The barn I board at has recently swapped to bagged shavings, and has stored many hundreds of bags in the loft of the barn. This seems like a terrible idea and quite the fire hazard to me, but I’m prone to overreaction. Would you be comfortable with this situation?
To clarify, are we talking about the small rectangular bags of shavings like these from TSC? https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tractor-supply-co-flake-premium-pine-shavings-covers-8-cu-ft
Yes, except bagged in paper instead of plastic.
Probably less of a fire hazard than hay. At least, I’ve never heard of shavings spontaneously combusting. Barns, by their nature, are at a higher risk for catching fire than most structures. I
7 Likes
Totally agree that it’s less of a fire hazard than hay. Those bagged shavings have been kiln dried and are exceedingly unlikely to spontaneously combust, hay is a larger risk there.
What’s been in the loft before??
2 Likes
In addition to being unlikely to combust because of the kiln drying, they also are highly compressed (while bagged) - meaning little to no air space among the shavings - so I wouldn’t expect them to be as flammable as hay if a fire started elsewhere in the building. Not saying they wouldn’t burn, but I wouldn’t expect them to take off spectacularly fast or anything.
2 Likes
I agree with above posts. Shavings are down my list of fire risk. Will they burn, yes. Will they ignite spontaneously, unlikely. I would worry first about the actions of humans. Yes, people still smoke in the barn when they think they will not be observed (insert my eyes rolling here) and use heat sources. Think of a forgotten blanket that had been draped over the heater to speed up drying, bucket/water heaters that have seen better days but remain in use, or wiring that was installed in a less than perfect manner/been nibbled on by little critters.
2 Likes
No more risk than storing hay up there.
