Mini American barn ideas

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Destario

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A few of you may have seen my post a while back about needing to move my horses soon as moving house. There has been a bit of chat with my parents about it all and the plan is to ask the field neighbour if we could rent their field as well. This would then give the space for having the two at home with a couple of friends (would be sourced from charity I think). It would not sort the stabling thing out however. Obviously if the neighbour says no then this is all moot really.

I was thinking of replacing the current store stables with a mini barn. It would be stables down one side and a walkway. Probably 4 bays and a rug/feed room. One bay would be farrier/clipping/wash and the rest would be stables.

I'm now looking at companies to quote but I don't really know what material I need. Wood or breeze block - whichever is cheaper but I don't know which that is! Also I'm unsure of who to build it? I guess equestrian specialists would be more expensive than a builder? And the concrete pad would need expansion, can you do this without ripping up what is already there?

Any ideas would be great as it would be on a budget and currently it is being thought of positively because it saves money in the long term and my parents house is only half an hour from my new home. There are a couple of places with schools I can ask about a hire deal for and there are hills (traffic a bit of a menace though) and there's a race gallop I can hack to as well. A friend may be building an arena in the next couple of years as well which would be really close. It would be great to have them at home, but obviously it all depends on neighbours and renting and building something!

I'm on a budget so I can't build my dream yard, but I could probably get close!
 
We have just built a mini American barn.

We have replaced a row of 3 very elderly wooden stables and a self-demolishing pole barn with a 4 stable (almost) square portal frame barn.
It is 9, x 9.75m and houses 4 12x14' stables, two on either side of a central passageway.

The barn itself was made by a local steel fabrication company, the stables by a separate company and the whole thing was erected by the steel fabricators. It has a metal frame (galvanised steel) and is clad with featheredge boarding. Stables are standard metal construction with plastic boards. Floor is concrete, sloped for drainage to a covered drain at the front, leading to a silt trap and soakaway.

it has worked out at approximately half the cost of quotes from specialist equine wooden American barn companies.

We planned it that, should for any reason, we decide to sell, or not have horses, we could take the stables out, and then it is just a useful shed, for classic cars, or goats, or whathaveyou!
 
That's what I was thinking. Just a big storage. Thank you! Very helpful, so local builders the way to go once plans all worked out... I did think the equine specialists might be a moneytrap. Were there any things that cropped up in building that you didn't think about?
 
Hancox built a lovely small complex for my friend in an existing building that he renovated - four boxes plus a pen for minis with space out front for hay, feed etc. Large door in the front long side to allow a small tractor to unload a bale of hay or pallet of feed (or so he can muck out into a trailer) He went for posh ones but i think they are pretty competitive on price.
 
Destario said:
That's what I was thinking. Just a big storage. Thank you! Very helpful, so local builders the way to go once plans all worked out... I did think the equine specialists might be a moneytrap. Were there any things that cropped up in building that you didn't think about?
Click to expand...

Nothing really cropped up to affect what we were building, as we've been planning this for some years - we've taken everything that we liked (and didn't like) from previous yards we have rented, so that when we finally moved into my partner's family home, we knew what we wanted. Some of it was probably a bit of over-engineering, but we are trying to future proof, as once the lump sum is gone, we won't be able to change any significant details.

We were also lucky in that the existing buildings were there, so provided an existing "footprint" and were sufficient of an eyesore that anything we built would be an improvement. On that basis, we didn't need planning permission (and we took professional advice to that end!)

We have had concrete panels to about 2'/2'6 around the base, where the builders were going to put single skin concrete blocks, after we pointed out that one hefty kick from our IDs would send them flying. The cladding only goes down to within 6" of the ground, so that the wood is less likely to rot..... little things make all the difference to the satisfactory use of the building, and its longevity!
 
ironhorse said:
Hancox built a lovely small complex for my friend in an existing building that he renovated - four boxes plus a pen for minis with space out front for hay, feed etc. Large door in the front long side to allow a small tractor to unload a bale of hay or pallet of feed (or so he can muck out into a trailer) He went for posh ones but i think they are pretty competitive on price.
Click to expand...

I found Hancox very expensive for what we wanted! (and also very very slow to communicate!)
 
If you're building from scratch, designing doors (gates really) so that you can get in with a bobcat (or little tractor with loader) to muck out allows for a really massive labour saving, assuming you are happy with deep littering...
 
I used to work for a timber stable builders who did a lovely little American barn - 24' x 34' with either double swing or sliding doors at one end. Four 12x12' looseboxes with an 8' central passage. At the end of the passage they could put in an 8x6' store room for feed/tack and also put a roof on it so there was a mezzanine storage area you could get to by ladder. If you can make the partitions non weight bearing it does give the option for removing them at a later date if you wanted to.
 
Some good thoughts, thank you.

It would be a sort of half traditional shape so long rather than square as it would have to fit in the long thin area currently set aside between the fields. So 4 in a row and a walkway and a feed/rug room somewhere. A mezzanine might work, depending on height of the roof. Don't need a tack room as we have one at the house.

Our stable at the house (old edwardian design) has bricks to a couple of foot before the wood and panelling. It also has a nifty gully at the back that runs out. If only the previous occupants hadn't converted the rest of them!

I think portal sounds good, but I don't know how it works out cost wise.

Oh and does anyone know the degree of slope you want on the concrete so it drains into a gully/drain system? I do know an architect but they don't do equestrian! I'm sure he would draw up some plans for me but it would be all down to me what to specify so I don't know if that's a good idea or not!

Don't mind mucking out. Everything is out overnight anyway unless farrier am appointment or a show etc.

I need to go and measure the space really to see what can be done. Ideally I want 12x14 with sliding doors. That way horses are happy and can fit a couple of shetties in one stable.
The one logistic I am thinking about is haylage. I use roundbales so can roll them along and as long as the feed room is big enough one can go in there...

Obviously all theoretical as need to know if the extra field could be rented and have a think about planning permission...or not, see what can be got away with ;)
 
Drainage slope - my concrete guy did (if I understood him right) 1 to 35 fall. The stable manufacturer put extra footplates at the bottom of the front sections to raise the metal framework up, to level it with the partitions, and to allow the wet to flow out without gathering at the base of the galvanised steel.

the fall was from back to front of the stables, and also from the end of the barn to the front door - so any water would run to the central passageway, and then out to the drainage gulley in the doorway.
 
It's worth keeping an eye out for 2nd hand agriculural buildings. We've just st added an indoor school using a second hadn steel framed building
 
I have a small American barn. Two pairs of stables, a storage area and a working area (sink, feed, shelving). Concrete sloping base for water run out of stables and out of barn, barn on an iPad and true to the horizon. Power, water, drain and CCTV services.
 
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