DIY Sand turnout pen

[holly.91]

Looking at building a cheap DIY sand turnout pen about 30x15ft for winter, which i can also lunge in
Would stone chippings + sand do the job?
Has anyone else done this successfully, and what did you use?

Thanks

 

[Jambarissa]

The issue is trying to keep your sand on top. The smaller material will end up at the bottom in no time.

40 years ago I used old carpet on a well drained bit of field with sand on top. It was wet in bad weather and very deep in dry periods but actually pretty good for most of the year. I'm not recommending this but it's a starting point for thinking.

 

[blitznbobs]

Buy a membrane to put between the stone and sand so you don’t lose all the top

 

[expanding_horizon]

Looking at building a cheap DIY sand turnout pen about 30x15ft for winter, which i can also lunge in
Would stone chippings + sand do the job?
Has anyone else done this successfully, and what did you use?

Thanks

30 x 15ft is not big enough to lunge in. 12m by 12m would be smallest can lunge in I think, and that’s still tight!

 

[holly.91]

Buy a membrane to put between the stone and sand so you don’t lose all the top

That’s a really good tip, thank you

 

[kathantoinette]

Completely depends on your type of soil. The heavier the land the more base stone you’ll need plus the possibility of putting in some drainage.

 

[PurBee]

We get locally here in ireland a hardcore base material called ‘slig’ - it’s like a semi-hard dark grey shale-type rock - comes as a mixture of large 10inch down to very small grain-like pieces, but we can request just very small or very large pieces.
The mix of various sizes helps for a good base layer, as its knits together, squashes together driving a 3-6tonne digger over it after laying it down - a bit like crumbly cheesecake biscuit base when pressed down with the back of a spoon!

I’ve never put just sand directly on top but have put a sandy small stone mix on top without a membrane and the 2 layers havent mixed, because the base layer is abit like a smooth concrete pad once laid well. Whereas rock hardcore wont knit together so well, and you could risk rock mixing with the sand layer without a membrane.

We tend to lay this shale stuff down about 1 foot deep, then drive over it many times with heavy digger tracks to squash it down to about 6-8inches.
It makes a fabulous solid base.
I’ve put it down over hard subsoil and direct onto topsoil as tracks - and it works well both areas - it just sinks-in more laid directly onto grass topsoil.

You could try ringing around local quarries and asking if they do a ‘shale-like mixed size hardcore’ - many regions have different names for this stuff, so its likely available where you are but called something other than ‘slig’!

Years ago i slid down a literal mountain of the stuff on my backside in the Lake District, so the uk has the geology to source this stuff! You likely would have better luck finding it from quarries near the welsh borders, lake district, scotland - if youre anywhere near there.

The limestone found in the southern regions might be a good alternative if you could find a source who will supply it as mixed sized non graded, including lots of tiny sandy limestone bits, so you can make the ‘cheesecake base’ using the small particles to bind the larger lumps together. Limestone is a softer rock than other rock hardcores, so youd likely bind that together better.

Ive just kept the dry slig hardcore areas as bare mainly, but could top them with sand and use it for lunging.

A 14 tonne lorry load makes a pad about 12x12 metres 8-10” thick (roughly) Each load of slig/shale costs us €120, compared to cost of hard rock graded stone hardcore which is @ €250 per 14T load.
Digger 3.5T self-drive hire for a weekend isnt much different for us here than 1 weeks worth hire - @350-400. To hire a digger driver with digger could be @ 300 per day.
Dont hire a guy with a 1 tonne mini-digger - it doesnt have the weight to squash down the hardcore using its tracks - theyre tiny machines. 3.5 tonne minimum will do the job adequately. Some chaps for hire do have the 3.5T machines, but theres a lot advertising for hire themselves using 1T machines.

The advantage of hiring a guy with a digger is he knows how to use his machine and is faster working than a ‘virgin’ who’s hired a digger and spends 3 days of the weeks hire getting used to using all the controls, and getting very little work done while training themselves. It depends on the ‘virgins’ level of learning but theyre not exactly easy to master in just a couple of hours. My OH was designated driver and is generally competent and took a couple of days to really get fast using it. First time it takes half hour to just figure out how to smoothly scrape up and deposit 1 bucketload! It helps to have a brain like an octopus

We hire a machine for a week and do other yard/farm maintenance jobs while we have it on hire - banging fence posts in - moving heavy stuff, digging drains, loading manure spreader from manure piles to fertilise fields etc - so if you end up hiring a digger, to really get your weeks hire moneys worth, have a list of various jobs to use the digger with.

You could get quotes from groundworkers for doing the whole job and compare their price to doing it yourself.

 

[nikkimariet]

You’ll need a membrane, mats for drainage would help and also avoid the surface just moving etc.