Manege membrane or not ?

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RoseGrey

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If you were building a manege from scratch, would you use a membrane or not?.

What would be the reasons for your choice?.

If you can recommend a membrane to go between earth and sand, which would it be?

Membranes that come to the surface of a manege are dangerous, what causes them to surface and what should be done to prevent it happening?
:)
 
The menage at the yard where I keep my horse was put down without membrane and had no problems with it and it is well used. It drains brilliantly and no problems with surface to ride on.

The reason for decision of no membrane was due to their previous experience of membranes making their way to the surface and becoming dangerous.
 
I had one without a membrane, it was absolutely fantastic, but it has to be built correctly, dig deep, then clean stone, then bassalt as the blinding layer between the stone and the sand. I never had a problem with it, it was amazing, drained immediately. I loved that arena, it was built so well, never tracked, from day 1 it was perfect and continued to be phenomenal. Shame I sold that house and moved, and the person who bought it didn;t have horses.
 
If you don't use a membrane, won't it all eventually just mix together...?
Stone into earth and sand into stone.?
There must be a way to prevent it all mushing together without risking load of membrane poking its way up to the surface?
 
At lakeside I have one with a membrane and one with out, both are great.
The reason for not using a membrain is for the heavy wear,
If you have a riding school with the same horses going around the outside of the menage causing a rit and poor maintenance, use no membrane.
 
Well the membrane goes in below the clean stone. that is then blinded by the bassalt and then the correct arena sand on top. Then the rubber. A surface membrane is what you are talking about.and that tends to be used by the cheaper manege builders as they feel it does away with the blinding layer, so makes it cheaper. however a horse messing around will cut through the sand and into the membrane and tear it so a totally false economy as a school with a lifted membrane is lethal. With basalt as a blinding layer and the correct sand my 17'2 could go absolutely mad plunging, spooking whatever he wanted and we never dug into the blinding layer. That arena was phenomenal.
 
So, working from the base..
Soil.
Drainage pipes.
Membrane.
Clean stone.
Sand.
Rubber strips.

??

Also, could anyone shed any light on the differences in Silica sand, Equestrian sand and Grit sand?

:)
 
I've just had quotes for an arena build and all the big reputable names are using two membranes and they are not cheap either.

The construction of many arenas is that the whole of the stone layer is one huge "drain" that is sloped by 2% into side soakaways. If you do not have a membrane on top of the stone and under the surface then eventually the drainage will clog. It may take years, but it will happen before one with a second membrane.

They come to the surface because they are not overlapped enough, or not stitched/glued together well enough or because the owner lets the surface get too thin by not grading regularly or by failing to top up when needed after a couple of years of settling, or its allowed to get too deep by not watering in a very dry period.
 
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Membranes that come to the surface of a manege are dangerous, what causes them to surface and what should be done to prevent it happening?

When Bill built ours he used ontop of the top layer of membrane misshapened bricks from the brick industry this has kept down the membrane and saved a lorry or two of sand and the membrane has never lifted.
 
I am a little confused now... do you mean that on top of the stone there was a membrane, the mis-shapen bricks were put on top of the membrane and then sand put directly on top of the bricks ?
 
Membranes coming to the surface is caused by initial poor installation and/or subsequent poor maintenance of the surface. When the upper membrane is installed (i.e. the one between the sand and the stone) it should be laid as if it is a pond liner. Treat the sand that will go on top as water making sure that all joins and seems are 'watertight' and your aim is to prevent the water from escaping. This means ensuring there are no holes, no gaps in the joins and making sure the membrane is secured to the gravel boards. The reason the membranes come to the surface is because the sand has managed to work it's way underneath the membrane and thus lift it. Silica Sand is like egg timer sand and will work it's way through the smallest hole.

Once a membrane has started to come to the surface it is already too late and the affected area should be excavated and repaired before the rest comes up. A major factor in membranes coming to the surface sometime after construction is where the horses hoof knicks the membrane during work allowing sand to get through which is usually caused by poor maintenance of the surface. Provided the surface is kept level at the recommended depth this should not happen.

Please don't misunderstand me though. There are many arenas installed without membranes with no problems at all but you have to have spot on materials and a contractor who knows what he/she is doing to get away with this.

Hope this helps.
 
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