Proper elevation for pole barn pad-- yet another "talk me off the ledge" please!

[vxf111]

Getting the farmette up and running is going to be the death of me.

I am having a 36x48 pole barn placed on my generally flat property. The barn is a center aisle barn with dutch doors out the back of the stalls into a paddock.

I hired an experienced excavator to do site prep. He has done other barns in the area and himself is a horse person. He came out, walked the site, we marked off the site, and his eyeball estimate was that it was pretty flat and would need __ amount of dirt.

He then called me to say when he went out and laser measured, it was more sloping than he’d thought and it would actually need 2x__ amount of dirt (of course at 2x price as well). I agreed, because I want the site prep done right.

He finished yesterday. This is what I have…

http://s5.photobucket.com/user/vxf111/media/Fox%20Chapel%20Farm/photo5.jpg.html

http://s5.photobucket.com/user/vxf111/media/Fox%20Chapel%20Farm/photo4.jpg.html

http://s5.photobucket.com/user/vxf111/media/Fox%20Chapel%20Farm/photo1-1.jpg.html

http://s5.photobucket.com/user/vxf111/media/Fox%20Chapel%20Farm/photo2-1.jpg.html

http://s5.photobucket.com/user/vxf111/media/Fox%20Chapel%20Farm/photo3-1.jpg.html

Maybe it’s just me being nuts… but that looks SO ELEVATED. Like I am going to need a RAMP in/out of the barn and all the stalls. I didn’t have a measuring stick, but I swear in back it’s approaching 2 feet high. Is that correct? Normal? Does it settle some? I have never seen a barn quite so up in a hill before. I have an elderly pony. The idea was that in the winter I could just open the back dutch door and let him walk into a paddock. The idea of him having to step up almost 2 feet and over a sill to get in/out of the stall… it’s not what I was anticipating.

I have never seen a barn being built. I’ve seen plenty of finished barns but none so up on a hill. Please tell me this is totally normal and the finished product will be fine for taking horses and equipment in/out of the barn and into their attached pasture without it requiring ramps!

[Guilherme]

You want at least two things:

First, you want the barn level (or sloped slightly to encourage beneficial drainage).

Second, you want it above normal flood levels.

If meeting these two requirements means you have a ramp then you have a ramp. A two foot “drop” is hardly much to worry about. Have your dirt guy do a proper one for you.

Good luck in your project.

G.

[2DogsFarm]

Sometimes you just have to trust the pros.

Since your excavator is also a horseman, voice your concerns.
Ask him what the height of the completed building base will be.
Can he conference with the barn builder & yourself so everyone is thinking of the same end result?

I wish I could be more helpful, but my barn was put up 10yrs ago & honestly all I can recall is walking through the framed indoor & thinking it was godawful tall for what I had in mind.

My excavator also talked me into moving my barn to a better location for drainage. Farther from the house, but not a dealbreaker & I’m glad I capitulated.
He was right. In all this time & torrential rains my barn has never been wet inside.

He spent more time leveling that base than it took for the builders to put up the barn & indoor!

[Sing_Mia_Song]

Higher is better. Trust me. And once the barn gets built on your pad, it won’t look nearly as high as it does now.

[vxf111]

Excavator says it’s A-Ok, this is how it’s supposed to be done and that elevation is good. I hope you’re all right and it just LOOKS higher than it is without the barn actually on it. I just don’t want to open the dutch door and have my pony slip on turnout… the whole design of the barn was centered around making life as easy as possible for him. he’s not a spring chicken and I want him safe.

[trubandloki]

It looks good to me. You will appreciate the slight elevation difference.

I begged to have my barn pad elevated where it met the driveway. I lost when Mr. Trub said it was fine being level. (There is an elevation difference with a drop like the OP has on every other side.)

Built the barn and learned that water comes down off the neighboring hill, diagonally across our field and then finds the driveway and runs right into the front of my barn. Since the barn pad has a slight slope (on purpose) the water flows right thru the barn and out the back door.

[tangledweb]

High is good. Maybe you want the edges of the pad feathered out more gradually so that it’s easier to mow or keep gravel on or whatever you’ll do with it but I’m sure it will be fine once you get used to it.

[skyy]

Higher is better. I don’t know your plans for finishing the area around the barn (leave it dirt, add stone, etc) but you can always add something to soften the transition out the door. If you are going to finish the area around the barn with stone (like driveway stone or screenings), if you don’t elevate the barn and you do plan to periodically add stone to freshen things up, within a short period of time you will find that your barn is flush with the outside elevation and then the outside is higher than your barn pad which is a nightmare on a variety of levels (no pun intended!). I know this from practical experience.

[Nestor]

I built my barn on what we thought was a flat spot. Once the foundation was done, in order to have all of it at least 8" above the ground, the corner of the barn on the low side was over two feet above ground. We used a sand fill to grade around the barn do that there’s not a huge drop out of huge stalls.

So yes, that’s normal!

Edited to add… My barn is at the top of a hill, so no concerns about flooding. That also plays a big role.

[whitney159]

It looks good to me. Like others, I’ve found that what looks level, ends up with water running through it. Wish I had a few more inches up at the front of my barn. Mine is a bit of the side of a hill, so is level up front and slopes off at the rear and I was terrified that I had what was essentially a bank fence coming out the back of my barn. Nope when all was done, while it slopes, it’s perfectly fine!

[saddleup]

I agree that it looks good. When I built my barn they raised the site 20 inches from where the old barn had stood. The old barn that had a river running through it when the spring thaw came. Now my barn is high and dry, and I love it.

[Jumper_girl221]

The dirt will compact as well, something else to consider.

I agree it looks fine, you want it elevated so everything drains away from the barn.

[onthebit]

I think it looks good. Keep in mind the final product will look very different than what you are seeing now. A dry barn is a beautiful thing and that is what you are prepped for!

[jbonifas]

Looks perfect to me, I had my elevated 3’-0. You are better off high than low.

[vxf111]

Ok, I feel better. Thanks for ledge talking me everyone!!!

[Jumper_girl221]

Something else to think about, is you can always add fill and slope it away from the barn to eliminate that drop. Not only would it probably look more appealing, but also it would help your paddocks to drain so you don’t get mud pits in front of your dutch doors leading into the paddocks.

[ThisTooShallPass]

With all the odd weather patterns, I bet you will be grateful for the “extra” elevation.

[ReSomething]

Well, the best pads like that are made of several layers of rocks with finer rocks and dirt on top. I’d prefer it myself if the pad was at least 2 feet out from the edge of the buildings, that gives some nice wiggle room for additional grading, but what you got there looks really good, it’s a nice high spot which is what you want. My neighbors built a pole barn on grade, and for years in the winter the water off the roof would enter into the building and turn half of it into a skating rink, or the wind would hoot and howl under the bottom of the siding. Finally they built a dam around the outside of the building and now it’s closed up, but full of native dirt and rocks, big slabs of limestone that make the floor in there a hard, bumpy lumpy mess.

[The_Crone_of_Cottonmouth_Count]

[QUOTE=Jumper_girl221;7722827]
Something else to think about, is you can always add fill and slope it away from the barn to eliminate that drop. Not only would it probably look more appealing, but also it would help your paddocks to drain so you don’t get mud pits in front of your dutch doors leading into the paddocks.[/QUOTE]

This is what I did when my pad ended up over 2’ high on one end. I know it looks weird at first but trust me, it will be OK. I put in a rampy driveway. It looks great. Kind of stately.

[goodhors]

Our pad was almost 5ft high, when they first put in the dirt. Not neat like yours, just piled up and driven on by the bulldozer. My BIL the barn builder said to get the dirt, put it in place, let the weather work on it all winter. So we did.

He came out the next summer, worked the piled dirt which had settled a LOT from rain and snow, freezing over the seasons. Dirt was VERY firm now, so it stayed where he put it, and they put up the barn over the dirt. BIL sloped the outside edges out from the walls, for good drainage and we watered the inside of barn about once a week, drove the tractor around inside to pack dirt even more, and just let things settle even more. All done per BIL’s advice.

When late winter started into Spring, husband started building the stall walls, tack room, and then finally did the cement floors of aisle and storage for hay.

Have to say getting in the dirt, letting it settle SO LONG, has prevented much in problems with floors, almost no cracking or shifting. We did have a woodchuck get under the DEEP cement, so there are a couple little cracks where he burrowed and took out dirt.

Have to say the barn is about the highest part of the farm, and I LOVE that when the drainage water starts coming thru the place!! No water close to height of the barn pad, so never a flooding issue.

You will like your high dirt, once the barn is covering it! Just looks odd now, with no top yet.