I’ve been planning out my new barn and have read threads about having drains installed in each stall before concrete is poured. But, how would that even work? Wouldn’t the drains get clogged by shavings?
I have a couple of “wet” horses and it’d be great if drains would keep their stalls drier…how does that work?
I am sure there will be many opinions but when we built of main barn we put drains in two of our stalls with the thought of “when we hose the stalls down in cleaning we would have the drain system” … that was nearly thirty years ago … never used the drains because we have mats over pavestone, when we pull the mats to do a complete clean the excess water drains into the grout lines of the pavestones. With the use of pellet bedding any urine becomes clumped in the bedding therefor doesn’t require an escape path such as drainage system.
(our stock is always stalled at night and during inclement weather)
Agree with clanter. I had them put in because we had to pour concrete for a variety of reasons. I figured that I would at least annually pull the mats out and clean underneath, but very little (if any) of the stall floor was ever so filthy it needed hosing down, or even pulling the mats.
It would not keep a wet stall dry, in my opinion, and yes - the drain would get clogged with bedding. We thought it would help only for cleaning, but well-fitting stall mats were effective all by themselves.
I don’t mind them being there, because every few years it doesn’t hurt pulling the mats and really giving the entire barn a full power wash, and the drains help it dry more quickly. But I wouldn’t install them with any thought that they will help keep bedded stalls dryer. Those just need more bedding and more frequent cleaning.
When we built our barn 22 years ago we put down a concrete foundation with french drains for each stall. We then put 4" of limestone gravel over the concrete and then put treated 2 x 6 flooring over that, with the ends anchored by angle iron. The boards are butted, not tongue and groove. We have NEVER had a barn smell issue even when one tenant allowed manure to accumulate in the stalls to a depth of 6-8 inches.
Stall cleaning is simple. Daily pickout and “banking” the bedding is done and water buckets are emptied into the stalls. The old water washes any urine/uric acid through the gravel and down the drain. Let it dry, return the bedding, and you’re done. Stripping and pressure washing a couple of times a month ensures a clean, odor free facility.
Wood, when first put down, has a level of “slickness.” But it quickly roughens and we’ve never had a “slipping” issue.
Good planning now will mean lots less labor and expense later. The french drain system is a good one as long as you put gravel over the concrete and something over the gravel.
Good luck in your project.
G.
I once toured a potential property with the coolest Morton barn. They had what sounded like a slick system for dispatching any extra urine that sunk into the compacted clay flooring (Georgia):
Each stall had a large (think 55 gal drum size) pit dug in the center of it that was filled with gravel of some kind (it escapes me). the whole stall angled slightly to it and bedding was put directly on top. So if you DID have a wet horse, or an overturned bucket, the pit would absorb the runoff and hold until it got absorbed into the surrounding clay.
Granted, that’s a finite amount unlike a true drain, but I thought it was neat for a backup system more than anything.
I’m considering if this is worthwhile for my barn that I’ll build shortly here, but I can’t see my horses being stabled enough to warrant any additional cost this incurs.
[QUOTE=Guilherme;8918502]
When we built our barn 22 years ago we put down a concrete foundation with french drains for each stall. We then put 4" of limestone gravel over the concrete and then put treated 2 x 6 flooring over that, with the ends anchored by angle iron. The boards are butted, not tongue and groove. We have NEVER had a barn smell issue even when one tenant allowed manure to accumulate in the stalls to a depth of 6-8 inches.
Stall cleaning is simple. Daily pickout and “banking” the bedding is done and water buckets are emptied into the stalls. The old water washes any urine/uric acid through the gravel and down the drain. Let it dry, return the bedding, and you’re done. Stripping and pressure washing a couple of times a month ensures a clean, odor free facility.
Wood, when first put down, has a level of “slickness.” But it quickly roughens and we’ve never had a “slipping” issue.
Good planning now will mean lots less labor and expense later. The french drain system is a good one as long as you put gravel over the concrete and something over the gravel.
Good luck in your project.
G.[/QUOTE]
Where did you put the french drain in the barn/stall?
In most stalls in Europe, the floor was concrete, slightly sloping to the front, there was a channel in front of the stalls, maybe 4-5" wide and 2" deep, where any urine or water would run into and flow down that channel in front of the stalls and outside.
We hosed that when we cleaned, so it always stayed clean.
Some stalls had boards on top of the concrete, but the barns with those tended to be more smelly, the wood would hold the smell of urine in.
We bedded only with straw in those days.
Bedding with straw, you clean any that is dirty, the walked on old clean straw has been ground to little pieces and is absorbent like shavings would be, the new long pretty straw on top is cushiony and banked during the day, pulled in some in the evening cleaning, still leaving some banking to keep a horse from getting cast.
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