Bright ideas required - Stable keeps flooding!!

[Woodykat]

My stable is the middle one of 5 which is in what was previously a cattle barn. Unfortunately all the stables flood when it rains as the water comes in off the field (open ended barn) and goes straight through the stables. Added to this, we have a dodgy water trough in the field too which is partial to overflowing whenever it feels like it! I have lost so much bedding this summer and I’m getting fed up! In the winter I can kind of cope with it as I know it’s going to happen so I deep litter – this worked ok last winter I suppose, although I hate deep littering!!

Basically I was just wondering if anyone had any bright ideas as to how I can keep my stable drier? I did have the idea of putting a double layer of paving slabs down which would act as a kind of false floor, and give the water somewhere to go until it ran off. Not sure how safe it would be with my horse on top of it though…

Any thoughts? Yard owner is really suffering with ill health at the moment so I can’t see her doing anything about it any time soon – we haven’t even got any electric in the barn at the moment, so one problem at a time I guess!

 

[honetpot]

It depend if you own the land or the owner would be willing for you to do this but I would did out a trench at the bottom of the hill, put in some blue plastic drainage pipe back fill with gravel then cover with earth. You will then have to find somewhere for the water to go either to a ditch or a pond/ lagoon.

 

[dotty1]

I have the same problem whenever we get heavy prolonged rain the field floods and stables are surrounded and eventually flooded. There is nowhere for the water to go and I think the only way is to raise the floor a few inches. I only put down minimal beds on rubber matting to save wastage. It is a nuisance as can't leave anything on the floor and last year they were pastern deep in cold water one morning when it had rained really hard.
Paving slabs with rubber matting on top could work.

 

[SuperH]

Can you install drainage along the side of the barn and/or build a dam? Try to divert the water before it gets in.

 

[Bennions Field]

I had the same problem, i solved it by putting some drains in at the front of the bit i wanted to protect, the channel type you put in driveways, i originally put the perforated land drain pipe in, it just filled with soil etc over the first winter, it took ages to dig back out too!! The guttering stuff it way better and easier to clean out, search on ebay for channel drain, they are the same as mine, easy to install to. I got mine from travis perkins think it cost about £100 for around 30ft, seems they are lots cheaper on ebay !!

 

[Miss L Toe]

It depends, but I had a minor but regular flooding due to people washing horses outside my stable, I bought a bag of concrete and laid it outside the door to divert the flow, it was only 2 inches high, but is worked, obviously make sure door still opens.
Or put a piece of wood at the entrance behind the door between the door jambs.
Or sandbags to stop it coming in to the barn.

 

[Woodykat]

Thanks for all your replies.

The floors are all concreted (the whole barn is) and at some point someone else has tried to put an edging of concrete around the inside of my stable to stop the water, but it seems to be coming underneath where it has cracked. There is also a thin gully running though the middle of the stables from one end all the way down to the other - this in theory should send the water straight down but it doesn't help that the floor behind it (away from the door) is 'down stream'!

I like the idea of sand bags though... that might actually work!!

Or I could get a load of concrete and re-floor the whole thing higher than the other stables....?