Finish for stalls?

[SugarCubes]

Our barn is just about finished and the wood is all tongue and groove SYP. I love the natural look of the wood and am wondering if it is necessary to put a finish on it or if it can be left as is? I stained and then applied a marine varnish to our last barn, which turned out really nice but man, it was a large and time consuming project!

I’m thinking just putting a marine varnish on the fronts wouldn’t be too bad, but what about the partitions and back walls?! If you have a clear finish on your stalls did you just do the fronts or the entire stall?

[clanter]

I have never had a horse stop as it enters its stalls to admire the finish on the stall walls, their only focus has been where is my grain, you shorted me 1/4 of an oz

We put a stain finish on the stalls just to provide us a level of comfort to having finished the project …none of our horses have expressed any appreciation

[goodhors]

Could you put on a type of poly finish over the stain? Varnish is a lot of work. Folks here are always talking about cleaning barns with power washing. That is really hard on wood, especially unfinished wood.

For us, I used an Olympic stain with a coating in it, like for decks, on our stall fronts. Couple coats were good for years. Then I just repainted them with more of the same product. We wash horses in the center aisle, lots of water spraying around. Walls look nice anyway, shed the water pretty well. Nothing soaks in. I think without the heat and sun like decks get, the finish lasted so well and for so long.

Anyway, that would be my recommend for your stall fronts, a type of deck finish. Colored if you like. Ours was cedar, a very light color. Went on easy with roller, dried fast. I would do at least 2 coats to fill the dry wood. Maybe a sprayer would be easier for you. The stains come in many colors, all great products. I like the Olympic line, has been wonderful on a number of projects here.

[Equibrit]

Thompson’s water seal.

[SugarCubes]

@clanter :lol: Those ungrateful beasts!!!

@goodhors I just thought about using something like that last night, actually! Just to give it a hint of color and with a sealer built in. Did you do anything to your dividers or back walls or leave them as is?

@Equibrit Same question, did you do all walls or just stall fronts?!

[Equibrit]

@SugarCubes

@Equibrit Same question, did you do all walls or just stall fronts?!

All walls. It helps when liquid poo (and any other nasty stuff) is shot on the walls.

[2DogsFarm]

For those of us who have procrastinated about doing this for waaaaaayyy too long (16yrs 🙄)…
Would it work to use a product like Thompson’s in a shade darker than the formerly pristine, now stained in places, pine stall fronts?

I am not nitpicky & realize stained areas may remain, just in a darker shade.
But it would be nice to spruce up the place a bit. I see a nice glossy or semi- gloss finish.
Also need to Rust-Oleum the metal grills & metal covering that tops the stalls’ boards.

[Equibrit]

You may have some success with the stains by scrubbing with a stiff brush and bleachy water.

[goodhors]

We did not do anything protective to the wood inside the stalls. Wood in there is rough-sawn oak, and has been a good material over the years. There are a few stains, but nothing horrible. Brushing stain when dry usually removes any dry matter pretty well. These stalls are built to take abuse from large horses, young horses. You never know how a new horse will act in a new place! We have a working barn for ourselves, not out to impress folks. Practical, easy to use and work in, just want it safe for the horses. We have only our own horses here.

Without a wash stall, it made sense to wash equines in the aisle, but protect the nicer pine stall fronts with a finish. We did the pine fronts because it was less expensive than the oak and horses would have no access to chew it. So we went with the deck stain on the stall fronts, sliding stall doors on the aisle.

[Greys]

I have used waterlox on my stall walls. I like the look of it, and as mentioned above, easy to wipe down. Does require some time to dry, however.

greys

[fatappy]

I did a spar varnish on the front side and the side where the water buckets/ feed buckets were. It did help for getting food slop off the walls and made sure water rolled off and didn’t seep into the wood. I was happy with the time investment to do it versus the time i saved in cleaning.

[kaya842]

I am almost done with our walls. We bought the place with existing, unfinished, nasty stalls. Pinesol + bleach and hand scrubbing was step 1. Sanding and sanding hard where there were stains step 2. Then I put on a deck stain and sealer on all of the walls - front, back, sides, and kick walls. Those 3 things made the place SO much brighter and warmer instead of dark, dirty and dungeony feeling. I just started the last step which is putting a poly coat on the stall fronts only to make them have that glossy finish. They looked good without it, but I think the poly will help protect them even more and just puts that final touch on them.

[4horses]

Don’t use Thompson’s water sealant. They reformulated it to reduce VOC’s. The new formula was sticky and nasty after i applied it to my trailer floor. I had to remove it with mineral spirits. I had a can of the old formula and that worked fine. The new stuff went straight in the trash.

My barn was painted with polyurethane but after 10 years and the bright Florida sun, it peeled off and the dirt stuck to it. I bought outdoor paint and painted most of my barn a light pinkish orange tan with a semi gloss. It looks fabulous. I would probably paint it rather than use polyurethane. I thought I might miss the wood look but it is bright and cheerful.

[Foxglove]

Going on 30 years, we are still at natural wood —however, were I to do it over again, I would do what my neighbor did (wise person) —he sanded and varnished (likely Marine varnish) all his wood BEFORE he assembled the stalls —oooh, that would save so much time! His barn has a more finished look than mine, however, the natural wood is easy to maintain —the stall fronts are just bare wood that has aged well, the grills are rebar spaced 4" apart. We used 2x10 boards for everything possible --and in 30 years have had to fix only one board --I “flipped” a board that a cribber was working on to give him a fresh surface after he cribbed through about 4 inches —he’s a retired show horse and I think at his age of 30+ the board will outlive him. The interior walls along the back of the stalls are dry wall above 4’ stone --and (blush) I’ve started hanging oil paintings on them --pictures of the horses and farm that I paint and no longer have room to hange in the “Museum of Me” in the basement. Ironically, I actually see more of them than the ones in the house !!!

[2DogsFarm]

@Foxglove

The interior walls along the back of the stalls are dry wall above 4’ stone --and (blush) I’ve started hanging oil paintings on them --pictures of the horses and farm that I paint and no longer have room to hange in the “Museum of Me” in the basement. Ironically, I actually see more of them than the ones in the house !!!

😆
I love this!
& Need to see it!*

I have photos in my barn of horses past.
Sadly (though I went to Art Institute of Chgo for college 😏) my painting skills are Zip.
I was a Printmaking Major.

I do have a lovely pastel of my TB Vern done by a friend’s Dad. And a pencil sketch of DH’s TWH - done by a friend who shareboarded him.
Both hung in my LR.

*Taylor & I will be at MEC 8/5 for the Draft Finals.
22 8s!
What are you doing that morning?
Maybe I can convince him to do a Middlebury Drive-by 😎

[Foxglove]

@2DogsFarm I would love to go to the MEC and see the draft horses!! Are you and Tyler eating at Essenhaus first? That’s right by my farm --love to join you --of if that doesn’t work, I’ll just meet you at the MEC. Sounds fun!

[MCortez]

We have a year old barn. We sanded all woods and I’m thinking now about leaving them as natural as I can, however, I’m thinking that we need to at least seal the walls. I was told If we use one of high-quality sealants like one of these, it will look natural and there will be no need to paint or to renovate the barn too often.

[LCDR]

Oil based semi-gloss polyurethane over natural wood for me. it darkens to a nice rich amber color with time. The water-based polyurethane does not darken.

It has not handled water exposure well, in the ends of the center aisle where rain blows in. My next project is to sand those areas and coat with a marine spar oil polyurethane (it is not a varnish).

I use Bona polyurethane floor cleaner to do the walls every spring, once I pressure wash the dried horse snot from the stall walls around the feed buckets.