Anyone able to share pros/cons? Contractor insists they pack well. I will be topping with mats. Need a stable base and don’t want to pour concrete. The building has a good, pretty level road base to add on top of.
Will asphalt millings off gas on hot days? Or react chemically with urine?
Our vet barn extension has an asphalt aisle and stall floors.
It never smells like tar in there, even in the hottest summer days.
I thought this was a great idea, too!
It’s AWFUL. TERRIBLE. DO NOT DO THIS.
When you drag the mats in to place them after tamping, you pull the millings up, totally destroying your leveled base and making it damned near impossible to get your mats in without tons of bumps and dips.
Seriously, you want screenings. I am a huge fan of millings for other things, which is why I thought they’d be good here. Nope. Terrible decision on my part. Learn from my mistakes!!!
And to add further insult to injury, the base hasn’t held up any better than stone dust. I still have a dip where my pawing mare does her thing. I was really hoping it would be firmer and hold up better to abuse. Nope. The also don’t tamp as evenly because the particle size is varied.
Really, believe me, you don’t want millings under your mats in your stalls.
All sorts of other stuff! Driveways! Inside of run in sheds (without mats!) Lanes around the property! Probably would be great in something like a washrack! But not under mats. :dead:
We had a boarding barn drop a bunch of millings into the run in shed our horses used and it was faaaaabulous. Horses tromped it down so it was solid but pee still drained. For some reason, the horses stopped pooping in there, too. Magic!
But good lord, it’s been just a nightmare in the stalls under the mats.
Millings are great for driveways, provided they’ve been steamrolled down and packed well. Ex-nay on the stall base.
Definitely screenings. I used M-10. First was a 2 inch layer of sand, misted & compacted with a plate tamper.
Then the M-10. Misted & compacted for about 8 hours.
I vibrated for two days but it was worth it. Stall never ever stank, mats fit tight and didn’t shift.
Would you use millings in a dry lot type situation?
Thanks all. The “millings guy” will also do screenings. And now, I have some designs for millings. Now, if the ground wasn’t a soggy mess …
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I had my 800’ dirt farm road done with asphalt millings last year and it is fantastic – packed down beautifully, drains well. I used stone dust under my stall mats in my 2-stall barn 4 years ago and they’re also fantastic.
Less fantastic is where I cheaped out in my goat barn and put mats down over 3/4 minus gravel. Lumpy. Meh.
But, this fall I had asphalt millings dumped outside my barn and packed down in an area about 10’ x 40’ in front of the stalls and it’s been awesome. That area had been a muddy mess but now, it drains well and while it’s full of dirt and sawdust, and you can’t even see the asphalt any more, it is a much nicer surface.
Asphalt is a toxic chemical. Why would anyone consider putting it where a horse is living and spends time under constraint?
