Carpet fibre - early feedback

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JillA

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So, my recycled carpet fibre arrived last Thursday evening, in numerous bales held together by wire and cling film, on pallets. Driver deposited them around the arena for me and then kindly used his fork lift to pull the wires off. It wasn't easy to spread, fortunately a neighbour brought his little old tractor with its fork loader and more or less scattered it around, then it was the best part of a days work, with hand forks, the harrow and then the roller. It was quite dusty, and it still has undulations so the plan is to work on it and roll it and work on it and roll it.............you get the picture. The rain has helped a bit.
We have lunged and ridden on it and no, it doesn't move underfoot and yes, it is lovely and springy. So now it is pretty much spread, I reckon it was a good investment and will give good service for years. Hope this helps anyone thinking about it.
 
Hi. Can I ask which carpet fibre you used, and how much psm you put in, there are so many different manufacturers! Many thank
 
France1 said:
Hi. Can I ask which carpet fibre you used, and how much psm you put in, there are so many different manufacturers! Many thank
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I'll message you the contact details, but the salesman, who also owns horses, came here and advised how much I would need to top up
 
We have sand and carpet fibre at our yard. One thing I will say is that the carpet fibres will rise to the top after several days and will need regular watering, harrowing and rolling to maintain a good riding surface. Ours is done weekly and is fine for a few days but nearing the day it is done it gets quite deep.
 
I rode on a freshly laid carpet fibre surface the other week and it was lovely! They too were implementing a good management routine to avoid it getting deep too quickly.
 
France1 said:
Thanks for this. I do worry about the maintenance of carpet fibres! how many horses are using your school?
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At the moment not that many, average of one a day but the rep said keep rolling it and it will settle - one client of his hires hers out and is fully booked and almost no maintenance. Recycled carpet isn't the same as carpet fibre that is designed to hold sand together, that is specific sized fibres. Mine is on top of a rubber/wood chip mix which in itself was getting too deep in winter rains.
 
Ooooohhh, I've been keeping an eye out for this update. Have you got any photos, please? I am v interested to see what it looks like with woodchip.

T x
 
France1 said:
Thanks for this. I do worry about the maintenance of carpet fibres! how many horses are using your school?
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We have anything from 1 horse up to 6 or 7 horses a day using our school. The surface is fab for the first 2 or 3 horses using it after its been harrowed and rolled but soon starts to get soft and deep after a few more horses gave used it.
 
Bertolie said:
We have anything from 1 horse up to 6 or 7 horses a day using our school. The surface is fab for the first 2 or 3 horses using it after its been harrowed and rolled but soon starts to get soft and deep after a few more horses gave used it.
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I found harrowing was fetching it up in mounds and revealing the surface underneath. Rolling is much better, we use it for a while and then roll it so it settles and compacts.
 
catembi said:
Ooooohhh, I've been keeping an eye out for this update. Have you got any photos, please? I am v interested to see what it looks like with woodchip.

T x
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So would I! I have been speaking to a supplier about stabilising fibre for our indoor arena which has very fine wood fibre down. The problem is it compacts and has to be deep harrowed to break it up. The company I have been talking to seemed to think it would help and the cost is extremely reasonable so I'm thinking I've nothing to lose by trying.
 
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It sits on top of the old surface, which was harrowed and rolled to within an inch of its life on the suppliers advice. That gives it a sound fairly solid base, and then the couple of inches of carpet is springy but not deep.
 
France1 said:
Looks good. Could you tell me how many kg you added per sm? Many thanks
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It was around 15 tonnes for a 20m x 40m manege. I originally wanted 10 tonnes, but seeing how it can reveal the underlying surface that would not really have been enough - it was to be a depth of 2" but it isn't easy to get it evenly spread, so 10 tonnes would have meant a varying covering of between 3" and nothing.
 
Our yard has exactly this on a 60x40 and it has been fantastic. Requires little maintainence, stays very even and is used daily by 3-7 horses I would say.
 
Apache Warlord said:
We had this at a previous yard, it was awful, it was really deep and not springy at all.
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This! And also hellish if you come off. DD got it all tangled in her hair and it took a tearful conditioner fueld combing to get it out and its ruined a pair of her socks as it got in her boots and washing just seems to make it stick more to the clothing :(.

It hasn't mixed at all with the sand, in fact with teh rain the sand has compacted and the fibre just kinda lies there. When harrowed it clumps up. If it was my school I would be pulling it back and then pull some sand back a bit and then putting the carpet down and the small amount of sand back on top to mix it.
Maybe if both are laid together then better.
 
JillA said:
So, my recycled carpet fibre arrived last Thursday evening, in numerous bales held together by wire and cling film, on pallets. Driver deposited them around the arena for me and then kindly used his fork lift to pull the wires off. It wasn't easy to spread, fortunately a neighbour brought his little old tractor with its fork loader and more or less scattered it around, then it was the best part of a days work, with hand forks, the harrow and then the roller. It was quite dusty, and it still has undulations so the plan is to work on it and roll it and work on it and roll it.............you get the picture. The rain has helped a bit.
We have lunged and ridden on it and no, it doesn't move underfoot and yes, it is lovely and springy. So now it is pretty much spread, I reckon it was a good investment and will give good service for years. Hope this helps anyone thinking about it.
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Please give me some information about this.
 
abdawn said:
Please give me some information about this.
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Speak to Mark Gilbert at Emerald Trading (mark@emeraldtrading.org.uk ) - there was a lady selling some near Newtown Powys but she was asking 3 times the price Mark was selling it for. It is shredded unwanted carpet, some wool, some synthetic inc the backing/underlay. I think much depends on the surface underneath - mine was wood chip and rubber, and had to be rolled several times before the shredded carpet could be topped onto it. It can still be a little deep, but that is the underneath more than the carpet. The racing industry are using it for gallops.
 
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EventingMum said:
So would I! I have been speaking to a supplier about stabilising fibre for our indoor arena which has very fine wood fibre down. The problem is it compacts and has to be deep harrowed to break it up. The company I have been talking to seemed to think it would help and the cost is extremely reasonable so I'm thinking I've nothing to lose by trying.
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Eventing mum, Could you give me the name of the supplier please? Im in the west of scotland too, have woodchip in my indoor school but would be intersted in putting carpet fibre on top if it can be done.
 
what happens about disposal if you need, in future years, to get a new surface? its not biodegradable having synthetic bits in it? how id it disposed of?
 
Downton Dame said:
what happens about disposal if you need, in future years, to get a new surface? its not biodegradable having synthetic bits in it? how id it disposed of?
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Will be similar to a sand or rubber surface. Neither of those biodegrade either.
If a surface is working well for you why would you replace it?
 
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