Ingenius ideas needed for a cheap field shelter floor please :)

[rose bud]

Hi all,
my xmas project is to build a field shelter (have roped the other half in) and we have bought all the stuff, completely forgetting about the flooring!
As its xmas and the horse has eaten all my money i am looking for a cheap temporary solution for some flooring that i can put a bed on for them and that will stop it getting muddy until i can afford rubber matting.
Any ideas?
Merry xmas x

 

[Herts05]

My suggestion would be to do a wanted advert for second hand rubber matting and go round tack shops and local yard. My yard seems to have loads of it lying around.
As its a temporary solution it shouldn't matter too much if it doesn't match up totally

 

[stencilface]

Rubber matting or wood chips? Wood chips would be good enough to lie on without bedding and would be ok if the area drains well and doesn't become boggy. Think we bought a 2 tonne load of chips for £40 to do our gateways and my horse restricted paddock with, they work if you keep on top of it.

 

[kezimac]

it wont get muddy inside if it doesnt get wet - mine is just dirt - once the grass dies or is eaten it doesnt regrow due to no sun and its just dirt - as long as no water gets in its just compacted dirt - mine is great. I put straw on the back half on top of just dirt - horse wont lie in it anyway !! - they tend to lie in field as they can see predators out there!

 

[Milanesa]

I bought woodchips for my laminitic pen they work really well I just got them in bags from local garden centre !! Was v cheap and they are hardwearing.

 

[Archangel]

A friend of mine put a load of chalk down and that worked well. You just have to watch if it gets slimy on the surface. The chalk was quite roughly hewn so there was a fair bit of grip anyway.

 

[5horses2dogsandacat]

Talk to your local county council... my dads always got road crews coming up and asking if they can get rid of old road surface. It's not in big chunks, just like a gravel and they would give it to u as they have to pay to disposed of it.

Or talk to your local tree surgeon, they will give you bark chippings for free, although all the guys I've tried in my area always have given it away already so you need to be quick Xx

 

[rose bud]

Thankyou for the suggestions!
I hadn't even thought of wood chips but that would work quite well - i just want them to have somewhere dry and mud free to stand, thanks!

 

[juliette]

If you get wood chips make sure they are hard wood.

 

[angel7]

SLABS
Scour the yellow and blue paper plus free ads ones, you can pick up used ones really cheaply if you offer to uplift.
Last longer and wont break up if you lay them well.

 

[Petalpoos]

DD - make sure the field shelter is on skids of some sort, even just 4x2s, so it is a moveable field shelter or else you may fall foul of planning rules. Re flooring - you can lay (good) pallets down and cover them with plywood to spread the weight and then rubber mats on top. You would have to replce the pallets and plywood every few years, but relatively cheap

 

[lavery834]

hi,slabs are excellent,you should be able to get them free or very cheap if you place an add the are very easy to clean and rubber matting can be placed on them if you wish.only dont make our mistake by laying them on sand,we had to relay on road plainings and they will last for years i wouldnt use anything else

 

[Baby-G12]

I do not know how available they are in UK but i think rice hulls are excellent for bedding/flooring, and in the float