For those who have wash bays in their barns . . . what are the pros and cons of different drain locations (center drain vs french drain at back of stall).
How about concrete grading? Should the stall be sunk about 2" or should it have a ‘curb’ that goes up in front to prevent water from flowing in the the center aisle?
I’ve seen lots of different ideas. Most barns I’ve had or boarded at over the years have wash stalls that are level with the center aisle and water goes out into the aisle so trying to avoid these thing with our design
Also - how about lighting. Really want to avoid fluorescent tubes. Any good LED options out there ?
If you slope the wash rack floor properly, there should be minimal or no water flowing into the aisle. Getting sprayed out there, sure.
The more drain grate surface area, the better and longer it will drain before needing to be cleared. My favorite place had a trench drain running along one side of the stall. A trench drain running along the back can work but only if the horses are tied far enough up that they don’t poop directly on it. My least favorite is a small circle drain in the middle, but of course it’s totally common and doable. Will you be putting honeycomb mats on the floor?
I personally don’t love putting a lip in front because I’m afraid I’ll trip over it when I’m working. If you make the stall totally or partially enclosed, that’s not such a risk. Making it encloseable is a nice option if you want to be able to put a heat lamp in and give baths during the winter, or put watertight storage along the front wall.
Mine has a curb because the pad is above ground level. I have had no issue with horses getting used to it. They step into and back out of much higher distances in trailers.
I LOVE having the water drain under the back wall (there is a 1” gap) to a large grate on the exterior of the Barn.
We did mine with the drain at the back and I love it. My wash rack is big, so where I have the crossties does not allow the horses to poop on the drain, it is another couple of feet or more behind even the largest horse’s back end. The drain is a trench with grate over it and runs the width of the wash stall area. I pulled the screws from the grate so we can just lift it to clean as needed rather than have to unscrew it and it stays in place just fine. Only thing I wish is that we had made it either wider or deeper as it does get gunked up quickly and has to be cleaned often, and that’s with just me using it, not a lot of people/horses. I think it is just ~4" wide and deep and if I did it again, I’d try to go twice that big.
The floor is concrete covered with solid mats (I am not a fan of the honeycomb type mats in a wash stall). Floor slopes front to back so water drains that direction. Lights are enclosed, wet area approved fluorescents (installed prior to LEDs being so readily available - I’d do LEDs now) and set on both sides of the horse. I want to add a heater but just haven’t got it done, like so many things around here!
[QUOTE=Making it encloseable is a nice option if you want to be able to put a heat lamp in and give baths during the winter/QUOTE]
I have only been at one barn ever that had wash stalls that could be enclosed and have never figured out why everyone doesn’t do this. It stayed warm when washing horses in cold weather, and allowed the horses to dry (pretty quickly) before taking them out in the cold. Plus, it kept all the water spray in the wash stall as opposed to out in the aisle. Even in wash stalls that have a curb/lip or are nicely sloped, I often seem to end up spraying water into the aisle - especially when trying to wash faces.
Our wash stall drain is at the front and is a long channel drain (frequently used for garages). The concrete surface and drain are covered with rubber pavers and the pavers have holes drilled in them to allow water to drain quickly. The drain directs water to a dry well located near the barn.
My 10x12 wash stall was built with a long 4" grate the width of the stall at the very front. The floor slopes to the drain, both wash stall and the aisle floor. The front drain solves the poop issue and is handy for power washing the aisle floor.
If I did again I would widen the grate and add an additional drain hole.
The best drain system I ever had was when the drain was on a side wall right underneath where the hose was. The floor sloped toward the drain. You didn’t have to worry about horses pooping on top of it (like in the rear) or middle drains that a horse could get caught up in (I’ve seen this happen with a shoe getting stuck).
