I’m getting ready to renovate an old barn for use with my horses. The run in area that they will have has a couple of glass windows. The area is a little bit low on light so I hate to cover the windows with wood. I’m thinking about putting bars over the window or maybe mesh/grid. Has anyone done a mesh window covering? What did you use? How have you liked it?
My barn builder did not take into account(nor did I :rolleyes:) the fact that horses would have access to the storm windows on one side of my barn, Barn is surrounded by sacrifice paddock,
For the 1st couple years no damage done, but then “someone” discovered how much fun it was to shred the screens.
It was just a matter of time before a nose went through glass,
I bolted hardware cloth on the outside of the windows and this has solved the problem,
I can open the windows, screens & glass are protected & the repair is not visually obtrusive.
I have plexiglass windows and we stapled chicken wire to the wood frame on the stall windows. Nobody has ever tried to tear out the chicken wire; the same wire has been stapled to the windows for nearly 14 years:)
if at all possible try to redo the glass windows and replace them with plexiglass. Mine are almost 14 years old and even the one on the worst weather side of the barn has very little “fading”; I say fading because I can’t think if the right word:(
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Hardware cloth mounted on a sturdy frame should do the job. In reality if a horse really wants to put it’s nose somewhere and is willing to tolerate the pain in doing so there’s not much you can do stop it. Hardware cloth is my choice over chicken wire in that it is generally more robust and has smaller openings, meaning less chance for equine “mischief.” In either event the mounting frame has bot to be strong enough to survive some inquisitive “pushes.”
Good luck in your project.
G.
I would replace the glass with plexiglass.
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Thank you for all of the replies! If you switched it out to plexiglass would you still cover it with something or would you consider the plexiglass safe?
I’d cover plexiglas - if it shatters it makes a lot of very sharp shards.
With horses it is never a matter of “If” they manage to break something, always “When” :rolleyes:
Cover plexiglass, but you should be able to get away with something that lets a good amount of light in like bars that you’d see on the dutch doors with the plexi tops.
there are two basic types of of “Plexiglas”
Sheet grade polycarbonate (aka Lexan or Makrolon) and acrylic sheet (aka Lucite) are two of the most frequently used see-through plastics.
Each of the two have benefits and drawbacks. Acrylic is shinier and polycarb is stronger. Acrylic is less expensive but easier to crack. Polycarb is more impact resisant but easier to scratch. They are both stronger and lighter than untempered glass; acrylic is 4x to 8x stronger than glass, while polycarb is about 200x stronger.
http://coloradoplastics.com/polycarbonate-lexan-vs-acrylic-lucite/
Lexan is nearly indestructible
Well, we made our own bars for the windows–only 2 stalls, was easy to do with lightweight aluminum rods (Home Depot) installed a few inches apart and fastened into the wood frames. Had to do it both inside the stalls and outside, since the stalls abutt the turnout. We have had some funny questions about why our horses need to be in jail !
Have you considered using some flattened expanded steel sheeting? The heavy gauge works well and will prevent horses from getting to the glass if installed securely.
