Tell me about power washing a dirt floor barn

[mzgarden]

The place we bought has an 8 stall horse barn with tack room, dirt floors and a hay loft. This barn has been unoccupied for at least 8 years and is very dirty with cob webs and dust everywhere. I have tried to shop vac/broom the stall walls but it just floats up dust that settles back. I've thought of power washing during the hottest/driest part of this coming summer but I'm still concerned about it becoming a muddy mess. We do use the barn to store equipment and we would empty it but don't want a big muddy mess for a week, while it dries.

Anybody power wash a dirt floor barn regularly? Anybody do something else to clean?
Thanks

[geo in mi]

Ever try a drywall cleanup technique? Some shop vacs have a hose fitting on the outlet port. Attach a long hose to it and put it out the window as you suck up the dust. Takes a good motor filter, though. As an example, Craftsman(and probably many others) has a detachable motor blower that you can detach and use as a leaf blower.

And you might get by if you sprinkle the dirt floor and use a broom, rather than power washing it.

geo

[fishhead]

I would pick a windy day and open the doors and windows to get a good breeze going through the barn. Get a good dust mask, the leaf blower and just blow everything off the the walls and let the wind take it out of the barn.

It may take a couple of trips through the barn but that should get rid of a bunch of it. Then you could wipe it down with a damp mop and lots of water exchanges.

[plowhand]

If you sprinkle/spray a fine mist you can settle the floor, then just wash off the walls with an old broom and bucket of water, wash of with regular garden hose spray...day or 2 it'll be dry broom, or a twiggy branch will handle you spider webbs

[VERN in IL]

We had a dirt floor garage, you are not getting it clean. It's a dirt floor after all!

The dirt will "pack in" and the only dirt to remove are the loose pieces. To put the dust down, a garden hose with low pressure works great.

[mzgarden]

Thanks to everyone with suggestions. I will get the built up dust/grime/cobwebs off the stall walls once the weather warms up. Good ideas to try.