Water in Indoor Arena

   / Water in Indoor Arena #1  

GPintheMitten

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Flushing, Michigan
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Kubota B2620 with BH65 backhoe, Ford 2N
We bought our place last fall. The previous owner had 4 horse stalls in the arena and had put stone and concrete under the stalls.

We broke the concrete up.and hauled it out. Now we need to bring in fill. But before I do I wanted to get advice whether I need to put tile or similar in to manage the water.

I figure I need about 4-5 inches of sand.

Here's pics.
 

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   / Water in Indoor Arena #2  
Assuming that is ground water from a high water table, and not running in from the outside, I would vote for tile that runs to daylight somewhere out side the arena. Maybe three evenly spaced rows the length of the arena?
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena
  • Thread Starter
#3  
How deep should the tiles be buried in the arena?
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena #4  
It needs to be below the frost depth. I don't know how much frost penetration you get in the arena? Today I thought I was going to level out some well-composted horse manure in a new flower bed. Surprise! It was still frozen hard as a rock about 10" down. But, that is outside.

My best guess is to dig a trench starting at 4 feet deep, put 6" of washed stone in the bottom, then the tile, then another 18" of stone, then filter fabric. That would bring the stone to within 2 feet of the current grade, which you plan to top with 4"-5" of sand. If you can connect the tile with a header at one end of the arena and then run one tile from the header out through a doorway, that would be good.

A slope of 1/4" per foot should be enough. The total drop over 100' would be: 100 x 0.25" = 25". So, if the arena is 100' long, the tile would be 3'-6" + 2'-1" (5'-7") below grade where it leaves the barn. That should be below the frost depth outside the arena. Do you have someplace lower than that within a reasonable distance from the arena to run the tile to daylight at about 1/8" per foot slope?

Depending on the frost depth inside and outside the arena, and how much fall there is outside to drain to, you have to fudge around until you get a fit I guess. You can use a slope less than 1/4" per foot, but no less than 1/8" per foot.

If you run the tile across the short width of the arena, connecting to a header tile--that runs the length of the arena--with tee joints, you will have less total slope depth needed than running it lengthwise.
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I donr know if there is enough drop on our property to put the tile 48" or more deep in the arena. Maybe. I'll check.
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena #6  
I see the frost depth for most of MI is 42", so I started out too deep at 4' no doubt. That should help. I don't have a real good feeling for how deep the stone bed (that the tile is in) needs to be below running horses. Will there be significant compaction below the 4"-5" of sand?
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena #7  
We bought our place last fall. The previous owner had 4 horse stalls in the arena and had put stone and concrete under the stalls.

We broke the concrete up.and hauled it out. Now we need to bring in fill. But before I do I wanted to get advice whether I need to put tile or similar in to manage the water.

I figure I need about 4-5 inches of sand.

Here's pics.

Where is the water coming from?

Stop it at the source before you uncompact the base of your footing.
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena #8  
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ub038.pdf

I see there are numerous articles if you Google "horse arena footing design".

One thing to consider, this is the first spring since you took out the concrete? It's hard to get a feel for how wet or dry an area will be based on one spring season.
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena #9  
I agree with Sailfast, stop the water from entering. I doubt your horse barn is built in a swamp so I am thinking that is not surface water but inflow water from poor drainage of outside rain water (unless your roof is leaking badly that is). I wouldn't think that you would need a French drain inside the shed if you control the influx of storm water from outside. It may be as simple as putting gutters on the roof to direct the rain water away from the eaves and into some drain swales. I certainly would look at that before putting in a 4 foot deep French drain that may not work well under horse hoof compaction anyway. Another option would be to address the ground slope so it drops away from the walls a bit all the way around the shed and into a drain swale. It would likely not need to be over 6" of drop to direct the water away from the walls. That would be quick work for a dozer with a 6 way blade at a cost of minimum hours. You could do it with a tractor and box blade also if you have one. Just tilt is to the max that your tractor allows and drag it all the way around the barn a couple of times till you get the swale deep enough, then reverse direction and plow out the other side and your drainage is complete except for directing it to a lower elevation.
 
   / Water in Indoor Arena #10  
I put a few miles of drainage tile in the ground back in the '80's. Frost depth was never a concern.
 
 
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