Dirt Floor in stables-Is this one of my stupider live to regret idea's

P

poiuytrewq

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 April 2008
Messages
21,498
Location
Cotswolds
Visit site
When we first moved here it was only supposed to be temporarily. I think we were working on a 3 year plan and don'r own the place so didn't want to spend £££
So we put stone down, covered by a later of scalpings, rolled it all, Pinned a wood frame and filled the frame with rubber matting. It fitted perfectly, was completely flat and couldn't move due to the frame. We then had stables on skids put together on top of this base.
For years I was thrilled at this, It worked so well. The wee seemed to just drain away. The mats are obviously not movable and have now been in place 10 years. The middle box is fine but the one end isn't. The past two winters its become slightly worse. The water table here is pretty high dispite being on a hill we had to have pumps going all winter this year to keep the grain store pit from filling with water.
There is quite a dip underneath the mats and although just filling with bedding is kind of ok its now oozing black smelly thick liquid which im assuming is not just wee/water but the scalpings breaking down so oily stuff (I know someone that used them as a walker base and it turned to thick black sludge with constant walking)

So, IF we owned it I'd move the stables and put concrete down I guess, but I can't justify that money.

Would cutting the mats out- I know really wasteful to ruin so many still good mats but there is no other way to get them out, re-stoning underneath- can't roll it though, then using a really thick base of pellets or even sawdust under a good bed work?
It will hopefully all dry up a bit now but the slightest rain and its manky again.
Any better idea's?
Although the stables are "mobile" they no longer are!
 
Well, since I had to move Orbis stable pretty quickly as in 3 days lol, I have a huuuuge stable with a dirt floor, however i have mats under his bedding. Hubby wants to concrete it but to be honest, he poops off his bed mostly and he is so easy to muck out and sweep up after so I am kinda reluctant to spend the £900 when its not my property lol 🤣 As I sweep the dirt is getting less loose and more compact so I dont mind it to be honest ☺️ he has four mats in the corner and four bales of sawdust down at a time ☺️IMG_3050.jpeg

In your case , I would cut them out, put hardcore down then use a whacker to stamp it down, then possibly a thick bed
 
I had a similar issue in my shelter and I just added more type 1 hardcore underneath and relayed the mats. I have a huge puddle right behind and that was overflowing into the back of the shelter. I think if you can put enough in to bring the mats above water you'll be ok. I raised mine by around 5 inches. It has been flattened down by ponies walking on it and the mats are flat and haven't moved.
 
Do you think water is running in under the mats, or is the wet just from wee/the scalpings?
If water's getting in from outside maybe something like a french drain could help
 
It probably needs digging out (at least a bit) to see exactly what is going on. You need to know if you’ve got issues coming up from underneath or if it’s from the roof leaking (mine leaks in places) or if it’s a runoff issue from the surrounding area.

I have had dirt floors for most of my horse owning life. It works really well if the water drains AWAY from the stables, if you deep litter into the ground and dig up the patches that kind of ‘erupt’ when they get wet. I did 10 years with two ‘shelter’ type stables and 5 up to the present day with a barn on dirt. We have never improved the ground in any way. No hardcore, no mats. I get a solid base from the deep litter that drains well and rots away into the ground so never needs digging out.

I have known it not work so well - and what they did was get some bricks and basically pack them into the ground to provide a layer that would strengthen the ground but still allow wee to drain between the bricks. It is much better than it was, but that stable gets runoff when it rains heavily so will never be perfect.
 
cauda equina said:
Do you think water is running in under the mats, or is the wet just from wee/the scalpings?
If water's getting in from outside maybe something like a french drain could help
Click to expand...

Mmm I'd ask this. Our barns are dirt floor and when we moved in, they had a similar issue with being six inches deep in mud and muck. However - the roofs leaked! Once we'd fixed those and dug out all the wet, the floor stays dry and the only wet bits I have to contend with are the bits they wee on. And even then it's not bad - most of the wee soaks in and drains away, so I clear the soggy straw and leave the wet floor to dry out before putting bedding back down in the evening. I actually really like the dirt floors.

Yours sounds really, really wet, which makes me think there's water getting in from somewhere.
 
I don’t really know where it’s coming from. The roof doesn’t leak but does condense in cold weather and drips as the frost thaws but we haven’t really had that much cold enough weather.
I think it’s just rising water from below. The grain store is slightly up hill, there is a machinery shed between that’s also flooded a few times and takes forever to drain away/dry out.
The main drain is just to the left of my stables on the farm yard and it is piped into a well which has also has a pump in it as it was over filing during really wet spells then in turn backing up onto the yard.

I think it’s just been so so wet, the flooring algae disintegrated and turned to slush in a few places.
My main middle stable is fine and the one the other end is ok by starting to sound a bit squelchy in one place.
 
We have also, as a side thought appear to have sprung a spring in my driest field so I guess something like that may have happened somewhere near perhaps although there is no sign of it elsewhere.

As an afterthought I think it started when we had the actual little yard area outside concreted. I got them to cut bit of a channel to the drain as the water at first puddled outside that end stable. so that no longer happens but I wonder if its actually disappearing the wrong way.
 
poiuytrewq said:
We have also, as a side thought appear to have sprung a spring in my driest field so I guess something like that may have happened somewhere near perhaps although there is no sign of it elsewhere.

As an afterthought I think it started when we had the actual little yard area outside concreted. I got them to cut bit of a channel to the drain as the water at first puddled outside that end stable. so that no longer happens but I wonder if its actually disappearing the wrong way.
Click to expand...
It does sound like a leakage or burst pipe somewhere
 
Update on this.
We peeled the front mats back as far as we could and screwed them to the wall to let the floor air on saturday. It was standing water underneath and I think it was just water as opposed to wee. I've leveled what i could and dug out some nasty bits, can't get to the worse bit unfortunately which is annoying.

Anyhow, On climbing up and inspecting the back gutters which were really no that bad as I had done them over winter when i first noticed how wet things had got, Mr P undid the down pipe and it was literally full of hazelnuts!! So I think some busy little squirrel was hopefully to blame!
Really hoping once it properly dries out and the mats are back in place it will be much better *fingers crossed!
 
poiuytrewq said:
Update on this.
We peeled the front mats back as far as we could and screwed them to the wall to let the floor air on saturday. It was standing water underneath and I think it was just water as opposed to wee. I've leveled what i could and dug out some nasty bits, can't get to the worse bit unfortunately which is annoying.

Anyhow, On climbing up and inspecting the back gutters which were really no that bad as I had done them over winter when i first noticed how wet things had got, Mr P undid the down pipe and it was literally full of hazelnuts!! So I think some busy little squirrel was hopefully to blame!
Really hoping once it properly dries out and the mats are back in place it will be much better *fingers crossed!
Click to expand...
Naughty squirrel should use the bin 🤣🤣
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top