Cement floors -re-revisited

[ejb]

Hello all again..another old subject, but with a different twist. If you all remeber, not long ago I asked many of you many questions about putting a cement floor in my shop, and I got a lot of useful replies on the hows and whys of proper construction...but now I have a related, but different question.

At this point I am leaning towards *not* putting a cement floor into my existing shop/tractor building. After much thought, I have decide that its probably a better idea to knock down my existing building, and put up a new mult-use barn that could store both my tractors, a heated workshop and room for animals someday (maybe some goats/sheep or even a horse or two).

My real question is: I am leaning towards putting a poured slab under the entire structure (40 X 60 approx). For those of you that have animals, is a cement slab an OK place for floor under the animals? My brother in-law built a barn a few years back for his garage/shop/storage/animals, and already the wood is starting to rot under the animals...obviously cement is not going to rot, but will the animals tolerate having a cement floor? It certainly could be harder and colder...

Thanks all

 

[Bird]

ejb, I don't have any critters anymore, but I know some neighbors who have concrete floored barns; however, the animals are not locked in there, at least for any length of time. They're free to go outside anytime. I think if I had them in a barn with a concrete floor, I'd want to keep a good layer of straw on the floor for them. And then when you clean it out, that would be great stuff to put on the garden.

Bird

 

[Boots]

ejb,

I own a few horses and have seen it several ways on barn floors. I just have a dirt floor in my horse stalls but my setup is such that the horses only spend a few hours a day in the barn. I've decided that the next barn I build will likely have a concrete floor in the stall with a center drain. I would use wood chip bedding on top of the concrete and replace it every so often. I don't like the idea of bare concrete due to the strain on the animal's joints. This is more important if you plan to stall your animals much of the time. With a dirt floor, keeping the stench of urine down is a bit of an effort.

Just my opinion.

Boots.

 

[bsauter]

We have done two barns with concrete floors but have the horse stalls with packed aglime over dirt then with rubber stall mats and then shavings on top of that. Easy to clean and real easy on the feet. Even the wimpy footed Thoroughbreds don't mind being in it all day if they have too.

Brad, Kubota L3010HST, loader, R4 tires
Pictures at http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=179207&a=9183978

 

[ERNIEB]

With large animals concrete is usually only used in areas where the animals are kept only temporarily. The main reason for it's use is cleanliness and sanitation. Dairy barns are one example that comes to mind, also areas where animals recieve treatment. The thing is, all the manure being washed out still needs some place to go. A pit or something else will be needed.
I've been around horses, of one kind or another, most of my life, and personally I would never stable a horse on concrete. Cowboy is correct in saying that it is done, But here is why I don't like it. Again Cowboy is right about joint problems, tendons and ligaments included. Then there is the hoof itself. I'll go so far as to say most stabled horses will paw at the ground. Even a thick layer of wood shavings will be pawed away and more than likely the horse will continue to paw. Then there is always the chance of an animal slipping, even on concrete that has been finished in some way to prevent slipping. I guess my experinces, with race horses in particular, has me of the opinion that a horse will look for some way to hurt himself.
ErnieB

 

[art]

For your animals you would need to consider the floors needing to be softer for the animals just like us needing something softer to walk on. In our area some of the nicer garage floors are heated with a boiler unit. Are they nice during the winter for keeping you warm as well as drying the floors from the winter crap.

 

[scruffy]

Why not consider building the new structure for material things, and maintaining the old structure for livestock? Land permitting of course. That way, you could have the best of both worlds.

 

[ejb]

Mostly asthetics really...it does seem ashame to get rid of two perfectly good buildings, but the are just very out of place on my property...I have plenty of land (175 acres), so I may consider moving one of the buildings to a less visible area of the property for storage, or possibly even animals, but really want a nice looking barn where the existing structures are on the approach to the house.

If I can't re-use them, I'll certainly see if I can find someone that wants them before I resort to pulling them down.

Thanks for the suggestion...

It sounds like a cemet floor is the way to go, but that I may need to put some sort of rubber mats down in the stalls if I ever have horses in there.

 

[Mike H]

FWIW, here are some quotes from the Midwest Plan Service's "Structures and Environment Handbook"

Horses - Floors: Packed or puddled rock-free clay on a well-drained base makes on of the best floors for stables. It is usually easy to obtain. However, it is difficult to keep clean and has to be renewed from time to time. Wood plank stall floors or wood block floors on concrete are very difficult to keep dry and odor-free. Concrete floors are the least desireable for stalls but are preferred for the wash area, feed room, feed alleys, and tack room. Use plenty of bedding on concrete stall floors to prevent stiffness.

 

[bpence]

I helped a friend build a new barn last year and he decided that like you he wanted one multi-use structure. His new building ended up being 60x80. One half of the building was fully enclosed with a cement slab, insulation, gas heat, etc. that ended up being a GREAT workshop and tractor storage area. The other half of the building was built to accomodate 4 horse stalls with doors for each going outside, an area to store hay and straw and other feed, and the remaining area to store implements, lumber, other stuff. It may be a way to solve both needs you're looking at.

Bob Pence