24' Wide Barns?

[Kodidog763]

We were planning on building my barn last fall, but ran into some permit issues with the city. Now that it is spring, we are ready to restart this project. I had designed a fantastic 36’ x 36’ barn last fall, which I really like. However… we are considering moving. I’m now questioning if I should try to build a cheaper barn that I can “live with” rather than doing my full wish list. Right now I can’t predict if we will live here for a year, or for 20 years.

I have been playing with Menards online estimator, and I can save around $1000 in material if I go with a 24’ x 45’ barn instead of 36’ x 36.

Anyone with a 24’ wide barn - what are your pros/cons versus a 36’ wide center aisle.

I need 3 stalls and space for feed (they get very little grain, so I don’t need a lot of space) and tack for 3 horses. Building a tack closet would be an option. If I do 3 12’ x 12’ stalls, I’ll have less than 9 feet for feed/tack. Is that do-able? Hay is stored in a different building.

Anyone have a floor plan they would be willing to share?

Any other suggestions for economical options for a 3 stall barn (we are in MN so shedrow is not really an option due to winter conditions)?

Thanks!

[Bluey]

How about building a shell that can be multi-purpose when you sell, garage, storage, shop?

Then you can add portable stalls and make it work for now and that structure will be more of an asset when selling than if it is a dedicated horse barn only.

36’ x 36’ metal building or even a bit larger and portable stalls are considerably cheaper than what you will spend on a horse barn with the stalls framed right into it and much more versatile if your needs change later.

[GoForAGallop]

I have a 24x30 barn. You walk in on one of the long sides, center aisle. Two stalls on each side. I use one whole stall (10x12) for tack/feed. I stack limited hay and muck forks at the end, as well as hang up wet blankets if needed, between the last two stalls. Everyone has one window, each stall could technically have two if I wanted.

This is unfortunately the only photo I have, after a NAUGHTY pony let himself out and ripped the barn apart: https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/180550_10150414492730215_6530664_n.jpg?oh=9ef516a908cfa45832154d931708be64&oe=55CA81FA&gda=1439857106_c431d3720ad30ee11e75890487fe1f26

But you can see the ~6’ of extra space at the end of the aisle…even stacked with hay, there is still room to cross tie a horse.

It’s worked well for ten years now. Sometimes I wish it were bigger, yes. It would HAVE to be bigger if I also needed to store hay, but luckily I have a separate barn for that. It was a retro-fit of an existing farm building, so it is what it is. Totally fine for a single person!

[coloredhorse]

Mine is 24’ wide, about 46’ long. It is a shedrow design so the stalls are 12x12 and there is a 12’ overhang in front on a concrete pad. I use the front part for cross-tying/grooming and my wash area is down at one end. Works brilliantly and has great airflow, which is critical for the muggy-hot and long summers we have here. (I will admit to being less enamored of the airflow on cold and damp winter days …)

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

24’ works, but you may have to go longer. For three stalls you could do the shed row, but enclose it. So an aisle and an aisle of stalls. Leave an open one at the end for feed bins and a week of hay. But that doesn’t get you a tack room at 45’ long.

If you go 10’ stalls instead of 12x12 then it would be easy to configure one end to be a feed room and a tack room. You would have two doors at the end of the aisle (one room, tack, would be longer).

It will depend on how big you want your stalls. If you can go narrower depth, then you can build 2 along the one end (24’ total so approx. 10x12) have a narrower aisle and do one with a little aisle to a doorway behind that row with your remaining feet. On the other side you could have a small feed room.

---------_T------------
!
stall ! stall
!

---

aisle

---

        !    !
        !    !

stall ! ! feed
__door
storage

Edited. ANNOYING. When I submit it it moves my lines around. You may or may not see my vision. LOL.

[horsejumpguy]

we have a 24’ x 24’ horse barn. we were supposed to have only one horse. we now have 3. we will be adding on this year I hope. I would definately go as big as you can, believe me you will fill up the space.

[Jim_R]

[QUOTE=horsejumpguy;8128570]
we have a 24’ x 24’ horse barn. we were supposed to have only one horse. we now have 3. we will be adding on this year I hope. I would definately go as big as you can, believe me you will fill up the space.[/QUOTE] One good reason to not have to many stalls.

[netg]

I would do what GFAG mentioned, and make it a center aisle with door on the middle of the long side instead of on the short side. Why waste half your space with aisle by making it go the other way?

Then you have a narrower aisle, but you have a 12x12 extra space where there’s not a 4th stall for feed and tack. You can set up cross ties in the stalls if you want, or in the aisle depending upon the behavior of your horses. Even with a 12’ aisle, my horses can get to each other if they want while I’m grooming.

[bdj]

What if you do the 24x45, run the stalls down one side (so think shedrow, but with a solid front wall, and then box in the final 9 foot all the way across the 24 foot end of the barn for your feed/tack area - it might be a slightly wonky space (9x24) but would be plenty big enough for feed and tack. (For what it’s worth, my feed/tack room is 8x12, and it’s totally fine for my admittedly minimalist needs.)

You could put a doorway down at the other end of the “aisle”, put one in the middle of the aisle wall, or do both. Somebody here on COTH has a barn that’s sort of like this - MistyBlue, maybe? Or it could be candyappy - or maybe they both have barns with that general layout of aisle across the front with a row of stalls across the back… And I kept my old guy at a place with a little shedrow set up that way, too. I liked the design, and probably would have done something similar if I hadn’t done a center aisle.

[Libby2563]

I have a 22’ x 46’ with three 12’ x 12’ stalls, a 10’ x 12’ tack/feed room and a 10’ aisle. It is a shedrow design with stalls on one side and aisle in front, but enclosed because of winters, brr. I have an outdoor wash rack because I hardly need it in the winter. Floor plan and a pic here: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2014/06/small-barn-layout-and-design.html.

I LOVE my barn’s layout. I have one horse who’s extremely sensitive to heat and has anhydrosis, so the stalls all face east. The stalls stay cooler in the summer because they don’t get afternoon sun. The stalls all open to a dry lot too so I can give them access together or separately just by opening and closing doors.

[CHT]

Why not have 24’ the length, and 45’ the width?

So you would have two 12 foot stalls on one side, one stall and a tack/feed room on the other, and a really wide alley. You could even narrow it up a bit and just have it 36" wide, to have a 12 foot alley. As someone else mentioned I think, you could have it so only one door is full width, and just have an 8 foot or so wide door at the other end so you could have a larger tack/feed room, or one larger stall.

[PeteyPie]

…
…X_____||==============X===================X…
…|…||…|…||.|…Heated…||…
…|…||…Stall…|…Stall…||.|…Tack/…||…
…|.Shed.||…16’x12’…|…12’x12’…||.|…Feed…||…
…|…||…|…||x|…12’x24’…||…
…|…||…|…||.|…||…
…X====||_____________o…o|_______o…o||…||…
…||…|…o…(Winter…||…
…||…Stall…|…Aisle/…Wash…||…
…||…12"x12"…o…Summer Grooming…Area)…||…
…||…||…
…||…o…o…||…
…X===========XXo…16’ OH Door…oXX============X…
…

24’x44’ Barn
All measurements to centerline

Here is an idea with a large heated tackroom. You could have a closet or bin to hold your bags of grain in the room. The floor in the lower half of the heated and insulated portions could have a drain so you could use it as a wash area in the winter, if necessary. I drew in a counter with a sink (marked by the x) and the pipes are on an inside wall – sort of. (Since the stall area is not heated it is not really an inside wall, but it might be warmer than other walls.)

The large stall is offset so that you have plenty of room for a door away from the lower stall to reduce drama or fighting between horses during feeding times or when you take a horse in or out. The offset space left by moving that stall over can be used as a shed for wheelbarrows or tools, with access from the outside. Or, you could use that area as a sheltered overhang and have the stall exiting under that area.

The main barn door is on the long side and is an overhead door, but of course, that is just an idea based on what I have read on Coth about snow and ice buildup making sliding doors difficult in the winter.

I estimated an 8’ opening between the tackroom and the main barn aisle. I don’t know if that is a good size. You would want to figure out what kind of door, or combination of doors to put there, but you would want it to be well insulated because that tackroom is heated, and you would want to consider whether you want it to slide, swing open, or open overhead, and if you add a man door, how you want to handle the opening to make it easily accessible as a grooming area. I was thinking maybe two insulated french doors (without glass of course) which swing in 180 degrees, all the way flat against the wall might be a good option. You could easily find that in a six-foot wide option, with two three-foot wide doors. Since the new houses are being built more and more with 9’ ceilings, it is easy to find taller 8’ doors nowadays, which would probably be fine for an occasional grooming session. Or you could put a man door and a narrow overhead door next to it.

Good luck with your barn!

[ArabDiva]

I have 24x32 with sliding doors at the center of each long side. 4 stalls, 2 on each side, 12x12. Center aisle is 8w by 24l - the sliding doors are at either end of the aisle. Cross ties in the aisle. 3 stalls are animals, the 4th stall I divided down the center. 6x12 is my enclosed tack closet, the other 6x12 is feed and supply storage.

It’s a good, functional, no-frills floor plan for a small home barn. The 2 sliding doors provide great ventilation. Each stall has 2 3x3 windows (one on each exterior wall) as well for lots of light and ventilation.

[brody]

My barn is 24 feet wide. I loves it.

[LookmaNohands]

I would build something you can live with.

Saving $1000 now for the aggravation of not getting what you want is really no savings at all. If you are in MN. a shed row might be too cold.

[NoSuchPerson]

[QUOTE=Bluey;8128394]
How about building a shell that can be multi-purpose when you sell, garage, storage, shop?

Then you can add portable stalls and make it work for now and that structure will be more of an asset when selling than if it is a dedicated horse barn only.[/QUOTE]

My sister did this and it worked out perfectly. They sold the place to a non-horsey person, took the portable stalls with them when they moved, and new owner uses the “barn” as a garage/workshop. The building was an asset when selling rather than a limiting factor.

[fatappy]

24x40 barn

I loved mine, but I’m in TN. You would probably want doors on yours :).

[mellsmom]

,mine is 30 x 60 and 1/2 has a concrete floor. It would be a great storage/multipurpose building for anyone. The stalls could be removed if needed.

[Kodidog763]

Thanks! These are all great suggestions. I’ve played around with a few layouts and I think I could make it work. DH is against it, he thinks we should stick with the 36’ x 36’.

I need to make a decision soon - I sent the horses out for 30 days of training, so now is the perfect time to make a mess building a barn. They like to be “helpful.” Too bad I just missed Menard’s 11% rebate sale.

[Bluey]

For $1000 more I agree with DH, get what you want, will pay over the years in satisfaction, over cutting corners to save $1000.

If you decide to go center aisle 24’ x 36’ with two stalls on each side of the aisle, that would let you expand later to 36’ x 36’ or 36’ x as many 12’ more as you want, if you place it right, where you can expand as you need.

A local cutting trainer did that, started with 8 stalls, 4 on each side of the center aisle and kept adding and I think is now to 24 stalls in that barn and still has room to keep making it longer if he needs to.

You could consider those prefabricated barns that the whole barn can be moved later, if you want a dedicated horse barn.
The local reining trainer I have been working with did just that, added more stalls to her show barn, is now twice as long.
I think hers is one of those portable MD barns and looks very nice.

Lots of options, one will be just right for you.