Stables built onto hardcore?

[MagicMelon]

I had my local joiner out recently to quote for stables. On discussing concrete base, he suggested hardcore as an alternative. He says a couple of his clients have done this (obviously have the usual foundations etc.) and they love it as they put rubber mats over the hardcore and the pee simply soaks away. Its quite a bit cheaper than having a concrete base done so I like the idea if it works! Has anyone done this? If so, opinions please? Photos would be brilliant as Im trying to work out how mats go over the hardcore because in my current concrete base stables at my mums have drainage along the back and sealed mats sloping down to it.

 

[jackessex]

hi i have crushed concrete in my stables with rubber mats as long as you have a good depth it should work fine,the only problem i could see with hardcore is getting it flat enough.ive had mine down for nearly 6 yrs with no probs

 

[Milkmaid]

Mine are built with a chalk over hardcore base with rubber matting on top.

Inside with pellet bed down

Have put matting down on outside so I can sweep and to stop transfer of white chalk! Will get 'mat on a roll' when I get round to it so there is no gaps and it looks neater.

Much nicer than concrete IMO. Cheaper, kinder, warmer, smell neutralizing and free draining

I have built them previously with 'Romsey Red' over brick rubble then matted which is also fab but the chalk option is waaaaaaaaaaay cheaper! I know a lot of peeps on chalk don`t even bother with the mats but you need to have a full bed that way and I love pellets!

Eta we did it all by hand (bar the digging out to level before filling) We smashed up the rubble, collected the chalk (luckily from just up the road!) and then whacker plated it down well. Took a couple of days. The 'edges' were formed with pegged in scaffold planks

 

[Star_Chaser]

that looks cool

 

[eggs]

Some of my stables have concrete floors and some have crushed stone over earth (we ran a compactor over the stone when we put it down to get it as level as possible). All stables have rubber mats and pellet beds. I much prefer the crushed stone base as it drains the pee away so much better. Our walkways are concrete or Tarmac.

 

[NeverSayNever]

have you thought about road planings instead of hardcore as it will compact flatter. Im just about to do the base for one of mine with them and mats over the top.

 

[Batgirl]

Yep new stables at ours are like that, drain nicely etc. Word of warning make sure it is compacted properly or it can shift a bit and make floor wobbly

 

[katymay]

we have our stable on a base of road plainings, we dug a trench the whole way around, filled with plainings and compacted, put down some large timber planks for the stable to sit on and stop the plainings escaping, filled the middle with plainings, compacted it down serveral times, put all the rubber mats on top and then plonked the stable on top of that so the weight of the stable keeps the mats in place, wee just seems to soak away!
loads cheaper than concrete, in fact we got our plainings free! beware though you need a lot, think we used about 9 tonnes! and its about 11 wheelbarrows full per tonne!

 

[Dry Rot]

I used pea gravel in a field shelter with success and have since erected timber stables on a strip foundation. Before I laid the foundations, I dug a trench a couple of feet deep and the length of the stables and then laid some land drainage pipe in the trench leading to a soakaway pit filled with broken stones. Then the whole of the inside floor was filled with pea gravel to a depth of 300mm.

When erecting any sort of building it pays to think from the bottom up. Consider where the rain water will go, then any urine, water drips from a tap, spill and overflow from drinking troughs, etc. and lay drains for all that to a properly constructed soakaway.