Horse barn project

[Chilly807]

We've finally started the barn for our horses. We built the house 3 years ago, and have been putting off the barn as long as possible. Now it's time, as the missus reminds me.

We decided on a smaller size, 24 x 40 on one level, with two box stalls in one end and ground-level hay storage in the other. Concrete slab on 4 foot frost walls, with suspended plank floor in the stall area. She found some rubber stall mats to inset into the concrete in the alleyway for better footing and more cushion for the horses while they're in crossties and for farrier visits.

Initial stages are done, excavation, footings, frost walls and drain tile and underground pipe for water lines and some electrical.

I'll keep posting as the job progresses, we're expecting backfill to start on Friday, with framing due to start the following Monday.

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

Here the footings are in, and the frost walls are up and forms stripped.

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

The Kubota is earning it's keep these days, what with spreading excess top-soil and fill, and moving stone to cover the drain tiles. Not much weight on the rear tires when scooping a bucketful of stone, even with loaded rears.

And yes, that IS a John Deere hat, it's what they get for not giving me a Kubota hat when I got the tractor..:laughing:

Sean

 

[BeezFun]

Wow, that's built better than most houses around here. Why did you use footings instead of a floating slab? Why do you need a drain tile, is there going to be something below grade?

I'm interested in the stall mats you describe for the alley. Please post pictures when those go in.

 

[Chilly807]

We used the footings and a four foot frost wall because the two box stalls will have a suspended plank floor to be easier on the horses' legs. The open area of the foundation on the right side will be filled with rock up to about 6 inches below the top of the cement. There is a 2 inch "check" in the middle and end frost walls to lay the ends of rough-cut 2 inch planks in, which will span the 10 feet of the open area. A pressure treated 6x6 across the middle of the span will carry the horses weight.

The main part of the floor will be a concrete slab under the hay storage, tack room and storage areas. If it hadn't been for the stall areas, we could have gone with an engineered slab.

The drain tile will provide better drainage around the foundation. While not required by the building code here, it is recommended due to clay soil and a wet climate.

Sean

 

[BeezFun]

We used the footings and a four foot frost wall because the two box stalls will have a suspended plank floor to be easier on the horses' legs. The open area of the foundation on the right side will be filled with rock up to about 6 inches below the top of the cement. There is a 2 inch "check" in the middle and end frost walls to lay the ends of rough-cut 2 inch planks in, which will span the 10 feet of the open area. A pressure treated 6x6 across the middle of the span will carry the horses weight.

If I die and come back as a horse I want to live in your barn. I didn't understand what a suspended plank floor was. Treated lumber is toxic for horses, how do you plan to keep the lumber on the floor from decaying? I guess just replace it when it rots.

The drain tile will provide better drainage around the foundation. While not required by the building code here, it is recommended due to clay soil and a wet climate.

Where does it drain to? Does it go out to daylight somewhere?

 

[ustmd]

Chilly,

Good looking barn.

That is interesting about the plank flooring in the stalls and the mats in the alleyway.

We have a all concrete floor barn for our horses. The stalls are all have a slight slope to the middle with a french drain. We use 1 inch rubber mats in the stalls + bedding (woody pet-compressed pellets) to protect horses legs/hoofs--my wife breeds warm bloods.

In the alleyway, we just have the bare concrete--which works great for the farrier and for the wheelbarrow, etc.

If you have not used the mats before, my one word of advice is that you will be amazed at the amount of crap that can build up under them in no time and they are not fun to move.

 

[Mike476]

Nice job! I have the floating floor in our stable as well, although my building sits on a 8x8 PT sill (each time I clear a little more property to expand the riding arena I end up moving the building).

The first floating floor I installed I used spruce, knowing that I'd be relacing it in 3-5 years. Two years ago I replaced one of the 10x12 stall planking with popular that I milled from our property. I used three 12' 6x6 (two along the edges and one down the center) for support and I can say that after two winters the planking is as solid and as flat as the day I laid it down. Literally no wear at all and the floor provides the spring needed to ensure the horses don't suffer from leg ailments. Glad I took the advice of a local gentlemen who swore by it's use for stall floors. I guess there's a reason popular is used for planking flat beds, it sure does stand up!

Regards

 

[Chilly807]

If I die and come back as a horse I want to live in your barn. I didn't understand what a suspended plank floor was. Treated lumber is toxic for horses, how do you plan to keep the lumber on the floor from decaying? I guess just replace it when it rots.


Where does it drain to? Does it go out to daylight somewhere?

There's usually enough air that gets to it that it wears out before it rots, we just use 2 x10 spruce. Hemlock is too brittle, hard as nails but it shatters if they get jumping around. We're used to keeping two stallions side by each, but it'll be geldings or mares in this barn.

There's enough slope to the land that it comes out below the footing level about 70 feet from the barn. It's raining cats and dogs here tonight, there's a steady stream of water out of the footing drain.

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

We use 1 inch rubber mats in the stalls + bedding (woody pet-compressed pellets) to protect horses legs/hoofs--my wife breeds warm bloods.

If you have not used the mats before, my one word of advice is that you will be amazed at the amount of crap that can build up under them in no time and they are not fun to move.

We have conveyor belting in the current barn we're in, it's much better than bare ground but slippery when it gets wet. The mats she found are just over an inch thick and textured on both sides. We're going to set them flush with the floor surface and add a floor drain under each one to deal with spills.

You're right, they're heavier than the devil himself, I never would have thought rubber could be so heavy.

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

Nice job! I have the floating floor in our stable as well, although my building sits on a 8x8 PT sill (each time I clear a little more property to expand the riding arena I end up moving the building).

The first floating floor I installed I used spruce, knowing that I'd be relacing it in 3-5 years. Two years ago I replaced one of the 10x12 stall planking with popular that I milled from our property. I used three 12' 6x6 (two along the edges and one down the center) for support and I can say that after two winters the planking is as solid and as flat as the day I laid it down. Literally no wear at all and the floor provides the spring needed to ensure the horses don't suffer from leg ailments. Glad I took the advice of a local gentlemen who swore by it's use for stall floors. I guess there's a reason popular is used for planking flat beds, it sure does stand up!

Regards

Someone told me that about poplar, it slipped my mind I guess. If I can find some I may try it this time, we've got a couple local guys that mill rough cut lumber. Come to think of it, we've got a couple big poplars that I was going to cut anyway, if they're solid we might use them.

Sean

 

[Lloyd_E]

Great start to your barn. Did you have to use a knee wall due to size? We built a 30x26.5' barn on slab. Centre aisle is 10' wide. Stalls (2 plus spare) have hemlock planks over concrete. We take the hemlock out once a year and pressure wash. No signs of rot - 6+ years. We also have had no issues with splintering with the hemlock. Centre aisle have rubber matts with drains below. There are 10x10' double sliding doors opposite each other for good ventilation plus I can drive truck/tractor and trailer through the barn. We have a loft upstairs for hay and a hay elevator. Horses have exterior and interior doors to stalls - exterior entrance has a roof overhang.

Keep the pics coming...

Lloyd

 

[Chilly807]

We used the knee (frost) wall because the area under the stalls will be open for drainage and also to give us room to hang the planks. The main area of the barn will be a slab with a raised lip to keep any water away from the walls and to make it easier to scoop against a concrete edge.

We're planning a concrete slab with a short wall on the outside of the barn to give us a manure storage area that I can scoop with the tractor when it gets full. I don't mind shoveling sh** once, but two or three times gets old in a hurry.

We decided to go with ground floor hay storage. We only need about 200 square bales a year, neither of us likes stairs any more (not getting younger that I've noticed), and we're hoping the ground level storage will help keep dust in the barn down a bit.

Both our normal stalls will have interior/exterior doors, so they can come and go as they please during the day. We don't have as much shelter as we'd like for them outside until I can get a run-in shed built in a few years, so they can get out of the summer sun in the barn if they want.

Sean

 

[fowllife]

We decided to go with ground floor hay storage. We only need about 200 square bales a year, neither of us likes stairs any more (not getting younger that I've noticed), and we're hoping the ground level storage will help keep dust in the barn down a bit.

Just keep in mind that hay stored on a concrete floor will absorb moisture and mold. If you only keep a few bales at a time you will probably be ok, but if you get all your bales at once andthey sit for a while your bottom couple of rows will probably get moldy. There are thing that you can do to try to eliminate that though.

 

[ustmd]

Just keep in mind that hay stored on a concrete floor will absorb moisture and mold. If you only keep a few bales at a time you will probably be ok, but if you get all your bales at once andthey sit for a while your bottom couple of rows will probably get moldy. There are thing that you can do to try to eliminate that though.

We use wooden shipping pallets to avoid this problem. They work great and when you are done with them, they are great for the burn pile/outdoor fire ring.

 

[Chilly807]

Just keep in mind that hay stored on a concrete floor will absorb moisture and mold. If you only keep a few bales at a time you will probably be ok, but if you get all your bales at once andthey sit for a while your bottom couple of rows will probably get moldy. There are thing that you can do to try to eliminate that though.

We use wooden shipping pallets to avoid this problem. They work great and when you are done with them, they are great for the burn pile/outdoor fire ring.

That's what we had planned, actually A friend of ours does the same thing, although he said he lost a few bales even using pallets. We may try a layer of vapour barrier on the floor under the pallets before we put them down.

The only pitfall I can see is the pallets being a pain to walk on once the hay gets used up a little. If the budget will allow it I may lay some sheets of 1/2 plywood on top of the pallets to allow a better surface to walk on. It would be expensive up front, but the pallets and plywood can be re-used in future years.

The barn we're in now has a great loft area, but it's probably over 30 feet tall too, with room for 20+ horses. Really nice design, the guy who designed it was a good friend of ours, the stall configurations can be re-worked fairly quickly to go from about 7 box stalls to over 20 straight stalls without too much trouble.

We didn't want to go too high, the barn is in an open area and we'd like it to complement the house style.

Sean

 

[fowllife]

Additional layers of pallets will do you more good then a vapor barrier. 2 layer of pallets is ok, but 3 is ideal. The moisture/mold issue is caused by the temperature difference (dew point) more then moisture migration. The main two ways to eliminate that are to either increase the distance between (moving that dew point location to somewhere in the pallets) or to insulate between the two (either a 6-8" layer of loose straw or hay prayed with a mold inhibitor, or foam insulation) I haven't ran the numbers, but you may be able to stack right ontop of a layer of 1 1/2" foam insulation. Depending on how many you store at a time it may not be cost effective, but it would be a lot easier to walk on.

Sorry to get off topic, I just didn't want to see you loose a bunch of bales if you didn't know that......the barn looking good though

 

[Chilly807]

We backfilled the foundation on Friday, and built up the driveway area in front of the barn with pit-run and crusher-run rock. Started stripping top-soil from the riding ring area, but with the amount of rain we had last week it's a bit damp for that just now.

Unless it's raining tomorrow we should be able to start framing. It's me and two slightly older fellas, so I expect a pretty relaxed pace. Our target is to have the roof on and tight in two weeks, weather permitting.

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

First day of framing on the barn project. We got off to a late start once materials arrived, but then things moved along pretty well. After a few days of working together it always gets smoother as you start to anticipate what your partners are going to want next.

We're using tripled 2 x 10 over each 8 foot doorway, and doubled over each window and smaller doors. 2 x 6 walls (exterior).

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

More framing today, we have trusses arriving tomorrow, and should have the roof on before the weekend if all goes well. I've attached a few pics showing the groove in the concrete where the suspended plank floor ends will sit.

Sean