Stable / hay storage build

[WM75Guy]

It's a Morton building. They do top quality work and have a great design for stalls. I hired my own subs to do the wiring, plumbing and HVAC. My wife and I mounted all the hardware like the blanket bars and bucket holders in the stalls.

 

[Mike476]

I may have to do the same for the plumbing. Hope to get mats in the stalls, doors and dividers up when I'm home for two weeks in Dec.

 

[Graybeard315]

Really nice work Mike!

Curious, did you price a metal building to compare against the frame construction?

 

[Mike476]

Thanks. I did price out metal, and several friends have used it to build their stables. Nice buildings. Even with the materials we had milled it would still have been close to $1000 cheaper to go with steel (including steel roof, trusses were just over $2K for my build).

At the end of the day it boiled down to preferring stick and board construction over steel, can't offer an explanation why it's just a preference thing I guess.

 

[zing]

used drywall beading at edges to discourage the horses from chewing. Works well, I used it in our run-in shelter 15 years ago, still like the day I nailed it togerther.
View attachment 341331

Great looking stable Mike, nice to see a family work together like that. Regarding the quote above, do you mean the 90 degree cornerbead like in the attached link? Bailey Metal Products | Cornerbead 1 1/4 Inch X10'Steel | Home Depot Canada If so, did you double it up over the top of the 2x6's so that it laps down both sides, or just one side. Do you get little raised areas between the screws or sharp edges at the corners that could cut the horses mouths? I have a mare that is a pain in the butt with her chewing, so I am interested in options to curtail it. It definitely looks tight in the picture, but it is a bit hard to tell without a closer look. Thanks.

 

[Mike476]

That's exactly what I use. Doubled up as you describe over both sides, when nailing with 1 1/2 roofing nails I would squeeze them together to make the holes line up, tack a nail through it and it keeps it nice and tight.

Edges are not an issue for concern at all for horses that chew (our thoroughbred mare chews) but I do round off the ends where there is a risk they my gouge themselves, tin snips makes short work of it.

 

[beeforty]

I like to paint my ceiling white so it reflects a lot more light down so you don't need a lot of glaring bright lights. And don't use flat paint because every time you rub the ceiling or wall it leaves a mark. Learned that the hard way.

 

[Mike476]

The windows we installed makes it quite bright in the day time, shorter days make evenings the challenge. Nothing worse than a dimly lit building if it's occupied for any purpose. I'll be taking a look at what I'll need to do to improve the lighting a little next time I'm home.

Not sure I want to paint the underside of my roof sheathing, though I can see how it would certainly brighten things up.

 

[Mike476]

I'm going to be home again in a few weeks (for a few weeks) and I'm thinking I want to either lay stone or concrete in the walkway in the barn. It is 24 foot by 7.5 foot, I estimate 3.5 - 4 yards of concrete to get it done or 180 sq of stone. Both involve similar prep, I would prefer the stone to be honest and have the tools to do either. Obviously with the horses I have to be concerned with clean up, safety when wet (particularly in winter) and ability to take the wear and tear these animals place on whatever product I choose.

Thoughts / concerns I maybe haven't considered?

 

[WM75Guy]

I'm going to be home again in a few weeks (for a few weeks) and I'm thinking I want to either lay stone or concrete in the walkway in the barn. It is 24 foot by 7.5 foot, I estimate 3.5 - 4 yards of concrete to get it done or 180 sq of stone. Both involve similar prep, I would prefer the stone to be honest and have the tools to do either. Obviously with the horses I have to be concerned with clean up, safety when wet (particularly in winter) and ability to take the wear and tear these animals place on whatever product I choose.

Thoughts / concerns I maybe haven't considered?

View attachment 347249View attachment 347250

Concrete would be my choice. Horses don't have "accidents", everything comes out on purpose. Cleaning up after is easier on concrete and urine won't run between the stone. After a while you might notice a smell with stone. I put mats down where the horses stand while being groomed to make it nicer for them to stand on.

 

[dave1949]

Hi Mike,

Concrete would allow you to get exactly the brush or ?? surface texture you want. A little more flexible than stone paver surface choices.

 

[WM75Guy]

Hi Mike,

Concrete would allow you to get exactly the brush or ?? surface texture you want. A little more flexible than stone paver surface choices.

We went with a brushed surface in the wash rack as it is sloped and the put two 4'X6' mats in it. The aisle is smooth finish, it's a lot easier to keep clean. I bought a B&D 18V blower that I keep in the stables. I sweep up the big stuff and then blow out the aisle. The mats don't sweep well but the blower cleans them off where they look like new.

 

[Mike476]

While easier to clean I'm a litle concerned a power trolled smooth surface might prove dangerous for footing during winter months. Something between that and a broom brushed surface would be my preference I think.

I have to make some calls next week to make sure winter weight restrictions on the rural roads to my location won't prevent me from being able to do this.

 

[tcreeley]

Cement in the washroom- it works. Cement in the aisle- while attractive is not so good an idea. I have yet to deal with a horse that didn't scramble at some point, and that's when you have a problem. Cement is slippery - brushed or not. Steel always slips on cement- and most horses are shod in steal. Barefoot horses even slip.
Stone pavers- same problems.
Pretty in a barn is nice, but function should come first.
In my 20's I was at the Ohio State fairgrounds in Columbus for a morgan show. The aisles were cement- that was scary- moving the horses around. Not something I would recommend to anyone to experience.

- My vet was by one day for shots and he saw my rings I had in the doorway to clip the nylon webbing to - just like your temporary ones in your 2 stalls. I had to politely listen to a lecture on horse safety. The horse that feels crowded or chooses to rush out of the stall beside you hits those rings and does some real damage to itself. -tear its skin, catch a rib, etc.. He said they don't belong in a barn with any animal that might choose to rush through the doorway. Having the web rings mounted flat on the face of the door posts instead of on the inside edge might help. If they rush straight they will slide along the wood. A horse that rushes in or out on a bend might still catch themselves. I'd hate to have a horse knock me into those rings, hard to survive that.

Horses are perfect until something goes wrong - simple as a vinyl raincoat (last time my wife was thrown). It is planning ahead that makes the difference between a slight or serious injury.

Your barn is very attractive!

 

[Mike476]

Agree with the concerns over concrete, I'm not too sure there is a work-around other than to leave the floor dirt (which has its own issues) or move to wood, which is something I want to stay away from, I've been replacing wooden floors in stalls every few years for the last 15 years.

That said, most barns my wife and I have travelled to with the kids for competitions have walkways that are concrete, although very few were actually garage floor smooth there was never an incident regarding their footing, but we were extremely careful and probably a little fortunate, there were others who did (horses unaccustomed to other animals will spook easily). There have been issues with rotten wooden floors in stalls, stall dividers that were rotten enough that they posed a threat to the horse as a spear etc.

Your point about the rings is worth considering as well, while we spend a lot of time with our horses de-sensitizing them the last time my wife was thrown (and broke her jaw) was over a porcupine that appeared unannounced on the trail. Even the most sensible animal that won't typically spook will someday just be in a hurry, they are big and powerful animals. After 15 years they still surprise me on occassion with their behaviour.

 

[tcreeley]

More opinions and an interesting pdf on stall/barn floors.

http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ub036.pdf

Favorite Barn Aisle Flooring? [Archive] - Chronicle Forums

Good luck!

 

[Mike476]

Thanks, I've read a lot of similar product reviews and opinions from those who, like me, have used dirt and wood and even rubber mats.

Each of them have their benefits, I find that rubber mats are often given a positive review when in fact, as was documented in one of the forum posts, they can be extremely dangerous as a mat over concrete, I've seen a similar situation to the one referred to in that post.

From my experience dirt is the best for footing but most difficult to clean. Concrete is the easiest to clean but is hard on the horses legs and can be dangerous when wet, even more so during winter months. Rubber mats are better to clean, easy on the horses legs but can be as dangerous as concrete when wet. It should be noted there are different types of mat floors, some are constructed of much softer rubber and provide much safer footing than the harder rubber mats.

I had written in another post here some time ago how happy I was after replacing our run-in floors with poplar. Used in the flat-beds of trucks it is rot resistant and takes the wear of horses hooves over time. It was three years ago now I believe, 12' 2.5" X 8" boards supported every 6' by a PT 4X4 and after we sweep the sand and crud off them we are amazed how well they have stood up. If we choose to go with wood it will be a poplar floor again. Thankfully there is lots of it on the property and it is a rapid growing weed tree.

The more I write about it the more I'm convincing myself wood may be the way to go.