Question about stalls...insight from barn owners please?

[fergusnc]

I posted this in the facilities forum, not knowing if there is much traffic is happening over there. Looks like not too much, so hope it's OK to direct you guys from over here? If not, I apologize and ask that Chancellor delete either thread as needed to avoid me clogging things up around here.

We are finally moved into The Fixer Upper Farm though the house is still too unpacked for me to do my final before and after thread. The good news is we are far enough along that I am gathering lots of info and making plans for when the barn reno can continue. Step one was done in July by some good guys that did what they said they'd do.

This week I met with a grading guy, and part of what we talked about included barn stuff. He gave me thoughts but then told me about a guy he works with on occasional jobs who he thinks I should talk to to get second opinions re the things related to the barns. This guys loves restoring barns, has a farm, loves agricultural stuff, is great at block work, and is a builder by trade. Turns out, he also lives really close by.

Met with this man the next day and had a complete BLAST. Love all we talked about. Loved the down to earth approach he had. No feelings at all about him trying to up sell or get fancy. but now can I get some thoughts from you barn owners re:stalls?

remaining junk inside barn (hay, Bowen cinder blocks, who knows what) be scooped away with a Bobcat and hauled off. The floor needs to be leveled...dirt floors now. He mentioned that after leveling, we will do 4" of a gravel product to be determined by my preference (we discussed ABC gravel as well as screenings and another term that I forget). FWIW, i will have mats in the stalls (and in covered area of barn in front of stalls that horses can access for shelter from field. In the stalls, shavings on top of mats. He talked about considering plastic layer under the gravel but above the dirt to keep the moisture from the ground from coming UP into stalls. I felt like this would keep the pee that got through shavings and under mats trapped. And maybe not allow for the pee smell to dissipate as well? What are your thoughts on that?

Also, doing stalls that are gravel on top of the level, packed dirt...is the gravel right under the mats or do you put a layer of dirt on tops of gravel?

Any thoughts on ABC gravel vs screenings vs some other gravel product? He and the grading guy both described ABC as being a mixure of sizes that packs well and flat as the sizes all settle in together. The grader said "you can get it to pack up like concrete"... Which to me doesn't sound like a good thing for a horse's bedroom.

Experiences please?

[Tarlo Farm]

No plastic, any size gravel, and I'd do oak floors on top of the gravel, no dirt, no mats. Next summer I'm installing oak on top of my crushed concrete. It's softer than cement, allows drainage, wears like iron, and is easy to clean. I can hardly wait!

[Tuffytown]

I have wood floors and prefer it to when I used to have my horses on mats. I planned to mat the stalls here when I moved in but after living with the wood for a while I decided I liked it better. The wood is on pt. 4x4 sleepers at about 24" o.c. with gravel between both over the native clay.

[Chisamba]

Is the barn on a very wet area? if not, why would water ride up through the clay? I would say the idea of plastic makes no sense to me, we have never put a plastic barrier down. I do have rubber mats on gravel. Have never had wooden floors except on trailers and they rot through and have to be replaced, so I don't know how I feel about putting then in stalls.

[Josette]

I suppose your soil and type of drainage would influence your choice. We have excellent drainage as soil is rather sandy with quartz mixture below. We packed and leveled stalls with a heavy roller and then installed very heavy stall mats. I use shaving for bedding and am generous with my bedding. The center aisle is rough brushed cement and cross tie area again has heavy mats. I'm satisfied with this choice. I recall as a kid our barn had wood floors and we used straw back then. It could be slippery from what I recall.

[khall]

No plastic and I vote screenings under mats. That is what I have done for last two barns and works wonderfully.

[fergusnc]

Soil here is red clay. I don't really get the plastic idea either, and didn't plan to go with it but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something from others' experiences.

for those of you that do gravel and mats as a part of you equation...any dirt on top of gravel, or does the mat actually lay on the gravel layer? How many inches did you use? I'd seen 6+ mentioned in some on-line articles, but both of these guys mentioned 4" and wonder if it depends on how packed you can get the soil? (Super packed here with the clay).

Is screenings what some people use in arenas too?

Thanks everyone!

[Chisamba]

on one barn we simply had mats on top of six inches of gravel, the other barn put stone dust on to level the stall more thoroughly before putting the mats down, it was easier to pack and level the stalls with a ever so slight camber to the back, which had blue stone drainage away from the barn. in both cases it was heavy mats, well fitted.

[Saddlebum]

Tarlo Farm, crushed concrete under the oak? do you have experience with the crushed concrete to know it drains well? I had some placed in front of the gate, thinking it would drain and their hooves would not soak in muck during the rainy weather/spring thaw etc. It does not drain like I expected. Actually, puddles stick around long after the rain in the crushed concerete. CC is 2 feet deep.

[TeresaA]

so when we built our barn this is how I did the stalls:
-gravel (about 12") followed by a layer of crusher dust that we tamped down and then put mats on top. Anything that gets below drains away and I've never had water come up through.

[Koolkat]

We have one stall with mats on concrete. Two stalls with mats over dirt (in the wet Pac NW and no problem) which is not really my preference. In the other stall, we dug down ~one foot and put in ~6 inches gravel and packed it (mechanically). Over that we put 6 inches of clay (and packed mechanically/leveled). Over that we put mats - love it.

I had a horse boarded at a large barn with wooden floors, and personally did not care for it at all. It was probably very old, but they used shavings for bedding and I found the wood to be quite slippery when wet, a bit smelly, and was worn in places and uneven, not unlike a dirt floor without mats.

Really love the level packed clay over fine gravel w/mats. I've never found drainage/smell to be an issue. We use wood pellets for bedding and have ~4 inch layer in stalls. They are dusty, though.

[fergusnc]

Thanks everyone!