Converting garage to run in shelter

[half_pass1]

We have a double garage that we are thinking of converting into a run in shelter for the weanlings so they can stay out over winter. Right next to the field, really big, high ceilings etc etc. Theoretically perfect, just the doors are on the wrong side and it’s far too tight with the location of the driveway to enable them to enter the garage from the front doors.

So I have watched a few youtube videos and it seems as though cutting a hole in a brick wall is really straight forward.

Install a lintel, cut out the edges of the door with an angle grinder, bash out the bricks. Done.

Really?

[Hermein]

How are you going to install the lintel before you cut the hole? I’m intrigued.

[JoZ]

[QUOTE=Hermein;8307813]
How are you going to install the lintel before you cut the hole? I’m intrigued.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. I read that and felt really dumb, so I just went on to another post.

[csaper58]

What is on the inside of the garage? Drywall and horses don’t do well together, so you will need a kick proof wainscoting like T1-11 siding.

What is on the floor?

How will you deal with manure and urine. The smell may invade your house with a attached garage.

Another consideration is humidity, weanies give off more humidity breathing than any parked car, so you might need some kind of ventilation.

If you cut thru the brick, keep in mind you may want to put a door there to close it up, so make it a standard size. Weanies tend to squeeze thru openings together so make it wide enough that they don’t get hurt.

Price out all the materials, and see if the budget is reasonable, or if a run-in is more cost effective.

[walkers]

I also have a two car detached garage and when I moved here I thought it would be easy to change it to a run-in. Consulted with a few engineers and contractors. They all told me it would be much less expensive to build run-in and leave the garage. Glad I listen, no time to go into all the reason they gave but it was going to be expensive to do it right for horse safety feed room and hay storage, used the attached carport for farrier and vet visits,wash stall. Never did build a barn just large run -in with ability to convert to stall for a lay up if needed. Horses are very happy,never have to worry about fire and the hay ,shaving and feed are so easy to get to also never have any mold issues.

[Ambitious_Kate]

I would take out the drywall down to the studs and siding and put up heavy two by six (or thicker) boards. Remove any insulation.

You need a roof ventilation, usually on barns this is at the eaves.

I wouldn’t put myhorses on concrete; you can, but I wouldn’t, because of the wear on their legs, because of how it will be for them to lie down on, and how concrete is slippery, and how concrete absorbs odor.

Remove the overhead doors and all the tracks. Guaranteed the horses will get hurt on them. Replace some of that new wall with a very wide opening for the horses to move in and out of without getting close to each other.

As you can see, I am not a fan.

[half_pass1]

Re. the lintel, I was just going by what this video suggested.

Ok, a bit more clarification on the garage. Firstly, it is 100% brick, currently used for storing farm machinery. No dry wall, nothing. Same as our house, everything is built from brick and concrete. I don’t know if dry wall even exists here - never seen it in any house I’ve lived in. It is detached from the house, perhaps 30m away on the driveway next to a field. This is the only photo I can find of it, I’ll take some better shots when I go outside this morning:

https://fbcdn-photos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/v/t1.0-0/q88/p180x540/10156078_10151978345326653_52803709109810439_n.jpg?oh=26cb1b5692eabb3e1e047cefb8f683fd&oe=56ABB5E7&gda=1449048369_c210d6d8fa7819d9de3359674bddf6b3

There are no roller doors, instead there are double opening barn style doors at the front made from wood. So makes going in and mucking out the whole thing with a little tractor a piece of cake.

The floor is concrete, but the floor in our main barn is also concrete. We deep litter so the horses wouldn’t be standing on the concrete anyway. Never had an issue with drainage because the bed of straw soaks up any urine and smell. Plenty of fresh straw on top and all is good.

Re ventilation, there is a gap between the roof and the walls that allows for ventilation, plus the horses would never been locked up in there - if they do need to be stabled for whatever reason then they’d come in to the barn. I’m wanting this just to be a place where they can get out of the elements if they want to. Plus it’s about 50 years old so certainly not air tight.

The main thing is putting in a door so they can come in and out. It’s the bashing a hole in the brick wall issue that I am most concerned about at the moment

[CFFarm]

Maybe it would be easier to connect a roof and sides the standing garage? Looks like pretty property.

[teh_Kibbster]

get some t bars and extend electric around the front? You can keep the tree out, looks like there is enough space. That way if you hate it, you haven’t put a hole in a 50 year old building. If you love it in a year, make it permanent.

[Ambitious_Kate]

With the ventilation, etc, as you describe it might be a better conversion than the 70’s track house garage I envisioned her in the US.

I would still put in studs and a wooden wall inside, maybe 5 feet in height. You don’t want a horse to kick a brick wall. Ugh, for the damage to the horse, and the wall.

Make sure you shore up the opening. You are going to want a large opening, I would think at least 10 feet wide, others can say just how wide, but that would weaken the structure, so a good frame around the doorway plus possibly needed support columns either side. Pay attention to the roof joists where they rest.

Good luck.

[Ambitious_Kate]

If it were me, I would do as Teh suggested. I would expand the paddock to inclose and incorporate the garage building and make sure the doors open wide and can be fixed back against the building tidily. Why put in another doorway when you have one? That part is a head scratcher for me.

And, you can also extend a roof off the side of the building for any length, which would make a fine shelter, instead. But either way, I would not try busting through a second large doorway. If it were me. I mean, why bother with that expense?

[half_pass1]

[QUOTE=teh_Kibbster;8308212]
get some t bars and extend electric around the front? You can keep the tree out, looks like there is enough space. That way if you hate it, you haven’t put a hole in a 50 year old building. If you love it in a year, make it permanent.[/QUOTE]

It’s an old photo, the tree was dead anyway and has since been cut down and replaced. It was our original idea to make a fence going around to give access to the front doors, but the issue there is that it is right on the driveway and there would be a 1m wide gap that the horses have to fit through to get around the corner into the shed. Which is fine if they are sensible and proceed orderly one after the other at a slow walk through the gap - but then they wouldn’t be horses would they?!

[half_pass1]

Whoops, double post…

[js]

Why not run your fencing at least in part to the front of the garage, remove the old garage doors, and either replace with ones that would work or leave them off completely. Are you going to cut the door(s) where the windows on the back are? It might be easier since you already have a small cut out.

[trubandloki]

My thought is there never seems to be enough storage so why go to the expense of making a good storage building into something it will cost way too much money to make? It would be easier to keep the storage building and build a run in off the back or side of it.

[Ambitious_Kate]

I agree with you trub

[AmarachAcres]

Could you post a satellite photo that shows the layout more clearly?

[csaper58]

I think your plan will work, but may be check with a mason/brick layer? Old bricks and especially old mortar can be crumbly.

Lovely place!