Does anyone have any experience with these? I am currently reflooring my stalls. These seem like a great solution. My stalls have been leveled with a sand/clay compound, so I’m hoping they would drain well enough under these. I like that they are one piece, so no shifting around. I bed deep on straw anyway, so that concept is not foreign. LOL
What do you think? www.stallsavers.com
I have StallSkins over stonedust. I bed with pellets. They work great
I have these (Stall Savers) in my run in sheds, so they really get tested. I recommend them to everyone I know! They are fabulous and indestructible. The only thing I would have done differently is put a little gravel under them to prevent low spots… my ground is sand, and so there are a few spots slightly lower than others. They are a tad bit tricky to install in the corners, but as usual the first one is the hardest. You do have to have wood sides or something that you can nail into. The install is a two person job, but I’d say it takes 30-45 mins per 12 x 12 stall. Otherwise, once they’re in, they’re IN. And just spectacular. They are cheaper than mats, even with shipping. No sliding, tearing or bunching. They drain GREAT (remember, mine are outdoor run in sheds!) and they keep my run ins from getting muddy. Also, because its one smooth surface, cleaning out is a BREEZE. I would imagine in a stall you’d use half the bedding. My barn builder guy was so impressed, he’s started recommending them / installing them in customer barns. Mine have been up for 2 years, and totally outside, with horses in a 24/7 turnout situation, so its been a fair test.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!
Stall Skins and fine bedding reduced the amount of manure dumping I do from a full spreader for 4 horses (large Newer Spreader)every day to 1 every 4 days. I also have matts in some stalls and can’t wait to be able to afford to replace those stalls too with Stall Skins.;
Can you put Stall Skins over a concrete floor in a stall?
HPF- I don’t think that would work- the object is that they drain into a porous subfloor where natural decomposition manages the urine stank… with concrete it would just pool and spread out- the same exact problem that you have with rubber mats- only with rubber mats at least you can remove the saturated bedding.
I haven’t used these, (yet) but just got a sample in the mail- I tested it in my sink- and afterwards I’ll admit I was a bit dissapointed how wet it remained after getting soaked- I even put it in my dish-drain rack, up like a dish- and on point- to really let the water run out- and the water didn’t run out. I thought it would be more like a pot scrubber pad. Beyond it’s saturation water runs through it- but it does hold onto wetness- (honestly- it seems to hold a surprising amount of water weight as if it was designed to hold onto the water!) it made me concerned that it could get stinky if a favorite pee spot was always staying wet.
I have been trying to contact stall savers to get a sample of their product and keep getting voicemail. Does anyone know if they are both the same material or are they different?
Irish- Do you bed your run-ins or are the horses walking on the surface of the mat? Are your horses shod?
My other question is that I have both standing (tie) stalls (6x12) and box stalls (12x12) in my new barn, (I know very old fashioned) the standing stalls are for feeding/patience training for horses who otherwise are pastured. To those of you who have used these mats- do you think they would hold up to the standing/shifting in place as well as urine at one end inherent with tie stalls? I am thinking that I’ll need to rubbermat the tie stalls and do the permeable mats just in the box stalls. I have about 6 inches of screened limestone over clay.
Found this old thread while comparing these products and thought since they have been around a while now that maybe more owners would have more insight? We currently have rubber mats over compressed gravel. The mats look nice for a year or so but we are constantly going through the barn and either completely redoing or fixing the mats. We have 20 stalls and there are always 1 or 2 that need mats fixed because the horses shift them around or somehow manage to get bedding under them, or urine builds up in low spots that develop under the mats. It is quite a PITA! I do worry with either of these products that they may be too porous and that the urine will go underneath and sit in spots even thought there is gravel underneath. Id probably rather have more of the bedding absorb the urine. Even with the mats fitted together with the rubber mats urine gets under and sits though. I guess my question is, for those of you that have used rubber mats, stall skins, or stall savers. Which do you think is best and why?
These sound awesome! So would a gravel base be sufficient or should I use something else? Do they hold up to naughty horses that paw?
I have had stallskins in three stalls for about 12yrs and they are still in fabulous shape despite the decade plus of constant use. Just installed a new stall and put stallskin in it too. I had about a 7" gravel base under the stallskin and urine goes through well.
I have installed the stall savers in a few of my stalls for a few months to test them out and I love them they look great and do the job well (I can’t speak for longevity yet) but I am very happy with my purchase and have ordered another 30 for the rest of the stalls. They are labor intensive to install but its worth it in the long run
My stall skins were put in ~15 yrs ago when the barn was built. They were put in over pea gravel and dirt. The stall floors now resemble the Himalayas - they are seriously that “hilly” and “potholed”. The heaves are big enough they trip the horses, so I have to put pea gravel and rubber mats OVER the skins just to level the surface a bit. So, I would definitely NOT recommend installing over a dirt/pea gravel base.
My skins also have numerous holes on top of the “peaks”, I assume from the lack of bedding in those areas and the years of friction from hooves. But, even with the holes, the skins ARE NOT loose. At all.
I also would not recommend installing with the included plastic stripping. Over time, it WILL warp, catch bedding and dirt and manure, warp some more, to the point that the screws are inaccessible.
I would install with 1" x 4" trim boards, and use lag screws. The lag screws have a hex head on them that you ratchet on - so no indented screw head to fill with debris so that you cannot “unscrew” it. The lag bolts will always be accessible.
Just my experience dealing with someone’s poorly installed project from 15 years ago. The skins ARE great, but proper installation is key to happiness. If mine were properly installed, I wouldn’t have a mountain range and would be able to remove them to adjust the base.
My stall skins were put in ~15 yrs ago when the barn was built. They were put in over pea gravel and dirt. The stall floors now resemble the Himalayas - they are seriously that “hilly” and “potholed”. The heaves are big enough they trip the horses, so I have to put pea gravel and rubber mats OVER the skins just to level the surface a bit. So, I would definitely NOT recommend installing over a dirt/pea gravel base.
My skins also have numerous holes on top of the “peaks”, I assume from the lack of bedding in those areas and the years of friction from hooves. But, even with the holes, the skins ARE NOT loose. At all.
I also would not recommend installing with the included plastic stripping. Over time, it WILL warp, catch bedding and dirt and manure, warp some more, to the point that the screws are inaccessible.
I would install with 1" x 4" trim boards, and use lag screws. The lag screws have a hex head on them that you ratchet on - so no indented screw head to fill with debris so that you cannot “unscrew” it. The lag bolts will always be accessible.
Just my experience dealing with someone’s poorly installed project from 15 years ago. The skins ARE great, but proper installation is key to happiness. If mine were properly installed, I wouldn’t have a mountain range and would be able to remove them to adjust the base.
[QUOTE=moving to dc;8063970]
My stall skins were put in ~15 yrs ago when the barn was built. They were put in over pea gravel and dirt. The stall floors now resemble the Himalayas - they are seriously that “hilly” and “potholed”. The heaves are big enough they trip the horses, so I have to put pea gravel and rubber mats OVER the skins just to level the surface a bit. So, I would definitely NOT recommend installing over a dirt/pea gravel base.
My skins also have numerous holes on top of the “peaks”, I assume from the lack of bedding in those areas and the years of friction from hooves. But, even with the holes, the skins ARE NOT loose. At all.
I also would not recommend installing with the included plastic stripping. Over time, it WILL warp, catch bedding and dirt and manure, warp some more, to the point that the screws are inaccessible.
I would install with 1" x 4" trim boards, and use lag screws. The lag screws have a hex head on them that you ratchet on - so no indented screw head to fill with debris so that you cannot “unscrew” it. The lag bolts will always be accessible.
Just my experience dealing with someone’s poorly installed project from 15 years ago. The skins ARE great, but proper installation is key to happiness. If mine were properly installed, I wouldn’t have a mountain range and would be able to remove them to adjust the base.[/QUOTE]
You do know that you can unfasten the stall skin, pull it back and level out the base underneath, right? I think it’s unreasonable for anyone to think that after 15 years you won’t need to do any maintenance to your stall base. Pull it up and fix it right and you’ll be good for another several years.
[QUOTE=Snowflake;8064011]
You do know that you can unfasten the stall skin, pull it back and level out the base underneath, right? I think it’s unreasonable for anyone to think that after 15 years you won’t need to do any maintenance to your stall base. Pull it up and fix it right and you’ll be good for another several years.[/QUOTE]
Believe me, I have tried. In my case, they are absolutely positively unremoveable.
I just purchased this property in 2012, so the majority of that “maintenance” has NOT been my burden…
Whomever installed them used the included cheap plastic “edging” crap. It has warped, so that each screw is now recessed in a 3" deep hole. All of the screw heads are full of 15 years of sh*t, so you cannot even get a driver to bite into them to back them out.
I called the manufacturer a year or so ago for advice… (btw - he said NOT to use the plastic edging included in the kits. He literally said it was for weekend DIY’ers who had no idea what they were doing and had demanded a full kit be sold. He said buy wood!)
The screws included in the kit are hardened steel. So they are “eating” every “removal” bit I try to use - the kind you use to drill out/grab a stripped screw.
I cannot use a hole saw and just “cut” around the screws, because the hole saw bit also hits the hardened steel screw and won’t go any further. It doesn’t matter if I use a larger diameter hole saw, they all just gravitate to the center because of the slope of the sides.
I have tried to just cut away the skins under the edging and leave the edging up. I have hacked and hacked for hours with every tool imaginable (hand and power), and only cut about a foot of fabric. The stuff is thick and strong.
In one tiny area that I did get to peel the skin away from, I discovered that the base has hardened like concrete, in the mountain range shape. Beating the crap out of it with a 20# sledge hammer did not loosen it at all. I am not renting a jack hammer.
Like I said in my last paragraph, “Just my experience dealing with someone’s poorly installed project from 15 years ago. The skins ARE great, but proper installation is key to happiness. If mine were properly installed, I wouldn’t have a mountain range and would be able to remove them to adjust the base.”
moving to dc, I suggest trying a reciprocating saw to cut the screws off. Cut between the wood and the stall skin, so the remainder of the screw is flush with the wall.
I have StallSkins in (2) 12x12 run-in stalls. I don’t bed them unless I am locking them in for the night, which is not often. I like StallSkins, but on a few occasions the boys have spooked and done a “turn and burn” out the door. There are a few small tears from that. I am sure they would be fine if either they were bedded, or the horses were locked in.
Reviving request for input and feedback. I want to install Stall Savers in a 12x12 stall with attached sandy paddock. The floor is currently “native” dirt and years of old packed savings. Will need to dig out the stalls to base, I imagine.
I’ve watched a number of videos and seen a variety of materials used. What are your recommendations for subfloor? Anyone have an opinion on asphalt millings? Any lessons learned to share?
Thanks in advance.
I have Stall Skins in my stalls. I’m in Western NC with clay soil and my horses are in around 8 hours/day. I love them and they work great. I put a base of crusher run underneath and the one thing I didn’t do, which I now need to, is install a leach pit. I didn’t think I would need it since they are not stalled that much, but I have auto waterers that drain into the ground and it’s too much liquid without a leach pit for the urine.
Stall savers for 1 year here in run-in stalls- horses locked in for an occasional or partial days- during a storm or if a vet/farrier is going when I’m not home. I do keep them bedded and usually feed in the stalls so they have horse traffic a fair amount even without having horses closed in. I installed them myself- got 1x4" boards and deck screws - spread the fabric and did boards on opposite sides first (East & West, then Norh & South) with a slice at the corners and cut off the excess with box cutters.
One stall is excellent shape, the other has a couple small tears from the gravel I had under it (base had been compacted but I added gravel to bring up the grade before putting the fabric in). I don’t love that there is a wet spot for the horse that goes out of her way to pee in one spot ALL the time, but I also hadn’t gone out of my way to do the leeching pit in the stall so wonder if that might make a difference. My compacted gravel base is over clay, for reference.
They cost me less per stall then mats, and even with the time it took to install on my own was still way more worth it than the time I continue to waste adjusting and swearing at mats that I have elsewhere !
Very interesting product! I have never seen them in use locally as most barns have concrete floors here and I think the ground is probably too wet for dirt floor barns in many places. I’ve seen the soft stall mattress product at the horsie expo but it seemed too soft for regular use.
I looked at the website and they direct you to get rid of all organic material in the base layer footing (like shavings) as that will just set up rot underneath.
I paid someone to do the leach pits and it has been a disaster. The pits are all collapsing. If I had to do it again I would not do the leach pits. I don’t know how you balance firmly putting rock in the pit, yet leaving somewhere for urine to go?
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