Very true. The barn was built on a slope, not into the hill, and is on a low point of the property. There are obvious signs of erosion in the existing dirt floor, but it’s also an older building, built sometime between 1975 and 2000, that hasn’t been taken care of in a while.
Just some math for fun. If a 5 foot front to back difference you will need approximately 195 cubic yards of fill to level the entire floor - or around 10 triaxle dump truck loads. Plus what’s needed for your ramp
So in the ballpark of 10k depending on what we use to fill it?
Prices of things like gravel, fill, dirt, sand, and soil vary a lot among locations. The mileage from your place and back to material source can make a huge impact since road time for delivery is money for the truck and trucker.
I am paying $650-$750 per triaxle truckload of really nice screened topsoil here in Aiken SC, but when posting that on a tractor forum there were many folks who said they were paying half that, so big differences.
That was my first thought, that the building was built that way to facilitate drainage. Does the area get a lot of rain? I’d wait to fill, if you can, until you see what happens after a good downpour or a few days of rain. Maybe ask around and see if anyone local can think of a reason for the slope?
I would wait and see, or check to find put if that building floods. It sounds like it might. There might be a reason for that slope. In which case you will either want to put in significant drainage or keep the slope. I wouldn’t put ant fill in until you find out about that.
I second this. I had a Morton Buildings barn built on an existing foundation (1960s-70s?) that was a hog farm originally, then previous owners made it a horse barn. The foundation was crowned so that it could be hosed down and run off. It’s not extreme from a usage standpoint. When Morton built my new barn, they poured a 3" foundation on top of the existing really deep concrete foundation. Their engineers INSISTED it be LEVEL. It’s the only thing I hate about the barn, and fortunately, we don’t get enough rain for it to be a problem often, but it needs to slope a little so that when I pressure wash the barn in the summer or when it rains and blows into the aisle (it’s a shed-row open on most of the SE-facing side for ventilation and this is south-central Texas) the water pools and has to be swept out. I’ll take a little slope any day. I just had to close the north end door this afternoon after rain had blown in from the tropical storm that’s here and sweep water out again. It’s not a HUGE deal, but it pools at that end and down by the wash rack. Go figure. I wash my horses outside because of it.
we have a half of degree slope on our land, the barn we raised the floor to four inches above grade to keep water from running in.
OP has nearly a 5 degree slope which is kind of steep
My barn was built on the side of a hill, and there was no attempt made by the original builder/owner to level it. A truckload of gravel brought it up to “functional” but “level” would be impossible without tearing down the entire structure, creating a terrace on the hillside, and starting from scratch. It’s a running joke between my vet and me because everything gets a bit trickier when there is no flat surface available for placing equipment/tools, etc.
This is my best “after renovation” photo, looking from the southwest end of the 30’x30’ barn up the aisle towards the driveway:
I don’t love it, but I make it work. In my price range in 2020, this was the only property in a 200+ mile radius with anything even resembling a barn.
One day I will upgrade to a property with at least one area of flat ground large enough for a barn and small arena. For now, every day is hillwork day for both the ponies and me!
if the slope leads into the barn i’d fill… some screenings but not a lot. I’d let it get packed down before adding another layer. If the slope leads from the back wall(s) to door(s) i’d leave it be and see what happens. I would also dig down about 8 inches on the low-end posts and see if there’s any rot before adding any fill.