Arena surfaces???? help please

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chappers1990

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I am wanting to resurface my 20 x 40 school (AS CHEAP AS POSSIBLE!)
Anybody have any advice on what surface to use and does anybody know where I can buy from?
:confused:
 
im currently doing my arena were using road planings instead of hardcore for the base as they are like £6 per tonne instead and im thinking of getting free woodchip from local tree surgeons yes they might mulch down after a few years but its free who cares its better then mud and i think it works just fine! if not you could try a cheap sand such a river sand ring local quarrys
 
Are you thinking about a total new surface or a top up? For a total new surface you need the right sand, cheap alternatives will ride deep and be a nightmare. We started from scratch and spent a lot on the sub base (hard core, land drains and membranes, upper and lower) used proper angular sand but put a budget rubber chip on the top, haven't had any fencing put round it yet (another £3k - will do that ourselves as and when we can afford it).

There are lots of websites offering advice - if you are after a really budget surface wood chip has mixed reviews, providing you have good drainage and you get the right type. A yard near us had large wood chips from a tree surgeon and they were very very sliperry to ride on. Another sort would be just good sand with a few bales of fibres (clopf is one make) mixed in. We had this on our sand school at our old property and it was serviceable.
 
I would be very very careful getting Martin Collins CLOPF, it doesn't always work and they wont fix it if it doesn't. take a look at this thread

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=10628838#post10628838

I;m about to order combi-ride, works out fair bit cheaper than CLOPF and is micro fibres so the sand should bind far better than the large chucks of fibre of CLOPF.

I would give them a ring as well
 
Stacyn can I ask how you sourced your road planings? I desperately need some for a track but haven't the foggiest how to go about getting them :(
 
glamourpuss said:
Stacyn can I ask how you sourced your road planings? I desperately need some for a track but haven't the foggiest how to go about getting them :(
Click to expand...

Just Google them or ring up some skip hire firms, aggregate suppliers or aggregate recyclers. We currently have a pile of RAF Marham runway that we use for our track.
 
i think i just typed in on google road plainings then it comes up with companies you have to physically call them and ask if they sell any
If you in lancashire ish these are the people i will use http://dpcp.co.uk/

Called Dp cold planings just google it dont write for sale just put

road planings "then your county" thats how i did it hope this helps
 
We built our own menage, (hired man & digger to do groundwork but did labour ourselves) but didn't use road planings as we were told that they compress together and don't allow as much drainage - important to us as we are on clay soil. We had unwashed stone (cheaper than washed), and used wood fibre - doubled the drainage under the menage to try to compensate for soil and surface - and have never had a problem. We completed the whole project for well under £10k.
 
ouch! im doing my whole paddock under £1000 lol!
£400 on fencing 25mx20
£200 on road planings / harcore
£150 for digger and person to dig it
£50 full drainage
Woodchip surface from tree surgeons £free
Or if all else fails river sand £300
Not having a membrane as it didnt do much good last time

Il let u know how it goes going very well up to now
mine it literally just for the ponies to have a play and lungeing and breaking when old enough it will only be used maybe 3-5 times a week
 
Road Planings are a very poor Arena sub-base as they have too high a fines content. The presence of bitumen also means they will bind back together over time thus forming a layer that water will not pass through. They might be cheap but it will cost in the long run :(.
 
True but

my yard is on someones property i dont want to be spending loads on making there house worth more if it lasts me a few years that will do me fine!

if i was to do it properly i would defo use a washed hardcore and use a proper membrane but even so if you do all of the work youself you can keep it well under 2k just depends how much u want to spend but for me a cheap few years will do until i have my own land
 
It might be cheaper cause he is a mate of a mate who used to do it . Not sure how much companies charge
 
Each to his own but in my experience:
- road planings are terrible for drainage, you need large (40m), clean hardcore and drainage ditches as well.
- woodchip is very slippery and may result in accidents, I have known a few people try it and then have to remove it.
- I can't imagine how a digger driver could dig it all in a day, although 150 a day for the large digger sounds like an amazing deal so I hope it works out!

The best way to bring down costs is to source materials locally by calling all the quaries in the Yellow Pages (but you need to know what to ask for and if necessary get the sand analysed for suitability), ensure you have access for really huge lorries and do a lot of the smaller jobs (e.g. fencing) yourself. That way you can do a professional job by yourself for around 10k.
 
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