# Vapor barrier under woodshead?



## Cowboy Billy (Jun 11, 2010)

We had a pole barn built in march. Two weeks ago we finished up the floor inside and I put a vapor barrier under the gravel. I have been seeing a lot of nice new woodsheds here lately and hope to build one myself this year. Now I am thinking it would be a good idea to put a VB under that as well. Right now all my wood is stacked on top of 3x5 landscape timbers and I have noticed the bottom 2-3 rows of wood are noticeably wetter and dry slower the the upper rows.



Here's the new floor in the pole barn.

I know they put a vapor barrier under concrete now to keep moisture from coming up through it. So I thought it would be a good idea to put it under my gravel in the pole barn. After all the more moisture I can keep off of my tractors and equ the longer it will last. I was surprised how many people thought I was wasting my time. That air moving through the barn would get rid of any moisture coming up through the floor. But I still think its a good idea and did it anyway. After all moisture is always coming up from the ground especially in the spring. 

Since I put the pole barn up in march and I could not get the pad level because it was frozen. I had the back part of barn set right on the ground. I had to go in and cut out 1.4 feet of ground so I could get my vapor barrier and gravel in. I took that much out so if I ever have concrete put in I will still have a foot of gravel under it.







My brother Timmy nephew Chase brother Tommy and Me






Vapor barrier is down and ready for gravel. Tommy's getting a well deserved drink!






Gravel is going in. Tommy was loading the gravel in the pit with the loader. He had to get buckets from different areas of the pit to make the correct mix of sand and gravel. Timmy hauled it in the dump truck and dumped infront of the door. And I pushed it in and leveled it with the bulldozer.






Dad inside the pole barn with the floor done






Dad Tommy Timmy Chase






Sure is nice to have the floor done! Now I can start organizing and putting things away

Billy


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## SolarAndWood (Jun 11, 2010)

Looks great Billy and I don't think you were wasting your time.  Moisture and heaving in any building sucks.  We are losing the barn at the camp because of it.  Even after digging a 200' drain on the uphill side a few years ago, it is always damp in there.


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## Cowboy Billy (Jun 11, 2010)

Thanks S&W

Thats a bummer. I love old barns. When I put the road in to our place I cut the side of the road down to hard clay so any water in the road bed will drain out into the ditch.

I did basically the same with the pole barn. I had to fill the front half but the back half was sitting right on the ground. I cut the ground away from it going one foot down for five feet going out. That way all the water from the ground and off the roof will run away from building.











Then there's my Uncle all his buildings are in a hole and wet all the time. Him and his friend used our backhoe and dug a ditch behind one and he was bragging on how well it was working. I didn't say anything as I watched all the water coming off the front of the roof run through the building to the ditch in the back. He also put up a pole barn 20 years ago. Pushed out 1.5 feet of topsoil and clay and filled it with sand. And created a bathtub. When it rains the sand fills with water but doesn't have anywhere to go so it just sits there and evaporits into the building.

Billy


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## smokinj (Jun 11, 2010)

Holly smoke thats a monster.


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## Cowboy Billy (Jun 11, 2010)

Thanks Jay. Its a 40x80 with a 14' sidewall. We really could have used a 40x100 but that's as much as we could afford. But thats the toy barn not the woodshed I want to build. Ya start throughing farm equ in it and it will fill up fast! Along with the tractors and combine I have to fit the dump truck, loader, dozer and woodmizer sawmill in there.

Billy


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## smokinj (Jun 11, 2010)

Cowboy Billy said:
			
		

> Thanks Jay. Its a 40x80 with a 14' sidewall. We really could have used a 40x100 but that's as much as we could afford. But thats the toy barn not the woodshed I want to build. Ya start throughing farm equ in it and it will fill up fast! Along with the tractors and combine I have to fit the dump truck, loader, dozer and woodmizer sawmill in there.
> 
> Billy



Yep the combine its self will chew up some sqft....Nothing quite like cleaning a combine. When I was a kid we drawed straw to see who the lucky "Winner Is"


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## iskiatomic (Jun 11, 2010)

Pole barn?  Around here we call that a hanger.


Yes, I am jealous.


KC


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## Cowboy Billy (Jun 12, 2010)

Jay

Its a small combine a old Oliver 25 with a 10 foot head on it. While I have friends that are farmers we are not but would like to be. There sure is a lot to learn. Both brothers and I have lister diesel generators that will burn strait vegetable oil. And we have a seed press to press the oil out of the seed. We were planing on running them all winter generatering our own electric and help heat our homes. But so far we have just used them for backup power. We have been trying to plant our own oil seed crops but so far have struck out. Four years ago we planted five acres of sunflowers at my uncles. When I got over to look at it I had to ask my brother why the heck he planted them there. As there was no way to get a combine in there to pick it. Then we planted 15 acres of sunflowers two years in a row at my cousins. The deer liked them very much! Last year we tried soybeans. But either the ph was way off or that my brother bought the seed from a friend of his and was 2-3 years out of certification. They barely grew and were a pale green rather than a dark green like they should have.

Howdy KC

It sure is nice. But it is part of our decision on where we spend money. Rather than buying a nice new car I have been driving a 91 ford festiva because it get around 40 mpg and it feels like I have to work on it every other week. Rarely go out to dinner and haven't seen a movie in years. While I don't have a 35 thousand dollar car we did spend 30 thousand on a used bulldozer and I love running it making my own roads and trails. 

Billy


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## golfandwoodnut (Jun 12, 2010)

Billy,
Nice looking pole barn, I have been wanting to build a smaller version for my man toys.  The only thing bad I have heard about putting down a vapor barrier is that it can work in reverse.  If you get water on top there is no where for it to go, and therefore just sits there.  If your wood shed will allow any water in I think it might not be a good idea since the gravel will let it drain better by itself.
Greg


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## Rockey (Jun 12, 2010)

Very, very nice looking pole barn! Looks like it was well built and thought out and I agree with you on the vapor barrier. I am having major problems with flooding on a 46X28 detached garage I am putting in. Here is what happened this morning:


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## BrotherBart (Jun 13, 2010)

I hate to tell ya Rockey but a vapor barrier....


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## savageactor7 (Jun 13, 2010)

Yikes Rockey with water like that the garage should be built on top of pontoons.


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## oldspark (Jun 13, 2010)

If built correctly you will never have water in the building and it looks like he has it nicely raised up so no problem there(cowboy billy not rocky  ;-)


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## Cowboy Billy (Jun 13, 2010)

Hi Greg

   Usually the VB is right under the concrete. But as I do not know if we will ever concrete it I put my VB under the gravel. My VB is three inches higher in the back than the front so any spill inside will run down and out the front. You have to be careful covering the VB so you do not make a wrinkle that will hold water. Also the VB you can buy is a lot thinner and the gravel can punch holes in it. The stuff I used was landfill liner material and is 1/8 inch thick. When covering it you just can't push it out flat with the dozer. You push it close to the edge of you last push and lift the blade and let it fluff off onto the liner or it will wrinkle. 

Wow Rocky

   Ya got hit! Hope ya don't have much problem getting it cleaned up and back to building. It looks like you have plenty of grade to work with. If you have enough dirt a diversion berm might be a good idea for future floods.

Howdy Oldspark

   My pole barn is built into a crest of a hill. It drops off 5' over 100' I had to fill the front 2.5' and the back it 2.5' below the surrounding grade. I have the surrounding grade pushed at least 20' back from the building and is tapered away from the building making it at least 1.5' higher than the surrounding ground and will end up having a ditch outside of that. I am going to take my extra dirt and make a hill out of it and put my windgenerator tower on it. I have some 20' pallet racks and am thinking of putting it on top of the spoil pile too for a lookout / fire tower.

Billy


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## golfandwoodnut (Jun 14, 2010)

Billy,
I was talking about a VB in a wood shed, I agree it is a good idea in the barn.


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