We have always used something like this that I assume you can buy at most home improvements stores.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/BARRICADE-10-ft-x-100-ft-Clear-4-mil-Plastic-Sheeting/1000007102
Since I am only concerned about ground moisture rising I use felt roofing underlayment as I have had several rolls left over from a reroofing project.
It is easy to put down, cheap and stays flat and in place. I have overlapped the layers… and rodents do not chew it up to make nests
https://www.lowes.com/pd/36-in-x-144-ft-432-sq-ft-Felt-Roof-Underlayment/1000619803
I’ve had much better results with 2 layers of pallets. The plastic just caused the ground to “cook” more and be even more damp.
I started raiding Facebook Marketplace and Craig’s List for the super heavy-duty plastic pallets to use as the ground layer… this way, no rotting wood, nor a buffet for carpenter ants. Then cheaper wood ones on top. Since going to 2 layers of them, I’ve not had one issue with mold or hay ick.
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I have the same flooring in my metal pole barn - use nothing under the wood pallets.
300 small squares stacked to the 14’ rafters on top.of standard wood pallets.
In 18yrs I have never lost a bottom bale to mold.
I’m in the Midwest, so there’s plenty rainy, humid, cold & damp weather.
Each Spring I sweep out the fines that have sifted through.
I have the rubber roofing @clanter describes in my aisle. Given to me by one of the barn’s builders as he was redoing a roof.
That’s lasted 18yrs as well, with some minor wear at edges. It gives vet & shoer a clean place to work.
ETA:
Oops, not the felt, my roof stuff is rubber.
IIRC, called Ice Dam
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I have stall mats down under the pallets. When I used a tarp, rats ate holes in it, and I still had moisture getting to the bales. Under the mats is compacted clay.
Vapor barrier, like 6ml plastic sheeting, is used to prevent moisture under crawl spaces from reaching the sub-floor. If it’s good enough for that, it’s good enough for this!
Clay is a whole different beast from sand, and even with compacted screenings on top, a wet enough Winter can have moisture seeping up the distance a single pallet makes. The higher you can make the pallets, the less moisture will reach the bottom layer of hay, plus you have that much extra airflow, so you could possibly avoid the plastic by using 3 pallets or so.
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You may want to look into EPDM. Here’s a thread about it: Better than pallets for hay storage. I have used it with good results too!
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Last year I finally built a hay floor in my barn. I went to an Amish sawmill and got rough cut full 2x4s and 1x10s.
I put the 2x4s on edge, leveled them and nailed the boards down. This was over an old concrete floor, but it would work anywhere, though I might go with pressure treated 2x6s over a dirt floor to get a little more airspace.
With this I have a safe, solid floor that’s easy to stack on and last year I didn’t lose any bales to moisture damage.
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That’s actually exactly how hubby and I did my tack/feed room floor. The plywood surface is never, ever wet, not even when the concrete aisle has standing water on it from humidity
My experience too. Moisture from the ground, there is some moisture in the bale too and when you combine the 2 even on a pallet off the ground it can cause some damage to the bales on the bottom.
I love having a real loft for my squares. So much better. Any chance to build a real wood floor up off the ground a bit? We did that at 1 farm and it was great.
Darn, you are lucky!
We ended up doing what @Christa_P showed in their photos, though we have dirt floors. We put plastic down first and then built the floor on it.
You either need to go with something like what @chista_p posted, or vapor barrier underlayment for crawlspaces/roof felt underlayment. Nothing else that’s widely available will have enough of a moisture barrier to be worth your time. If you can, double up on your pallets, make sure hay is stacked appropriately, there is adequate ventilation, and that you hay wasn’t baled wet, or is too moist.
I second the suggestion for two layers of pallets. I also prefer the plastic pallets because they are less likely to cause broken ankles. But I’ve used two layers of wood pallets with success. Just be aware that they create a great shelter for rodents!
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I store my hay over a dirt floor, clay dirt to be specific. What works for me is sandwiching the tarp, so layer of pallets on dirt floor, then regular blue tarp, then top layer of pallets. Even though my barn is open on each end to the elements, I have never gotten moldy hay with this arrangement.
About 12 years ago I put pallets down then covered the pallets with a really heavy tarp, sorry not sure what its called, it is gray on one side silver on the other and really heavy for tarp/canvas. We just call it hay tarp, it is somewhat water proof. Anyway, this summer I was finally able to finish the hay area with a few more pallets, the same tarp is still going strong. I like the tarp on top of the pallets so I can sweep all the hay crumbles up and in the spot where I was missing some pallets and the tarp was just on the ground the water did seep through and ruin the bottom of the bales.
I use tarps designed for covering roofs that have have been damaged. I like making a tarp taco. Big tarp, pallets laid on a portion of it, hay stacked on pallets, and remainder of tarp flipped over the hay.
My barn is clay with crushed limestone on the top. I don’t have any issues with keeping hay for a year in the tarp taco. The barn pad is raised up from grade several feet and the native soil is a sand clay mix; dunno if those factors are playing into my success.
Forgot to say… if it’s square bales, make sure the bottom layer is Cut Side Up to allow for more airflow. I prefer to stack Log Cabin style from there up, with air space in between.
While I have Georgia Red Clay, my hay barn is open air, with the 24’ entrance facing the west to bring in the most air circulation.
Our hay shed is one of those bolt together metal buildings from a kit; it was already in place when we purchased our property. It has no traditional foundation (no slab or packed stone), but has the optional floor kit, which consists of metal “joists,” with 3/4" CDX plywood as the floor.
We lost a few bales, and the original plywood was worn, so we removed it for replacement. We added thick plastic sheeting over the metal joists, new CDX plywood, with pallets over that. No bale loss in the roughly 15+ years since.
We also don’t pack the hay in quite as tight as we used to do. Makes it much easier for me to pull the first bale out of a row, and provides a little more air circulation.
Locally here in Michigan, a common practice is using straw bales as the base layer. Any dampness gets the straw, not the hay. This is even over plastic sheeting or tarps. They never disturb the straw bales, just put new hay on them every year. I have not done this myself, but learned about it when I complained about finding moldy bales at the bottom of our stack in the cement floored pole barn.
We have since gone to plywood sheeting over 1"x 2" strips to keep plywood slightly up off the cement. Plastic layer on cement, then these 12’ long by 4ft wide panels over plastic, then hay on plywood. Works quite well, no moldy bales. The exception was the west front wall, metal, that sun shone on, creating moisture rising up inside the metal. Hot and cold got some mold going on bales touching that wall along the bottom couple layers. These days there is a plastic sheet layer against the front wall so hay can’t absorb any moisture.
We lift those plywood floor panels each year when hay is all gone, sweep floor clean, make sure underlying plastic is not torn or holey, no wet spots, then put the panels back down for the new hay. System works pretty good for us. Been doing hay that way for quite a while now.
Pallets just didn’t do the job here, always got moisture up from the cement, plus hard to walk on putting hay in or removing it.
Right now my final load of hay is sitting on a trailer in the hoop barn. No barn room for it yet. I think the bales we put up are more solid, maybe bigger at a true 50+ pounds, than most bales we bought in the past. So my number count is slightly less than in the past, but they take up LOTS more room! As a “hay hoarder” I never want to get caught short of hay!! Too awful of weather to go get hay in winter. So we will see how much the horses eat, of this year’s hay compared to bale counts of past years.
