Wall to wall mat options

[dungrulla]

Recently I discovered something terrible.

So we were using wood pellets in my barn. It was going fine, horses were fine, it was dusty but we dealt. Easy to pick and kept the pee all in one spot and cleaning was a breeze.

That was until I discovered I now have an allergy to wood dust that was causing my asthma to flare up every time I went out to the barn. Joy.

We switched to airlite, which, although I like it, is outrageously expensive. We are probably going to be switching to shredded newspaper the next time we need bedding.

The problem is that it’s not as good at soaking up pee so it winds up underneath my stall mats, which I then have to lift and air out every day. This is beginning to be more and more annoying and time consuming as time goes on, so I’d like to get something wall-to-wall that’s not a crapload of money.

Does anyone have recommendations for this? I’d prefer something nonpermeable since the ground underneath is clay. We can’t go back to wood products so I think this is going to be our best option for cost savings.

[mmeqcenter]

The only options I know of are going to be very expensive.

The comfortstall things
https://www.haygain.us/pages/comfortstall-flooring-system

One piece
http://therubberman.com/equine-products/barn-stall-flooring/1-pc-stall-mat.html

Poured rubber
http://www.equiturf.com/rubber-horse-stall-mats.html
http://www.dynamicsportsconstruction.com/products/dynasteed/
https://www.abacussports.com/products/equine-flooring/

[Simkie]

Pee shouldn’t be able to get under mats that are installed tightly. It may be easiest (cheapest!) to purchase a few fresh mats and reinstall so you can get them TIGHT. You should have to pound them in place with a hammer and pry them up with a screwdriver.

[dungrulla]

@Simkie

Pee shouldn’t be able to get under mats that are installed tightly. It may be easiest (cheapest!) to purchase a few fresh mats and reinstall so you can get them TIGHT. You should have to pound them in place with a hammer and pry them up with a screwdriver.

My stall floors aren’t even or square :mad::mad::mad:

Trust me we tried this. If I were to build this barn the floors would be much less screwy.

[dungrulla]

I guess the one upside here is since I live here I can choose to stop using products that I’m allergic to, whereas if I were boarding I’d be SOL. So there’s that.

[Simkie]

@dungrulla

My stall floors aren’t even or square :mad::mad::mad:

Trust me we tried this. If I were to build this barn the floors would be much less screwy.

Well… you can make them even. Unless they’re concrete?

And not square is a hassle but also not a hard stop on getting your mats tight. My stalls also aren’t square.

Redoing the base is probably still cheaper than the options mm listed above. Probably more swearing involved, though.

[Jungle_Monkey]

Have you tried peat moss for bedding? Someone mentioned it to me but I never ended up trying it. Sand?

I put the normal mats in wall to wall and just cut to fit when things were not square. Is it fun? No but it’s doable if you keep at it.

You can level up the stall floors quite easily with compacted stone dust…

[JB]

@dungrulla

My stall floors aren’t even or square :mad::mad::mad:

Trust me we tried this. If I were to build this barn the floors would be much less screwy.

That’s why the prep work before installing mats has to be done - floors must be permeable but like concrete (ie wet stone dust power tamped) and flat flat flat. That’s how mats are able to do their job correctly, assuming they are cut well. It’s a pita - I had to start with red clay floors that were the stall floor for a couple years before I did mats. Adding and leveling screened sandrock was a sucky job, but it is the literal foundation for truly functional mats.

Almost no stall is square, between boards just a little off center, to post corners jutting in, something has to be cut unless you’re building stalls around perfectly located mats.

You can compare the cost of new mats and doing the floors properly, to that of the full-surface options like Comfort Stall, and see which suits you best

Peat moss does work well, at least that’s what I hear. The down side is stalls always look dirty, and wet peat moss is heavy.

[BlueDrifter]

Tightly butted mats on a flat surface will stay in place without leaks, but if you want to be extra sure, get interlocking mats.

II got mine from Summit Industries (ProtectorLok, I think). The mats are not that expensive if you order directly from them, but freighting them is pricey. Your stall floor must be FLAT. Like with-a-level flat. The mats interlock so well you need a mallet to join them, (use soap water so the rubber slips together) and they don’t have to fit exact stall walls because they won’t shift at all.

They cut the mats a bit short to allow for walls that aren’t plumb, but you can specify how much you want taken off, I think a 12x12 is really a 11’6" x 11’6" My 10 mats cost around $500 w tax and shipping across country was another $500 (yeow!), but I don’t regret it a bit. It makes stall cleaning so much easier… and yes, I developed a cough from mucking wood pellets and I had to go back to shavings. I can only imagine the horses experience the same thing.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Here’s an interesting alternative to wood shavings. Supposedly low/no dust and good for horses/humans with allergies. Hemp horse bedding? Just curios if anyone has tried it. I’d never heard of it until I was searching the other day online for bedding pellets.

https://www.americanhempllc.com/horse-bedding

And there is always the old stand-by - straw. Cheap, natural, a decent absorber, not dusty, but definitely not as easy to muck.

I have mats in one stall I use as the rehab/recovery stall for a sick/injured horses as needed (mine live out 24/7). Even after mucking, maybe its just my nose is super sensitive, but anywhere there was urine on the mat I still sprinkle a bit of PDZ stall fresh on it before re-distributing the shavings to eliminate the smell. Being allergic to wood products’ dust has got to be frustrating. Good luck to you in finding a solution!

[MsM]

Most horses have one or two pee spots in their stalls. So you know approximately where they pee. Perhaps you could reconfigure your mats to avoid seams in key areas. And make sure the seams are not in low spots.

[IPEsq]

Simplest option I think would be to use straw. Although the paper bedding isn’t bad, you do need a lot of it for the wet spots. It’s less bulk to muck out. May depend on what your manure haul away options are.

Even if you did comfort stall or poured rubber or something, you are still going to want some bedding that will absorb the pee. While easier to clean up than your current situation, you would then have a puddle above the floor that you don’t want just sitting there without bedding. Not to mention the extra mess on your horse from splashing.

[demidq]

We now have chopped straw available in our area, comes in plastic bags like shavings, much more absorbent than ordinary straw. Or try hemp bedding.

[merrygoround]

I have used peat moss. I mixed it with vermiculite and had great lawn and garden dressing.

[JB]

Be careful with vermiculite - not anything you want to inhale