Silage bunker design for horse arena?

[RyanR]

Hey everyone,

My aunt would like to build a horse arena.

She is thinking of building a 70x150' silage bunker and using that.

I don't know the specifics, but she mentioned having the roof made by:
Unidilla silage (wood open span truss)
or
Coverall building systems (metal truss w/poly or kevlar type roof)

Does anyone have any thoughts on doing something like this?
She can get labor cheap but doesn't know what pricing would be for either the silage bunker or either of the roof types.

She lives in a relatively high wind area (in NY next to Lake Ontario).

She's also thinking of the viability of renting it out down the road for produce or other storage (she's in apple country) so HVAC may be a requirement at some point.

General thoughts/things she needs to consider.
Pricing
Ventilation
Lighting
Ground surface
Moisture
access (ingress/egress)

Thanks
Ryan

 

[weedsportpete]

One of our borders got her own place and is building a coverall arena. It is all up, didn't take long once the weather settled down (maybe a week?). The contractor had only done one other coverall building but I think this went up ok. Don't know what the CNY winter will do to it yet.. She is including the pull up shades/vents along the two long sides.. I've heard that can get noisy in winds and spook horses, but we will see. Don't really know anything about silage containers, I guess the question is all about reusing it for storage, but being ok for arena footing.. As long as there is a good base under the footing, and a good footing, the two of them should be enough of a cushion over whatever is underneath.. Have no idea if you can leave that footing in there and store perishables on top of it.. don't see why not, but hopefully someone else will chime in.

As far as other factors, there are some good discussion threads on the sister site countrybynet.com. I'll throw in a couple of remarks - site preparation is critical, especially for creating proper drainage; lighting - we installed four rows of two 250 Watt lights (not the yellow/orange sodium, but the ones that are more blue), in a 60 x 160 arena. Some people thought that was not enough light coverage and the horses would spook in the shadows between the light cones, but that never happened.
Ours cost around 45k - 8 ft between posts, wood truss (not open span), galvalume siding and metal roof, (2) 12 foot doors, (1) 10 foot door and one man door. A competing company wanted to sell us a building with posts 9 feet apart.. I am so glad I did not go that way, with all the plywood sheets I have put up around the inside walls.

 

[RyanR]

Thanks for the info Pete! I'll pass it along to her.

I'll try the other sites as well.

Ryan

 

[Foxpoint]

My wife used to work at a facility that had a coverall arena. It was very nice - the nice thing about a coverall is the material is opaque - during the day it provides a very nice light similar to an overcast day. They did not need to use lights during the day. They never complained about winds or noise - this building was located in SE PA so winds could be an issue at times.

 

[cowboydoc]

Personally I wouldn't do the coverall. Their prices have jumped considerably. They are now at or above stick built prices.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

That, and 10 years from now you have to worry about having the roof replaced. And hope you can find a company around still to make or sell the size roof you need. Spend a little extra now and save later.