Arenas, anyone just built one? Questions

[Gillb]

Does anyone know the approx amount of surface needed eg sand then rubber or say sand/woodfibre, standard 20x40 arena?
What cost would you expect for the above approx?
I'm not talking about the drainage or sub layer of aggregate here, just the topping. Many thanks.

 

[mealies]

I had cushionride (wood chip topping) it cost about £3500. £1500 for topping and £450 per load (x3 double trailer loads) delivery. The company orked out the exact volumes needed. We just laid it straight ontop of the stone drainage layer.

 

[MillionDollar]

Building mine in the process. Everyone told me to stay well away from anything that was made from wood. I'm having 5 inches of sand and 3 inches of Spring-Tek rubber on top, I think it's 600 tonnes of sand and 160 tonnes of the rubber

Not 100% sure, it's written down, that's for a 60 x 40m arena, so you won't want anywhere near that amount. For ours it's £18k for the surface. It's at this stage at the moment, it will be completed in January-

 

[shadowboy]

We had a 20 x 30 sand arena built. We got a friend to do all the heavy work which saved us £4000 in labour/machinery hire costs. Fencing cost £980 for post and rail plus planks to surround arena etc. We had sand topping. Needed 3 loads *i think* and this came to £3200 for the topping but yours will probably be more as its bigger, and the more complex the topping the more expensive. Currently it drains beasutiflly and rides like a dream (although I havent personally ridden on it- we hire it out) But I would expect a 20 x 40 arena to cost in the region of £10,000 upwards depending on topping and who you know lol!

 

[henryhorn]

Can't recall how much we used sorry, but our surface is superb, it's a mixture of silica sand, padstow sea sand and rubber chips. the sea sand is a lot cheaper than silica and works beautifully, daughter was on her way to a lesson this morning in the box when we got a call from the trainer saying her arena was under water..
ours was dry as a bone yet had the same amount of rain..
we turned round and came home

ps total cost for a 60 x 20 arena including post and rail to two sides was around £13000

 

[Baggybreeches]

Yep I have good old Formby beach sand (dont tell the national trust) and it drains really well, I have never bothered with rubber as its quite low maintenance as it is, and I turn out in my arena all through the winter. Agree with whoever said to steer clear of wood based products, they hold the moisture and result in boggy spots. As long as the drains and the sub layer are done properly the surface is personal preference really.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

This site may have some of the information you need.
http://www.ascotarenas.co.uk/#

Also when deciding on the surface you need you must take into account what you will actually be doing on the surface. If you intend to show jump to quite a height....1.20 + then some surfaces will be unsuitable.

 

[Gillb]

Thank you very much everyone, there are so many ways to do it.
Toby the thought of me jumping a stick these days is quite something so very amused at 1.20!