Rubber mats over rock in barn aisle-- questions?

[mvp]

I’m trying to engineer a soft barn aisle for myself and my horses. But! the softest/maybe most affordable option I have seen might not hold up. Will you all help me think through some solutions, or tell me about your experience?

The basics: This is an L-shaped center aisle barn. Total square feet to be covered is 1008. so whatever I do, I have to keep cost in mind.

I have seen one (straight) barn with a concrete curb as high as the mats. Mats were put in the middle of that, over crush-and-run, prepared the way you would do for stalls. This is a young aisle-- it hasn’t even been in a year yet, and you can see/feel waves in it and/or troughs where tractor tires had rolled.

This all makes me worry about how the mats will stay in place (or not) at the intersection of the L. I could perhaps put a line of concrete curb at that intersection so both rectangles of mats were held in place.

I have seen mats over concrete— cool, but not quite as soft and expensive since you’ll spend concrete’s $10/ft2 and then pay for mats on top of that.

And my big question: If you have used that mud-grid plastic under your rock for paddocks, do you think that would work for this application? That is, I’d put that stuff down, put my crust-and-run over that, and the grid would help stabilize that foundation better than the rock alone.

What do you think? Do you guys have anything better?

Thanks!

[2DogsFarm]

My aisle & stall floors are stonedust.
Barn builder gave me some rubber roofing material (ice dam?) that I put in the stalls as mats & used in the aisle.

In the stalls the stonedust has packed down like cement. Been down 15yrs & aside from some very minor tunneling by rodents, provides a level floor. I bed with wood pellets. Drains great, never a urine stink.
The rubber stuff in the stalls lasted maybe 5yrs before hooves & manure fork ripped holes in it.

In the aisle the stonedust is packed, but still has some give for the horses (they leave shallow hoofprints).
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹Feels like cement to me. It can be swept & even hosed, drains well.
The rubber in the aisles has been there 15yrs & still provides a clean place for farrier & vet to work.

My barn is not fancy, “workmanlike” is what I call it. But it has been complimented by vet, farrier & other pros.

[NaturallyHappy]

My barn aisle is roughed up concrete w rubber mats where horses are cross tied for grooming, etc. It was that way when I bought this farm over 30 years ago (sans rubber mats). We put mats in the stalls recently. I bought the interlocking kind, which have stayed “locked” well. Goofy as it sounds, we used gorilla glue in the seams to offset the horses moving around on the mats as the stalls were level, but not concrete, so the base had some give. Hope this is helpful somehow.

[Simkie]

If you’re not interested in mats over concrete, you’re probably looking at mats over screenings. Use a vibrating plate tamper to pack them, and movement will be very limited. It sounds like your friends barn wasn’t tamped properly, or a material was used that doesn’t pack. You don’t want something under mats that won’t compact, or it will constantly shift.

You can pin the mats in at the edges with a concrete (or wood) curb, or screw them down to a wood beam installed underneath, or use stall mat klips at the edges, or butt then up to structure (your stalls, etc.) If you don’t secure the outer edges, they will gradually travel.

If you go with screenings, the surface has to be perfectly flat–like get down on the ground with a very straight board and drag across flat–or the seams will be uneven and you’ll constantly catch them. It’s quite a lot of work, but really worth it.

After doing A LOT of mat install over both screenings and concrete, I’ll give a limb to have concrete, if I’m in that boat again. SO much easier.

[TMares]

We have 4x6 mats from TSC in our dirt aisle. the dirt had about 2" of gravel fines over it. We raked it clean and mostly level then put mats down and secured them with these:

https://stallmatklips.com/
They work very well!

[morsekg]

I originally just put screenings down in my barn aisle. Since my horses have access to that aisle as a run in during the day I didn’t want to do concrete. Despite it being tamped the horses did manage to make the screenings uneven in the first year. I tried regularly hosing down the aisle but had no luck getting it to harden. So a couple years ago I bought some Trugrid off amazon and put that down in my aisle instead. My aisle stays even and the horses still have the nice screenings to walk on. Drains well and I just use a blower occasionally to remove pieces of bedding, etc that have escaped the stalls. It’s really been a great solution for me.

[wildlifer]

I have mats over screenings in my crossties. I did not tamp with any special machines, but since I hose there, plenty of moisture means it is now packed down really well. Mats don’t move. If you care that it is very level, you probably do want to tamp it before you put the mats down.

[fourfillies]

OP, as Simkie mentioned, I suspect your friend’s aisle wasn’t prepped. I put mats over stone dust I tamped with a rented machine. Agree key is to get really flat. Not huge or fancy machine. Level, water, tamp, check level, water, tamp and done. I added mats the next weekend. They aren’t moving. I did 1/2 your sq ft. One benefit would be a hard edge/curb as you describe. That allows you to cut the mats to fit very tightly. I added about 1/16” overage and used a sledge to tamp mine in place. Without a hard edge you may need to pin the outer edges.

[mvp]

@fourfillies

OP, as Simkie mentioned, I suspect your friend’s aisle wasn’t prepped. I put mats over stone dust I tamped with a rented machine. Agree key is to get really flat. Not huge or fancy machine. Level, water, tamp, check level, water, tamp and done. I added mats the next weekend. They aren’t moving. I did 1/2 your sq ft. One benefit would be a hard edge/curb as you describe. That allows you to cut the mats to fit very tightly. I added about 1/16” overage and used a sledge to tamp mine in place. Without a hard edge you may need to pin the outer edges.

Thank you!

I had a rubber mat manufacturer recommend leaving a pretty big gap around the mats to handle expansion. That’s not my instinct or experience with installing stall mats. I think you want them tight enough that you need to use a mallet to hammer the seams down.

The concrete would curb seen in my friend’s barn surrounded the mats entirely, so I would do that. I think that will outlast a strip of mats that get screwed onto wood at the ends.

How long have your mats installed this way been in place? And you say you have no waves or ruts in those mats?

Which mud-grids do you all suggest?

[fourfillies]

My friend has her mats set in tamped stone dust with a curb for 10+ years, that’s where I got the idea. No shifting, ruts. She drives through her barn daily.

Mine have been in this barn about a year and a half. Solid.

Sorry I can’t help with the mud grids. Good luck.

[Simkie]

Mats installed properly over a base done properly will last years and years. Some screenings are more solid than others, though…the blue stone dust here is much softer than the lime screenings in the Midwest–I have small dips where horses stand or paw. Nothing crazy, but noticable if you’re looking for it. Just the nature of the material.

Mats DO expand and contract with the weather. Brands seem to vary on that. I suspect this is where those interlocking mats really shine. Straight edge mats will shrink away from each other a little in the cold, exposing edges, and that’s when your base is really important. If there’s any variation, edges will lift or dip and running a manure fork over that spot will always catch. But leaving a gap around the outside edge isn’t the answer…they’ll just shift away from each other if you do.

Cut them slightly longer than they measure and pound in with a mallet to get a tight fit. I go 1/4" long on the short side and a 1/2" long on the long side, but you’ll need to play around to figure out what’s best for you.

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