Does anyone else end up with soaked stalls from ground condensation. I’m in Ohio and I feel like anytime the weather changes my stalls are soaked through. I have clay ground with screenings and then mats. It’s exhausting and expensive to deal with all of wasted bedding.
Has anyone tried a vapor barrier under their mats?
A vapor barrier might be helpful if the stalls floor level is higher than the ground outside the barn. Water seeks a level, so if stalls and outside ground are the same height, a vapor barrier probably won’t help much unless you do additional things with drainage outside.
Gutters with downspouts directing water into pipe leading away from the barn, french drains around the barn, leading rain/snow water away from the barn. Nothing will be cheap, though with a good plan, you may be able to do it yourself.
Best to get a barn builder, drainage expert in, let them assess your ground issues to find a solution, then make a plan to deal with it.
My BIL the builder, adevised us to bring in a LOT of sand base before building our new barn. Raise the base by more than we ever would have thought. But he was the expert! We were SO lucky to have him directing things! We bought a truck load of sand every time we got a few dollars ahead, for a year! Then we had a guy come in, push all the sand into a big base before winter. Sand settled, was quite solid by spring to build the barn on. But the quantity! We raised the barn more than 4ft from surrounding field dirt. I bless BIL on a regular basis because the barn has never flooded or had wet stalls over a lot of years. Despite torrents of rain, water racing across the lower barnyard in front, water has never gotten close to the barn doors. Water all leaves pretty fast, we are above the river with good dug drains I keep mowed and clean, but water is still a force to be reckoned with! 6 inches deep can knock you down!
We have added a lot of socked, perforated drain pipe (tile) to aid water drainage and it really does help lead water away faster. The “sock” is a fabric cover to help keep sand and stones out of the pipe. But getting drain people in will let you see things more clearly, they will tell you why you are having issues with water. Then what solutions will help you best for the money. You might need to do things in steps as your budget allows. We had to. Professionals in to replace old, broken ceramic drain tile crossing two of the fields. That made an immediate difference on wet fields and flooding! Water left much faster. Now that we have a backhoe, dirt cutting tool to make pipe trenches using the tractor, things are easier to get done.
Is it possible the bedding is damp and frozen and thaws out in the barn…sort of “freeze dried”?
I still get condensation on my mats that are over concrete that does have a vapor barrier underneath. So no, I don’t think a vapor barrier below mats will help. The moisture is coming from the top side, not below (at least in my barn.)
I agree it’s a PITA.
If it’s clean but damp, can you bank it at the sides and let it dry? That’s usually how I handle it, but I don’t know if that works for you.
never ever had that problem, even when we are in the low teens (or lower)
I put a foundation around the barn then back filled with decomposed granite to get the floor of the barn above grade, then sand bed (4 inches?) for the concrete pavers. Then mats on top
If I remember correctly there is somewhere around 150,000 pounds of material in the floor.
Not sure what “ground condensation” means.
If you mean seepage from under the barn, that’s not condensation but a drainage issue.
I’m in NY and have never had this problem, but have concrete with mats. The only place this happens is in my run in shed which can get wet from underneath in heavy rain. It’s not condensation, it’s literally water saturation under the mat. The only way I think I could fix it is by creating a swale around the shed so that ground water doesn’t run toward the shed.
I have mats on top of screenings here in humid and rainy Alabama. The only moisture I get is horse pee. I have had damp spots on the floor that does not have mats but it is not condensation but it is the water table rising after heavy rains. Not enough to soak the floor and bedding though.
This.
I have not noticed it being a problem where it soaks my stall bedding but my aisle mats do sweat when we have cold ground and hot air. Just a physics thing.
In my stalls I think I typically have enough insulation (bedding) that it is not so much of a problem.
I’m pretty sure its not water from below. I don’t have this issue in the spring/summer/fall. This happens when we have weather shifts from below to above freezing. I also don’t get wet spots anywhere but my heavily bedded stalls. The idea of trying the banking is intriguing.
I also know it’s not frozen bedding as I use bagged pellets. I don’t wet the pellets to break them down either.
I was planning to have some grading work done in other areas of the farm this year, so I will ask if they think it could be ground water.
See if you can have them come when stalls are wet, may be able to give you reasons why. Don’t be showing them a nice clean, dry bedded stall! Embarassing as showing dirty stalls can be, that is what you are dealing with daily. They can see it happening, look and walk around inside and out, to think of what needs changing before the weather conditions change. Then when weather improves, they can actually fix the situation.
I have this issue, too. I have mats in my aisle and when I walked into the barn this morning they were all wet on top. Oh, well. Gave me a reason not to sweep. 
I can’t say I’ve noticed it in the stalls, but I assume it’s because the bedding absorbs anything.
What material is your barn? Mine is metal, I get condensation in the winter and then the ceiling drips when it is above freezing. If that is the case some faced insulation panels installed may be the only solution. Can you post pics?
Barn is of loft construction, so it’s not condensation from the ceiling. This happens when we go from below freezing to 50 degrees and then when the cold returns the bedding clumps and freezes.
Off the top of my (non-Engineer) head:
Maybe it’s the mats?
I don’t have mats in my stalls - gravel base topped by screenings, shavings go directly on top.
Never a problem like you describe, even when I bedded on pellets.
I do have ersatz mats (roofing ice dam material) in my aisles. When we get humid weather or temperature shifts these mats do get wet.
That is an interesting thought. The mats in the stalls with the issue came with the farm. I’ve since added a stall on to the barn. I’ve always used that stall for my mini and I don’t bed him deeply. I think I’ll trying swapping stalls and see what happens.
So…something similar happens to me, but it’s just the accumulation of frozen water thawing. When it’s below freezing my horse is tracking in snow, ice chunks in his feet, dribbling his water all over the place. His pee spot freezes and the he walks around and some clumpy frozen pieces get mixed up with the clean. The longer the weather is cold, the more there are little frozen pieces of bedding from the accumulation of all that, and then when we get a random 50 degree day it all melts and the stall feels wet.
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