Wood barn floor (stalls and aisle)- do's and don't's?

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

The barn we just bought was built in the 1800s and has a wood floor, and it is actually suspended above the ground by about 6’ with many huge support beams (built into a hill- the first floor is level to the front and rear entrances but you can get under access from either side). Structurally, it is in excellent shape. Most of the floor boards are original, or at the very least quite old.

Obviously, from the way it is built, changing the floor to concrete or stone dust is not an option. I was originally planning to use rubber stall mats, but a builder I know just advised against it b/c of moisture build up and the potential for the boards to rot. I’m planning to use a mix of wood pellets and fine shavings for bedding, and I’m guessing it should be bedded fairly deep to absorb all the moisture from urine. We are building 2 stalls (won’t have more than 2 horses) and they will have access through the aisle- we plan to block off part of it and leave the end barn door open so that they have in/out access 24/7. Again because of the way it is built, adding individual outside doors to their stalls, while preferable, is not an option.

My questions are:
-Both horses are shod- will this be an issue (for the floor or the horses), particularly in the winter (studs)? I read that wood can get slippery- should I put mats in the aisle? For what it’s worth, the boards, due to the nature of when they were put in, are heavy and thick and not your typical flat symmetrical even boards of today- definitely textured and uneven (but not unsafe).
-Any other bedding recommendations?
-What else am I not thinking of?

Any tips, advice, and/or words of encouragement are appreciated! :yes:

[ReSomething]

The boarding barn I took lessons at as a kid was a converted dairy barn that had been built with wooden floors and my memory was that they worked fine in the CA climate. Stalls had to be picked and all the bedding banked daily to help the floor dry.
I also put a wooden floor in the run in we had built solving my muck and drainage problems once and for all. We only used that for horses for about three years so the wood was perfectly fine and got recycled into a deck.
IIRC urine won’t rot the wood, but the moisture component will.
This was a shed row barn and the section that had a center aisle had a foot tall drop to concrete, great trailering practice.
They are noisy, the horses go thunk thunk especially with shoes on.

[feuerkracher]

I chose to put wood floors in my stalls because they drain better and stay cleaner/dryer for the horses than rubber mats. I absolutely love them and have had no issues with the horses with shoes/studs. I put them into a barn that I was at and they lasted over 10 years before I needed to replace a few boards that started to get squishy near the pee spots, and mine in my new barn are about 4 years old and still look brand new. I do not clean them any differently than I would if they were matted stalls, and I use far less shavings because the urine soaks through instead of puddling. They are loud, but I love knowing that if anything upsets my horses, I can hear them bouncing around from inside the house. It’s a great security system for me to know that I can hear them if they are in distress.

[Personal_Champ]

I have wood floors in my stalls which are open all the time for a run in. Mine have 6 inches of stone underneath for drainage and are built up on studs, so kinda like yours being on beams. They are pressure treated and about 7 years old. I do not bed on them though unless somebody is left in which is REALLY rare.

They still look like brand new. I have no problems with slipping or anything and have had shod and barefoot horses (and klutzy, suicidal ones!) in there. The drainage is SUPERB and on the rare occasion I do bed, the urine passes right through and the floors and bedding are dry and comfortable for the horses.

[Guilherme]

[QUOTE=Personal Champ;6483500]
I have wood floors in my stalls which are open all the time for a run in. Mine have 6 inches of stone underneath for drainage and are built up on studs, so kinda like yours being on beams. They are pressure treated and about 7 years old. I do not bed on them though unless somebody is left in which is REALLY rare.

They still look like brand new. I have no problems with slipping or anything and have had shod and barefoot horses (and klutzy, suicidal ones!) in there. The drainage is SUPERB and on the rare occasion I do bed, the urine passes right through and the floors and bedding are dry and comfortable for the horses.[/QUOTE]

We’ve had wood in the stalls for almost 15 years. The only time we have problems is when mats are put over the wood.

As long as the wood is over a good base, drains well, and is kept reasonably clean it’s an outstanding surface. New wood can be a bit slick, but it “roughs up” quickly and gets some “grain” within a couple of weeks.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

G.

[Bacardi1]

Just out of curiousity, how do you have a “drainage bed” underneath wood floors that are suspended 6’ in the air supported by beams? Really - am having trouble picturing it.

[PeteyPie]

[QUOTE=Bacardi1;6484602]
Just out of curiousity, how do you have a “drainage bed” underneath wood floors that are suspended 6’ in the air supported by beams? Really - am having trouble picturing it.[/QUOTE]

Like a crawl space under a house, except without the visqueen vapor barrier. Instead of dirt, (or I should say, like a modern house that requires non-organic soil) there is a layer of gravel or crushed rock or whatever drains well. So the urine drips down onto this well-drained bed, and the air circulates under the floorboards and wooden joists. One poster had the floor suspended a few inches, and the OP had a 6’ crawl space. Same effect.

Like this crawl space (scroll down to the photo with the guy with the shovel):
http://www.komar.org/projects/crawlspace/

[Bacardi1]

Thanks for description & pictorial!

Does sound/look like a heckuva lot of work.

[PeteyPie]

Here’s another photo of an historic barn crawl space. It looks like this crawl space is 5’ or 6’ tall. Click on “Show All Photos” and search for “Olson barn” or scroll down about 3/4 of the way:

http://landmarkhunter.com/187553-bishop-hill-historic-district/

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

[QUOTE=PeteyPie;6487693]
Here’s another photo of an historic barn crawl space. It looks like this crawl space is 5’ or 6’ tall. Click on “Show All Photos” and search for “Olson barn” or scroll down about 3/4 of the way:

http://landmarkhunter.com/187553-bishop-hill-historic-district/[/QUOTE]

Yes, this is exactly what our barn is like, except the support beams are large wood beams, not brick. I think each beam is at least 12" in diameter, if not more (and our barn is in much better condition!).

Thanks for the feedback so far- I am feeling better about this project!

[Bacardi1]

But surely the wood stall floors eventually do rot. I’d be nervous about a horse falling through.

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

[QUOTE=Bacardi1;6487824]
But surely the wood stall floors eventually do rot. I’d be nervous about a horse falling through.[/QUOTE]

Yes, this is certainly something we will be keeping in mind. I will be checking the boards regularly for signs of rotting or weakness and replace them as needed. We may put an additional support beam below the stalls as well. Our contractor (who specializes in old barn restoration) said that the barn and floor are quite sturdy as is, but for peace of mind, we may just do it anyways.

[PeteyPie]

[QUOTE=Bacardi1;6487824]
But surely the wood stall floors eventually do rot. I’d be nervous about a horse falling through.[/QUOTE]

A painter friend of mine said he only uses wood ladders because you get a warning if they are about to fail, and they don’t fail suddenly the way a metal ladder can. It reminds me of this situation, because you would get plenty of warning with a rotten floor. It doesn’t just suddenly fall apart (unless it has termites, maybe), but instead starts to get soft. I would imagine the floor boards are very thick.

[Narleta]

I’ve got wooden floors in my barn and they are not a bad surface. The boards in the stalls were left with small spaces between them for drainage and I put rubber mats down on top. Once a year we would pull the mats and give everything a good cleaning/check. It worked very well and even after 10 years, the floor boards are in excellent shape.

Now, I did originally leave the aisle ways without mats but had to get them after having horses slip. If the floors get wet with snow/water, they are very slippery. Shoes on the horses made it 10x worse. I had to clean hooves off before leading into the barn because they had no traction on the bare wood particularly if the snow had “snowballed” in the shoe.

Overall, not a bad surface but just be aware of their limitations.

[hundredacres]

I would love to see pictures of wood flooring in stalls…I’ really having rouble seeing it. Are these tongue and groove or sheets or?

We have got to re-do our stall floors eventually and my husband asked about wood and I thought he was crazy.

ETA: I found some info online and see that they are usually planks like decking, I couldn’t picture it! But I did find this interesting product that is used to coat the wooden floors:
https://www.rubberizeit.com/equine-applications-horse-stalls-horse-trailers-floor-sealant-liquid-rubber/

[PeteyPie]

[QUOTE=hundredacres;6487909]
I would love to see pictures of wood flooring in stalls…I’ really having rouble seeing it. Are these tongue and groove or sheets or?

We have got to re-do our stall floors eventually and my husband asked about wood and I thought he was crazy.

ETA: I found some info online and see that they are usually planks like decking, I couldn’t picture it! But I did find this interesting product that is used to coat the wooden floors:
https://www.rubberizeit.com/equine-applications-horse-stalls-horse-trailers-floor-sealant-liquid-rubber/[/QUOTE]

Here’s a picture of reclaimed barn floor boards. I think it’s funny that they are going to use it for a table, after all the talk of pee draining through and such… These are really thick planks:

http://ronaldtibbs.com/barn-plank-and-beam-dining-table/

[Chall]

Many trailers have wooden floors, so you can ask around and see what people’s experiences are with wood floors rotting through.
I saw a barn with wooden floors, slightly offset to allow drainage and built into the side of a hill, so urine truly drained down and away from the barn.

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

Here are a few pictures of the barn http://www.flickr.com/photos/84650711@N08/7745609558/. There’s one from the side where you can see the small green door (the one on the right) that goes underneath the barn- there’s also another larger door on the other side. I don’t have any photos showing underneath but can take some this weekend. Also just as a note, you can tell the second floor is quite low (6’)- we will be removing about half of it for the stalls and aisle, so don’t think we’re putting horses in something that small

[hundredacres]

[QUOTE=PeteyPie;6488270]
Here’s a picture of reclaimed barn floor boards. I think it’s funny that they are going to use it for a table, after all the talk of pee draining through and such… These are really thick planks:

http://ronaldtibbs.com/barn-plank-and-beam-dining-table/[/QUOTE]

The table turned out to be gorgeous but yeah, that’s a bit icky knowing that was a barn floor and now they’re eating off of it!

@She's Pure Gold;6488317

Here are a few pictures of the barn http://www.flickr.com/photos/84650711@N08/7745609558/. There’s one from the side where you can see the small green door (the one on the right) that goes underneath the barn- there’s also another larger door on the other side. I don’t have any photos showing underneath but can take some this weekend. Also just as a note, you can tell the second floor is quite low (6’)- we will be removing about half of it for the stalls and aisle, so don’t think we’re putting horses in something that small

What a charming barn! I hope you share pictures after you’re finished.

It looks like the same kind of wood that’s in the floor of our trailer. I found a link that described one that is set on top of a gravel floor. The planks were spaced and the spaces were filled with a gravel mix. I thought that was interesting but in that case rubber mats would be more cost effective than wood since the floors are already prepped for them.

Thanks for sharing the pictures!

[ReSomething]

My run in floor was rough sawn Fir, a full 2" x I think 12 inches, laid over 2" x I think 8" joists on 12 inch centers. It was overbuilt to be sure, two horses could walk on it with no bowing or shaking of any kind, just a lot of “thunk” ing. We used nails and left a gap between planks of roughly a nail width. This would have been 1972 and at that time there was still a mill in town and it was relatively easy to get the wood that size.