Barn Drainage advice

[Rhuntley]

Ok so here is the deal, Have a 42x42 barn build and it's about 1 foot out of level on one side where we are putting on the stalls. If I get home before dark in the next week will take pictures.

What I was planning on doing for the stalls is to slope the dirt towards the center then dig out a small trench leading out of the barn. Thinking for the trench about 6inchs wide and 6 inchs deep. Putting about an inch or two of pea gravel (10mm wash) the pipe for the drain. After this I was going to fill in the trench and an inch or two above that in the 12X12 area (Stall side) that is sloped. Then wrapping the landscape fabric over that. Does this all sound correct? Was advice from a coworker as I've never done something like this.

Above that I haven't decided whether to put sand then stall mat over that or what I'm going to put for the floor of the stall yet. I don't like the stall systems that are waterproof.

I think getting the barn up was the easiest part. :laughing:

My original idea was to put a few french drains through the whole barn and pea gravel over the whole floor. Other then the stalls I think we are going to put interlocking rubber mats on that water shouldn't get through so thought that would be a waste.

 

[beenthere]

I'll be interested to see what you do. I've lots of questions in mind, but may get them answered in due time from some responses.

 

[rswyan]

Ok, couple of questions - what exactly is it that you are trying to handle ?

Surface water/runoff intrusion into the barn from the outside ?

You mentioned stalls - do you have animals ?

What is the the long-term plan for the floor inside the barn - will it remain dirt/gravel - or will it be poured with concrete ?

What will the barn be used for ? (animals, covered storage, heated man cave/shop ?)

 

[schmism]

the best barn setups ive seen for animals is natural floor (dirt/gravel/hay/sand) in the pens and a concrete center walkway.

you can slope the center walkway to a trench drain or individual surface drains.

 

[Rhuntley]

Ok, couple of questions - what exactly is it that you are trying to handle ?

Surface water/runoff intrusion into the barn from the outside ?

You mentioned stalls - do you have animals ?

What is the the long-term plan for the floor inside the barn - will it remain dirt/gravel - or will it be poured with concrete ?

What will the barn be used for ? (animals, covered storage, heated man cave/shop ?)

One side of the barn that I'm putting the drainage in will have 3 stalls for horses. The other side of the barn is for storage (Tractor, hay, maybe a washbay one day, tack, etc) and we were planning on leveling the floor with maybe gravel then putting thick rubber interlocking mats down.

The goal is for any runoff from the stalls, the bedding should absorb it mostly, but want somepalce for liquids to still drain away.

I should add that I was planning on doing the french drain around the outside of the barn also for rain/snow runoff to keep it away and was going to tie the drain from the stalls into it.

 

[inveresk]

I looked into this before constructing our stables. For horses, there are two choices - porous floors or non-porous. Porous floors such as dirt require regular maintenance, can hold odours and are not resistant to pawing. For this reason we went with concrete and 3/4" rubber mats on top of which we use wood shavings as a bed. Maintenance is negligible, there's less smell and the area can be power washed when needed. A dirt floor is cheaper but involves a lot in labor over the long haul.

This guide might be helpful.

http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ub036.pdf

 

[jml755]

"slope the dirt towards the center then dig out a small trench leading out of the barn. Thinking for the trench about 6inchs wide and 6 inchs deep. Putting about an inch or two of pea gravel (10mm wash) the pipe for the drain. After this I was going to fill in the trench and an inch or two above that in the 12X12 area (Stall side) that is sloped. Then wrapping the landscape fabric over that. Does this all sound correct? Was advice from a coworker as I've never done something like this.

Above that I haven't decided whether to put sand then stall mat over that or what I'm going to put for the floor of the stall yet. I don't like the stall systems that are waterproof."

First, define "dirt". Is it clay? Topsoil? I.e. will it hold water or allow it to runoff to your drain? Remember this base of "dirt" will be under your mats and may not dry out. Have you ever pulled a mat in a stall that holds water? Gagging time! Which is what I think you're trying to prevent.

If I understand you correctly, your stall trench will be backfilled with "dirt" from about an inch over the pea gravel to an inch above the trench. This would mean the water/urine would run toward the trench and have to penetrate the "dirt" that is in/over the trench to get to the pea gravel/drain pipe. Is that correct? If so, the composition of the "dirt" is a factor. If it packs hard which is good for the sloped portion, it won't allow penetration in the area over the drain. If its permeable, it won't allow the sloped portion to move water TO the drain.

Second, I wouldn't put sand directly under the mats. Sand will move with horses laying down. We've got several stalls that are tough to "muck" because the mats are hunched up from horse activity due to a less than stable (no pun intended) base.

For porous systems, I'd lean toward a coarse gravel base over sand fill with a finer gravel (not pea gravel) top layer followed by mats. Pretty solid, yet will allow water/urine to drain down. Then put in a perimeter French drain system next to the stalls if your land doesn't drain well on its own.

Mats over concrete seem the best. I would do it what we did on the wash stall at our barn. Basically the same as you are designing but with concrete sloped to the center with a drain down the middle. We used a commercially available horizontal drain system (Home Depot). see attached pix. If you do the labor yourself, concrete isn't that expensive, considering what you'll have invested in mats, stall fronts, etc.

In any case, the above is my opinion, which are like belly-buttons: everyone has one. :laughing: