Input/ideas needed for stalls and barn flooring

[husker_girl7]

We bought the acreage we've got now back in March and didn't have enough time to get all of our horsey project done this past summer/fall so I'm starting my list of things to do for this spring/summer. First, and most important, on my list is building stalls in our barn. Right now it's pretty much a big open shell of an area in the middle with two good sized run in areas on the sides. It was completely gutted by the last owners, floor and most of the hayloft included. We're planning on putting in 5 box stalls in the main area--they'll probably be about 12x12 or so. We also need to fill in the floor, it used to have wood and that was removed before we purchased the place so now we are left with about a 2' to 2.5' deep area to fill throughout the entire area of the barn. Here are my questions for anyone that has experience with this kind of work:

What is the best material to use for building the stalls? We can get cedar or cottonwood trees and mill them up ourselves so getting wood isn't a huge issue, I just need to know what type is best. I've always liked the look of cedar stalls but cottonwood is much harder and tastes bad so they won't chew on it or be able to kick through it and it's easier to get. How far up should we build with the wood itself? I was thinking about 4 feet but don't really know.

How about the top portion of the stall walls--what material works here? I was thinking about using cattle/hog panels and reinforcing them with rebar or something similar. I've seen people who have used rebar and welded the rods onto a frame, which is ok, but I think it would cost more. We're trying to be as cost effective (ok, cheap) as possible while still keeping things safe and useable. How tall in total should the stall walls be?

How about doors? I've always liked the look of the sliding door but they seem to stop sliding after a while so I don't want to use them. I was thinking about using the smaller tube gates for doors, that gives easy access. Anybody have suggestions?

Now for the flooring....ugh. We are going to have to get a ton of fill for the floor. I don't want to have to pour cement so I need to know if we should go for straight dirt all the way through, gravel on the bottom and dirt on top, alternating layers of dirt and gravel or who knows what else. I've seen plenty of barns with dirt floors and it seems to work for them but I really don't know squat about this kind of stuff so I am open to any and all suggestions.

I took some pictures so you can get an idea of what I'm working with, I'll post them whenver they get done uploading to photbucket.

Thanks for all input and suggestions...I need all the help I can get!

[KrisRN2005]

Congrats on the new place! we just finished most of our barn but we had to have that built as well.
We priced several options for the stalls and I really liked the modular galvanized steel stalls. I went with the sliding stall doors (I just like them better). They are online with a variety of different stall fronts and options. They were rather easy to put together as well. To complete the stalls we purchased pine ( tongue and groove). they turned out beautiful! I also added matching dutch doors to everyones stall!
Our barn floor also needed a ton of dirt. We went with just a bottom layer of crushed stone and then 4 dump truck loads of dirt. The dirt can get a bit expensive at about 350.00 a load.
For the floors in the stalls we went with rubber mats now that are about 8 inches thick. I put my shavings and woody pet pellets on top. I didn't want cement at all under the stalls.
Just some suggestions regarding what I did. hope you have as much fun building your barn as we did building ours!!

[husker_girl7]

Ugh...$350 for a load of dirt. Yikes... Thanks for the other info though, I'm looking around at stall kits and haven't found anything I'm in love with yet but I'll keep looking.

Here are some pictures that show what we've got to work with, or lack thereof.

Outside shot:



Another outside shot:



Inside shot:



Another inside shot:



All in all, it's a nice barn. Or should I say it's got the potential to be a nice barn.

[taelesean]

You can use cottonwood for the stall walls, except for at the bottom I'd use the cedar - it wont rot or get eaten by the bugs.

You want the solid part of your stall dividers and kick walls to be at least 4' tall. above that, you can space horizontal boards 2" apart, or put in bars with no more than 2.5" space between them for most horses, or 2" for ponies - that keeps hooves from going between them and getting stuck. The whole wall should be 7' tall from the stall floor.

If your stall doors open into an aisle, I'd stick with the sliding doors for safety. To make sure your sliding doors keep sliding for a long, long time, get the type of track that mounts with lag screws at the top of the tube, and mount them either to a board on the ceiling of the aisle, or onto a beam bolted to the wall above the doors. The top mount track is actually the less expensive option. Other than that, make sure you hang the doors straight and install the retainer wheels properly.

If your stall doors open onto the outside, a ducth door is preffered - make sure it has a kick latch at the bottom. You can also get away with ductch doors if your stalls open onto an arena or an aisle more than 20' wide.

for the fill in your stalls, You can fill the large voids with rubble (broken concrete waste is excellent, as is broken brick, as long as you can bury them at least 6" under the top layers) and then finish with road grade (also called 21A or crush and run, its fines and gravel and some rocks) topped with stone dust or decomposed granite. Wet the stone dust and when it dries it will be very stable. Lay rubber stall mats right on top of the stone dust.

[husker_girl7]

Thanks taelesean--great info and excellent idea for the floor fill. That's got to be cheaper than filling with dirt and we shouldn't have a hard time finding that stuff around here. I'm printing off that info to show my hubby, definitely worth saving. Thanks again!

[ilovepaints1]

I used crushed gravel for my floors and just put the shavings on top and over time they stomped it down to a concrete like floor. They are only in for weather and to eat so they are not standing in there all the time. If thats the case I would get rubber mats to make it easier on their legs and for stalls we just made our own with 2 X 12s to make the fronts and sides and no dividers. We bought gates for the openings into the stalls and that has worked for me and it was ALOT cheaper than the really pretty ones that I wished for but they do the same job just as well so far. They are pretty sturdy but like I said if some of your horses fight I would recommend some type of dividers. We used 1 inch plywood for kickboards and they are about five foot tall and I havent had any problems yet but I may eventually put the cattle panels or rebar. If you want to get off really cheap just buy the round pen panels and use them as stalls I have seen alot of people use them with no problems.

[repetesis]

I have wood floors and would never have them again! In the spring I am pulling them up and putting gravel in with mats.

[Seanachie]

To fill in a 2' gap, I'd start with a base layer of #4 rock and then put a layer of either #2 or 57's down and top it with either manufactured sand or, as Taelesean said, with a layer of "dense pack" or "dense grade". If you can get the dense grade rolled, it'll pack in like cement but still drain reasonably well.

Bite the bullet and use cement on some walkways and wash areas though.