folks on what they used for the floor of their sheds, i.e. crushed stone or an elevated floor?


*Stone*
Pros: easier build, no tripping hazard, less room for skunks
Cons: moisture for bottom rows of stacks(?), migration of stone into surrounding areas, not easy to clean once leaves and chips build up

*Elevated Wood Floor*
Pros: easy clean up/out, off the ground for moisture, structural rigidity
Cons: tripping, skunks, carpenter ants

Appreciate any pictures you have.

Thanks and happy holidays.


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## Montanalocal (Dec 24, 2016)

I would offer a third alternative.  I lay old cedar fencing boards directly on the ground.  They never rot, are thin not to hide critters or take up space, and are flexible enough to follow the ground contours.


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## Bad LP (Dec 24, 2016)

Mine is raised with chain link fencing stapled over the top. I was too nervous about stepping thru the 8" spacing and snapping an ankle.


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## firefighterjake (Dec 24, 2016)

I went with a wooden floor with rough cut planks . . . not really sure why I went that route other than the fact I figured it would look good, get wood off the ground and every other woodshed I've seen around this way has a wooden floor. No real trip hazard though as the planks are tight. Carpenter ants are not an issue that I know of . . . but the wooden portion of the structure is 4-8 inches off the ground.


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## Easy Livin’ 3000 (Dec 24, 2016)

Montanalocal said:


> I would offer a third alternative.  I lay old cedar fencing boards directly on the ground.  They never rot, are thin not to hide critters or take up space, and are flexible enough to follow the ground contours.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That might work in Montana, in the mid-Atlantic region, I can tell you from experience that those cedar boards will rot in a year or two.  I used cedar rounds on the ground as my first row a couple of years ago, and while they are slower to rot than the other wood, they are indeed rotting.  I was hoping to just reuse that starter row for many years.  No dice!

I am thinking that few inches of medium crushed stone retained around the edges with boards or timbers might work well for many years until fines from the stacks fill in the gaps.  If nothing was put underneath the stone (plastic, landscape fabric), around here, the earthworms and other bugs would fill in the gaps with their castings from the bottom up.  I know this from experience as well.


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## Firefighter938 (Dec 24, 2016)

I like the idea of crushed stone and plastic pallets. Or just some 2x4 runners on the stone that run N/S not E/W.


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## FTG-05 (Dec 24, 2016)

I used former treated deck railing and pallets over weed barrier fabric in my woodshed #2.  Wood shed #1 had the railing only over weed fabric..

You can see all three in this pic here:


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## Jeffm1 (Dec 24, 2016)

bpc said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm starting to plan out my wood shed design and am looking for feedback from folks on what they used for the floor of their sheds, i.e. crushed stone or an elevated floor?
> 
> ...


Mine has pallets sitting on top of volcanic cinders (gravel).


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## Dieseldave01 (Dec 25, 2016)

I went with stone floor with with wood stacked on pallets


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## osagebow (Dec 26, 2016)

I used pallets, but am getting rid of them in favor of sassafras poles. They don't rot or shed nails.

If I could score some PLASTIC ones though...


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## shoot-straight (Dec 27, 2016)

i had mine on treated landscape timbers. i have now upgraded, and am putting pallets on top of them to get even more airflow under the stacks.

if i could have afforded it at the time, yes- i would have scooped out the soil and put in 6" of clean stone when i built it.


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## Babaganoosh (Dec 27, 2016)

Crushed stone is cheap. It's the delivery that will kill you. I got 4 tons  this past summer for my shed pad. Stone was under a hundred  bucks. Delivery was 125. Next time I'll take my 1 ton trailer instead of dealing with being ripped off like that. Stone supplier is only 3 miles away.


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## Bad LP (Dec 27, 2016)

Being a little harsh on the delivery charge. 
A new 10 wheel truck is near 150K with annual expenses well into 15K plus a driver and fuel costs. With your 4 yard delivery in a 6 wheeler you're still looking at 70K plus maybe 10K then a driver and fuel.

When you are done making 4 trips for 4 tons how much time, effort, energy with wear and tear did it cost you?


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## Babaganoosh (Dec 27, 2016)

Bad LP said:


> Being a little harsh on the delivery charge.
> A new 10 wheel truck is near 150K with annual expenses well into 15K plus a driver and fuel costs. With your 4 yard delivery in a 6 wheeler you're still looking at 70K plus maybe 10K then a driver and fuel.
> 
> When you are done making 4 trips for 4 tons how much time, effort, energy with wear and tear did it cost you?



I'm not oblivious  to the cost of doing business.  However  I drive past the place almost daily so it wouldn't take me much time, effort, or energy to just stop there 4 times when I was driving past.


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## Chuck the Canuck (Dec 27, 2016)

Babaganoosh said:


> Crushed stone is cheap. It's the delivery that will kill you. I got 4 tons  this past summer for my shed pad. Stone was under a hundred  bucks. Delivery was 125. Next time I'll take my 1 ton trailer instead of dealing with being ripped off like that. Stone supplier is only 3 miles away.


Yeah, ya know I hear ya bud.  Sometimes ya just feel like the money is flying out of your pocket a little too fast...  but when ya stop to consider that the other feller has to make a living as well, well that's usually when I realize that I'm not really being completely fair to the guy I'm raging agin....  Be calm brother, and have a Merry Christmas.  God bless ya all.


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## webby3650 (Dec 27, 2016)

I built an elevated floor. For air flow primarily and I was able to utilize an otherwise useless space. The floor system is 2"x10" floor joists with 2"x6" floor boards with a 2" gap between the boards. All treated. It Holds 5 cords with a center dividing wall.


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## CentralVAWoodHeat (Dec 27, 2016)

Crushed stone flooring in both sheds.  One has racks made of concrete block on top of the stone and the other has racks made of 2x4.


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## jeffesonm (Jan 3, 2017)

I went with a stone floor and then a layer of pallets to get a little airflow through the bottom.  I cut some slats off another pallet to fill in the spaces so I don't break an ankle falling through.


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## xman23 (Jan 3, 2017)

I use 3 inch PVC pipe as the runners to support the wood rows. I would stick with the maintenance free stone floor.


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## St. Coemgen (Jan 4, 2017)

For me drying stacks and wood sheds are different.

For drying stacks, I put the wood on black locust split rails, too keep the wood a bit off the ground to dry. Pallets will also work just as fine. My drying stacks have no cover. I let the sun beat down on them all summer to help suck out the water from the wood.

The covered wood shed is where I *move* my *dry* wood to burn that winter. There the ground is just covered with loose stones (not "crushed rocks" but river stones,  simply because that was cheaper, so that is just a detail without any real difference) over some geo fabric (to keep down weeds).

Hope this helps.


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## HItz (Jan 4, 2017)

My shed is crushed stone with pallets over top of it to allow for air flow (Then wood stacked on the pallets). It is going on its 3rd year now and I can't see any sign of rot on the pallets even on the ends and front of the shed where they do get wet from rain since it all runs down them into the gravel.


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## JohnDolz (Jan 4, 2017)

Babaganoosh said:


> I'm not oblivious  to the cost of doing business.  However  I drive past the place almost daily so it wouldn't take me much time, effort, or energy to just stop there 4 times when I was driving past.


Felt the same way about delivery costs and use my trailer for the occasional small load. My solution was to go with full loads (22 tons), took the cost per ton way down and somehow I never seem to have left over stone.


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## AppleRock (Jan 6, 2017)

bpc said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm starting to plan out my wood shed design and am looking for feedback from folks on what they used for the floor of their sheds, i.e. crushed stone or an elevated floor?
> 
> ...





I have crushed stone in my woodshed, which is about 8X12.
It works, but......

You'd be better off doing something else.
Something you can actually sweep out in the late spring.

Even el' cheapo 16x16 patio blocks from Home Depo' over sand or stone/sand would be a huge improvement.
You can then stack the wood on PT 2x4s or pallets over the cement blocks, remove them, and sweep it clean come spring.


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## sportbikerider78 (Jan 6, 2017)

JohnDolz said:


> Felt the same way about delivery costs and use my trailer for the occasional small load. My solution was to go with full loads (22 tons), took the cost per ton way down and somehow I never seem to have left over stone.


I don't know what others pay, but I pay about $450-525 delivered for an entire truckload.  Thats for washed #2.


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## maple1 (Jan 6, 2017)

Concrete pad.


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## CentralVAWoodHeat (Jan 7, 2017)

sportbikerider78 said:


> I don't know what others pay, but I pay about $450-525 delivered for an entire truckload.  Thats for washed #2.


I'm glad you brought up exactly what 'crushed stone' is.  I have a feeling some folks think it means crush r run or asphalt dust.  I am referring to no. 8 stone.  It's essentially a smaller version of 57s.


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## vtwoodheater (Jan 8, 2017)

Going to have to agree with the concrete pad.  Most sheds on here seem to be of the 8' by 12-16' variety.  At 4" thick, you are only looking at 1.75 yards for 8x16.  Around here $110/yd delivered.


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## sportbikerider78 (Jan 9, 2017)

If you can get the cement truck in there...poured is a great way to go. But there is prep with that as well.  Need compact stone to get a good base first.  

Just and FYI..if you are ever building a garage or a home, have an extra small pad ready to pour.  Concrete trucks always have a little extra and will pour the rest for free.


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## OhioBurner© (Jan 9, 2017)

When you start pouring a pad doesn't that usually constitute a building you need to pay taxes on in most areas?


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## vtwoodheater (Jan 9, 2017)

Around here, they are going to tax you on anything that isn't movable, so might as well have a concrete floor.   Being it is just a woodshed/cold storage, I didn't bother with compacted stone.  I just compacted the dirt that was there, put plastic down for vapor, and went with it. Bull float finish, smooth and flat. The posts are 4' down, the ground naturally drains, but if it cracks all to hell, who cares, it is just a woodshed.

If you were contracting me to pour that slab, that would be a different story.


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