We are planning on starting our new barn this spring. Working through qoutes from the various tradesman we will use on the project.

We are planning on using gravel and mats in the stalls. We are thinking of running draintile under the gravel then to the exterior of the building and covering it with about 12 inches of gravel(Interior).Raising the building 12 inches above the surrounding ground. Once it leaves the building...We are thinking of connecting the downspouts to the drain. Obviously we will drop that drain well below the tile in the barn to avoid possible backups. This site is fairly level and have problems when it rains with the run in we have now. Some water inside and very muddy around the shed.

Is the draintile under the stalls a good idea?

Any thoughts and suggestions will be appreciated.

docgj

ghbb41,

Did you put in actual drain or just perforated pipe under the stall?

Any other comments from all of you out there? Comments are at 50/50.

docgj

Just raising the floor above the surrounding area is enough. Most water issues come from water that flows back towards a building instead of away from. If your barn is in the low part of the valley and you can't get the water to flow away from the outside, then yes the drain tile under the rock would help. Guess I am 50/50

Didn't put any in my stalls, but did do a perimeter drain tile to help with water outside the building

We built a barn a several years ago. Here is what we did and also learned for future. More than what you asked for but thought I'd share a few extra ideas. :)

I'd look into having 10 foot lean-to's on both the long (length) sides. This helps shade the stalls in summer and keeps rain and snow from blowing in to the paddock doors which in turn keeps your stalls dry - provided you are going to add paddock doors. Also have one foot overhang on the short walls (width).

A one foot dirt pad was built up for the entire size of the barn and then 3 inches of one inch gravel added on top. This was for the concrete aisle and also served as a good base for the stalls.  Raising above grade is extremely necessary for rain water to drain away from the barn.

No back to the stall, we then added about two inches of "screenings" on top of the gravel. Used a 4 foot section of 2x4 board to level and a tamper to pack down, then 4x6 rubber stall mats were added. Only have had one mat curl in 7 stalls. No urine odor or drainage issues as shavings capture the moisture. And ground water cannot get under the mats due to the built up grade and protection from the lean-to. Even the stalls that are next to the short wall do not get wet.

Insulation under the metal roof is also important. Otherwise it will drip like rain inside when the temp is warmer inside than outside.

I would add a window in your tack room. I did not and I fight mold in the summer. I have a screen door that I am going to hang up to get better ventalation. I used those de-humidifier thingy's for closets and they do work!

I would also go ahead and add gutters even with the lean-tos. During heavy down pours my paddock runs get a niagra falls effect and really washes my screening for the paddock runs... just means more maintenance to keep the paddocks properly filled with screenings. I use the screenings so the horses do not create a mud pit.

Barn building design is fun, but be ready for sticker shock on materials. I have a friend looking into building a barn and materials have almost tripled from 2006 when we built our barn. I was shocked. 57

Here is the barn we built. Barn roof is red buried under the icky white stuff.

Thanks for all you replies.

ponytammy,

Nice looking barn! We don't plan on having exterior doors on each stall. We do plan on sloping gravel/fines about 12 ft. away from the barn.

docgj