My barn floor is packed clay and over the years and I get a dirt film on everything quickly. The open non stall area is about 48 x 50 and I do some low level ground handling in there during winter. I do not want concrete for safety but want to do something to combat the dust or a workable covering.
What options have you seen that have worked?
I put stall mats over my stone dust floor. The barn cats used to dig up that dirt floor! When it rains the matted floors do get slick. My friend puts shavings over her dirt floor. Works for her. I like to sweep
I have stall mats in the aisle of my dirt (packed limestone) floor barn. It works fine and I do not have issues with it being slippery. We’re probably going to add more mats in the other open areas so the barn cat will stop using the barn floor as a toilet. Sigh.
My (imaginary) dream barn has a wood floor. Swoon. Love the look. Can’t even imagine what it would cost.
My local farm store puts 4x6 mats on sale at $25 around Thanksgiving but would need 100 mats. Someone suggested carpet flipped upside down with the jute portion exposed.
My ASB trainer has a source from the local road crew and puts in chips once a year. Sometimes they are a little large, think branchlets, and the cats do make their messes there, but they only require a bit of raking, poop picks right up and they are quite dense and stable.
She does use the barn aisle as a working runway for WTC in the winter to go along with her indoor and they are a fine footing.
i put compacted crushed stone over my dirt floor, love it. The hooves don’t dig it up (I was concerned about that) and the little stuff cleans up lickety split with a leaf blower. Little bits of hay and stuff does get ground in if you don’t blow them out regularly.
Oh, I missed that you’re looking to de-dust an area that’s basically a small indoor arena.
Mag chloride might be just the ticket. It will pull water out of the air and keep the footing dampish, so it won’t get dusty. It’s not particularly expensive, and one application would last all winter (and possibly longer.)
We have a cement center aisle in the barn with rubber mats on the cement. The stalls have decomposed granite (DG) which drains nicely and packs down well. Our local sand company delivered a couple of loads and we used our tractor to put it in the stalls. We spread it around, put water on it and after the horses walked on it for a few days, the DG was packed nicely and hasn’t come up. We use shaving on it in the winter when the horses are in more often and it works just fine.
If you do decide to do mats… look at Linear Rubber Products http://rubbermats.com and have them custom-make the mats. We’ve done this on several barn aisles including one that is 16 x 120’. They make the mats in large sections with interlocking fingers along the edge. Also work in stalls where it only takes 2 mats to make a 12 x 12’ stall floor…
These monster mats are initially a pain to handle and lay down simply because they are so big… but they are great quality and because the pieces are large and interlock they Do Not Move.
Our aisles are covered and the mats provide great traction and cushion, look nice, and are low maintenance.
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