Horse stall fronts. Door, panel, and paint

[Dadnatron]

We are building a barn, and a large portion of the cost is the stalls. And on this barn, I'm looking at 14 stalls.

I've done some looking, and they are all over the map from relatively inexpensive but certainly functional wood to high end metal. We are more on the Metal side of the spectrum.

I am looking to put in 2 panels and a sliding door. Total dimensions of the front will be 14' with a centered 4' door on tracks. I like airflow and visual access to my horses, and most of the barns we have been seeing have been a variant on what I have pictured below. It just seems that they are VERY EXPENSIVE for what I am getting. I'm not a welding expert by the least sense of the word (I aspire to be a novice) but after getting quotes from $3500 to $6000 per stall front, I began thinking that perhaps this is a job which I could take on myself. I've looked at many MANY doors and fronts, and when I think about it, they just don't appear to be that involved. That could certainly be the novice in me talking, which is why I am here asking you.

Each panel would be about 5' wide. The panel structure would be 2x3" rectangular tubing around the periphery 2x6" center cross member. The mesh is 5/16" bar on 2" squares, welded at each crossing. It is welded to the inside center of the frame, not just stuck to one side or the other and welded, so the fit obviously has to be perfect. The door would be basically the same but only 4' wide. There would be a roller/slide along the top to move the door.

I know there would be material costs. I know there would be paint costs. But I just have a hard time believing they would approach $5-6K per stall front. I was thinking I could use the difference and invest in a big welding table and build a jig. Buy a good coldcut saw, etc etc etc and by the time I was through, I would have some really nice equipment and a much better welding skill, and still come out $$$ ahead. But... I don't know, hence I am here.

This might be far more than I can handle, and I am just testing the waters at this point. But, I'd like your thoughts.

Basically like this:

 

[dragoneggs]

I say go for it! This would be a very fun and satisfying project I would think. I bet your welding skills will be much improved and you will have a table and jigs forever. Then your friends will come around asking you to build some for them!

 

[Birdhunter1]

With 14 stalls I am guessing this is a more commercial type operation? I just have two horses, both old trail horses that are pretty easy going. One of them was my first horse, the other is our second horse, while still a newby in many regards (to horses) I researched the heck out of the design. I've been in hundreds of OLD barns, many newer ones, most were designed around cattle or hogs but one thing I noticed they had in common was white oak. Turns out white oak holds up very well to horses, probably better to any wood.
In my barn which was designed to be extremely functional I used white oak boards set as rails and posts 3' in the ground on a 4' spacing and a hinged gate.
Granted my barn needs are different than yours but the stalls were the least of my costs. What I built was a 28x32 pole barn, sided it with rough sawn cedar boards (nailed up, vertical, wet, tight together), and on the east side which is 32' long I built leanto with a roof extending 14' out, 2- 7' sliding doors on the south side. The barn is for hay storage (I have a much bigger shop with storage for equipment) and fence materials, the horse stalls are in the leanto, each of them is 12'x12', and the remaining 8' under the leanto is an open walk in for me (there is no other door on the barn besides the sliders in the front. I put a 12' steel gate on each stall opening up into a small lot, a 4' hinged gate into the barn. I don't stall them often, they have access to the barn at all times if they want it for shelter and so far this setup has worked. The stalls walls... they are horizontal planks of white oak, the horses can easily see through them and you can reach in to scratch their ears or feed them grain, it is a fairly simple idea. The floor in this barn is all dirt, I have yet to nor do I ever plan to use shavings or chips, with the 12' gates on the stalls I can back a tractor in and drag it with a blade or front end loader bucket, but rarely do I ever have to clean it out as I don't stall them often and they go in there when they want.

Again I was looking for simple and inexpensive design. Horse barns have been being built for a few thousand years, the best advice I found was simply walking in 100 year old barns and seeing how men back in the early days did it.

 

[Peter 315]

HI did you try rammfence.com I used them for stall fronts and doors, hot-dipped galvanized

 

[zzvyb6]

Horses are very strong. Some are tempermental, most are bored while being kept in a barn. These all-metal stalls will be damaged by kicking, backing a tractor loader into them, and even pushed on by critters wanting to bite their buddy. They will be bent, somebody's going to get a hoof or neck stuck in one, and repairing them is going to take time, money and skill.

All mine are cement block with chain link fence partial fronts and double plywood sliding doors. They can't hurt the building, hurt themselves or hurt curious visitors who don't have horse experience (biting, kicking, injured, foaling, etc.

Keep it simple. After a few years the beauty and envy will wear down and be replaced by bent, chewed, and needing repair. By all means don't leave that V shaped opening in the stall. Sure they can look down the aisle, but so can they try to exit suddenly and maybe get stuck.

That's my 2 cents. Stalls should be for private peaceful containment, individual feeding and holding while owners and helpers cleanand maintain the animals.

They say "Keep the horses out of the barn and you keep the Vet out of it, too.

 

[DJ54]

I built these back in 2012. Copies of the same stalls I built in my other barn built in 2000. Sold that place, and moved back to the home place, after my parents passed.

The top portion of the stalls are made from 1/16" X 1-1/2" flat strap, and rods are 3/8", 2" OC. I built the wooden portion first, then measured open spaces, and built to fit. I simply stacked the strap, tacked on the ends, so they would not slip, then drilled the holes, with a drill press. I slipped the rods in, then ground the welds off the ends, then separated the flat strap, roughly to the distance I wanted them apart. I started at the top, then worked to the bottom, getting the heat set, and being it's a Lincoln 120V unit, wanted to see how many welds I'd get, before the duty cycle was up, and keep the crappy weld out of sight. I'd measure on the ends for the distance I wanted, then used a piece of 1-1/2" X 1/8" angle iron for a straight edge, to keep them straight, and clamp in place. I'd weld a while, then work on the next set of laterals for a while, letting the welder cool. I welded tabs on the top, to bolt into the door rail header, and just drilled holes in the rest of the frame, to lag screw into the posts, and top of the bottom half of the stalls.

I have to agree with the horses kicking the bottoms, and/or getting hurt on them thrashing around at times. But, mine are open to the outside, so they can come and go as they please, out into the paddock area. Was always afraid of a fire, so wanted it so they would not be trapped, if the needed to get out. In the Summer, both horses will be in one stall, swatting flies off each other. So, there can be some thrashing around at times.

The doors are made of #2 Poplar I got a deal in several years back. I planed them to 7/8". They are 3 layers thick on the frame, and a single thickness panel in the lower center, with a filler piece, and cap across, for strength, in case one of them kicked the door. I ship lapped the center panel pieces, with a 3/8" overlap, so there would never be a gap, with the humidity change, and also for extra strength. Walls lining the stalls are the same 7/8", ship lapped Poplar.

Doors are pretty heavy, and about all I wanted to set up there by myself. But, hung them on Cannonball track, and I can open & close them with 1 finger.

If I remember right, I had about $325.00 per stall in materials. But, as I said, I got a great deal on the Poplar, for .30 per BF several years back. And, it had been stacked & dried, ready to use for several years.

The bottom fronts are made of 3/8" White Oak, nailed to 2"X6" purlins laying flat, running horizontal. The Oak was from what they call "thins" at the sawmill. You could get these for .10 per BF. Anything less than 5/4 is called a thin. Many were 5/8 to 1/2" thick, and great for woodworking projects. So it wasn't that big of a deal to get them planed to 3/8". They are also ship lapped, and I used an air brad nailer to fasten them.

It was a lot of work, but like you, decided to build something myself. I'd do it again in a heartbeat...

 

[BeezFun]

The local big box by us is Menards, they sell stall sections as part of their pole barn offerings and they seem pretty good for the money. Here's a wall section for $400 and here's a door section for $650.

We have 4 stalls and I used corral panels to make them. Not nearly as nice but very cheap. Our horses are only in the stalls for short periods of time and only when someone is around, otherwise they're always out. We used these for the door sections and straight corral panels for the walls. One wall of each stall is the wall of the barn, which has a door cut to the outside. I covered these with 3/4" plywood so when a horse kicks a hole in it I can replace it easily.

 

[Dadnatron]

Those are interesting Beez, if they came in 14' sections I'd really think about them. I'd like full grill/bars for the front so I can see what is going on in the stall, however, for 1/5 the price, I'm sure I'd be fine with looking over the wood.

 

[zzvyb6]

If you are a commercial operation, customers (boarders) will be concerned about rent, trimming, vet, safety, clean stalls and an easy care facility (tie points, wash stall, feeding area: good hay and grain access, lockers, tack box storage. Less about 'pretty'. If it's your own ranch with just your horses, I'd go 'pretty'. You know the breeds and traits of the animals in there. Set it up to make it easy for your family or staff to maintain it and not damage it.

 

[Dadnatron]

This is purely for our own horses. We raise thoroughbreds.

I am HIGHLY desirous of good design and ease of use. I don't know whether I hate anything as much as poor and avoidable design flaws which plague me from that point on. I recognize there will always be something that I could have done 'better', however, I work hard to minimize these things as much as possible.

I think that I might give a single panel/front a shot and see how it turns out. Maybe just start with a door and if it goes well, move on to the side rest of the front panels. The good thing is that my design is basic and the only variation is that the side panels are 5' and the door is 4' and on a rail.

How would you go about painting something like this? I'm not a lover of powder coating since any spot which isn't perfectly prepped tends to peel, and there are a lot of 'spots' that could be difficult to prep. I can always touch up paint. I've thought some, about using some of the 'Line-X' type coatings, at least for the lower sections. I've used Raptor to paint my diesel tank, and it is holding up well. There is too much texture but I believe I can smooth that out with a different paint system.

Or, would it be better to just do all the fab work, and find someone to professionally paint them? Although, this could be pushing me back towards cost/benefit disparity.