Ventilation!!!! (pic inc)

laurenn1010

laurenn1010

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Hi all, i have a problem, VENTILATION

we built our stables this year however the man that made them doesn't seem to be too familiar with livestock housing as we have found....

they stables are grand during the summer however, now winter has come the condensation in them is TERRIBLE!!! i mean literally sometimes it is as if your standing outside and it is raining ther are so many drips.... the horses have turnout rugs at moment untill we get sumthing sorted, however my question is HOW DO I GET PROPER VENTILATION NOW. Even the bedding is suffering we are using vast amounts to keep them dry....

as you can see from pictures it is just a sloping roof to the rear with no airflow only from the large front door and the small rear door. heaviest airflow meets the small door at the rear.

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any recommendation what i am to do with this??? i imagine it will cost another small fortune to ventilate them??
 
Do you completely shut the front doors when the horses are stabled?

I would suggest, although I am by no means an expert, leaving them open, even if not open fully, and perhaps making the small door a traditional "stable" door so you could close the bottom half and leave top open?

The problem you have is that, from the picture, the roof and large doors appear to be made of metal which will always be prone to condensation when the stables are full of large, warm animals.
 
Comparing to out cow sheds, which i suppose in someways are just larger versions of your stables, we have vertical Yorkshire boarding with small gaps in between (approx 1") to let the airflow through. These would be above the walled area you can see at the back of your picture.
 
hey patches yea we used to keep the front large doors closed but realising we needed sum ventilation we resorted to leaving them partially open at night... it hasn't helped much! with regards to the back small door we cant really have it as a stable door as such as it is not far from the roadside (seperated only by small field) and therefore are concerned about theft of saddlery etc if this was left open at night
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and yea they are made of metal... will this always lead to problems?

you suggest we would replace the vertical portions of the stable to allow gaps or do you think if we were to cut wholes high up on the roofing would this be ok ? im not even sure who to turn to now as there are no specialist equine housing builders near here im aware off !
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I think mulled wine's suggestion is a good one.

We have many cow sheds here and never suffer your ventilation problems. They are also constructed with Yorkshire boarding to the side walls above blocks. Our rooves resemble yours, although we have a ridge on our rooves with special ventilation ridge pieces in several places.

Our main doors are also only "gate height", not full height. We have cubicle sheds housing 100's of cows and have never suffered with condensation.

I would suspect that just opening the front doors won't give you enough ventilation as there is no "through draught" being created.
 
its a good idea i agree, but does it not rain in on the beds? i might look into that one x

am so cross because the shed itself is leaking even when there were no animals housed... it seems the skylites were leaking... how am i gonna fix that too???
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You have a problem and is there any way of cost effectively resolving it. I have seen metal roofs with spray foam on the metal or can you introduce natural ventilation at the top of the sloping roof. My barn has a ventilated roof and no insulation and this works quite well. The ultimate was at Jan Brinks stallion barn with a domed roof with adjustable ventilators.
 
Add more vents and your problem should be solved. You can get wall vents and you should put at least one of these over each stable and you can also get roof vents. You need a specialist metal worker/roofer to do this for you, but they don't need to know anything about horses/livestock - any decent contractor should know how to install vents.

Good luck!
 
Hi, Lauren, we have a similar set up, we also have condensation but it is never a real problem. These are ours:

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Ours are concrete block to about 5 feet then Yorkshire Board to the roof. Inside there is also chipboard above the blocks for about four feet-ish, you can just about see it in the pic. The roof is metal and there is a ventilation space in the middle.Neither the York Boards nor the vents let anything in at all. There is a metal door at the rear (opposite end to pic) the same size as he space at the front. I never shut both ends of the block and only the rear in really bad weather. Maybe this is why we don't get much condensation, it does drip a little when frost is thawing but not enough to get the beds wet.

I think you probably need to somehow create more of a through draught. Thinking about cost I wonder if you could cut some 'windows' in the back wall and maybe put yorkshire boards in the space? Just a thought but I'm not an expert. Hope that helps a bit, you must be disappointed as your stables look lovely, I hope you can get this sorted soon and fairly cheaply
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Your building appears to be lacking a pitched roof - and Yorkshire boarding would help considerably on the sides away from the prevailing wind. It looks a bit like a workshop-type building, as opposed to one designed for livestock?

My 'tin' roof does drip, but only when it has been freezing and it starts to defrost. I can live with it. Mine have outdoors on as my building is very airy due to Yorkshire Boarding on three sides and much open-ness.
 
We have a block of stables like yours. I don't have a great pic, but you can kind of see the boarding above the blocks. I guess this is the Yorkshire boarding that others have mentioned.
Not sure how easy it would be for you to do but it seems to work for us.
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Onduline sheeting is best for stable roofs as it is insulated/double skinned so helps reduce condensation. Most stabling companies use this instead of ordinary galvanised roof sheets. I would also recommend the yorkshire boarding and a roof ridge with venting holes.
 
you could leave the big front doors open and put the windbreaker mesh up to semi enclose it but agree you need ventilation on the other walls too to create an airflow. metal roof sheeting will always drip to a certain extent esp on frosty mornings!equallt you dont want your horses to live in a wind tunnel!!! what direction is the building facing? do you get prevailing winds? all thoughts to consider before ventilating.
 
Great Pics Irishcobs...lol

We have the same stables as in Appylads pic and the rain does come in a bit if it's hammering it down but not enough to make the beds wet. The snow does tend to drift in but again not enough to build a snowman!!!
Depending on the cost i have seen roof vents a bit like ones in horse trailers that can open and close but they prob cost a few pennies?!!?
 
Definitely the yorkshire boarding helps with ventilation, I have this at one end of my barn, I also leave the big doors open all the time, I dont struggle with condensation at all, although I did have a few leaks in my roof, this was easily fixed with expanding foam. I hope you can sort your problem as your barn looks great. Best of luck x
 
thanks for all the replies, am looking into getting the yorkshire boarding up then! seems to be the best idea...

do you think would a couple or panels replaced by the boarding in each stable be suffice at the rear and back ?
 
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