Wash bay ideas

FestiveFuzz

FestiveFuzz

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 January 2008
Messages
4,583
Visit site
So I’m in the incredibly fortunate position of being able to design my stable yard and it’s now time for me to finish off the wash bay. I’d love some thoughts on what would work best as this is very much our forever house, and I’ll never hear the last of it if I change my mind once my long suffering husband has done the work!

The current plan is to pop grippy rubber matting down and build a breeze block wall at the back for the gas shower to go on. The gas canister will sit outside of the wash bay in a fireproof housing/casing. I’m thinking of a half height wall at the back so shampoos etc. can sit on top in easy reach. There are potential water points to the left and front of the wash bay, but planning to have the hose at the back unless anyone has a reason why this might be a bad idea. To the front of the wash bay are double doors that lead out onto the outside yard/tie up area.

Picture of the wash bay as it currently is, and the rest of the barn for context (wash bay is at the far end).


IMG_1232.jpegIMG_1233.jpeg
 
beautiful barn, i’m very jealous! all i have to suggest is lots of storage, so you can have everything laid out to hand - i’d probably opt for shelving so you don’t have to root through boxes /drawers, and everything is easy to put away again
 
Ah thank you!! I had a whole childhood to dream up what I’d do if I ever got the chance and have been slowly working on it since we moved in 5 years ago so it’s been a proper labour of love!

Yep plan is to have horse facing outwards on x ties, hose at the back to minimise tripping/tangles. I’m slightly worried we don’t have enough drainage in hindsight but will see once it’s up and running I guess 😬
 
dottylottie said:
beautiful barn, i’m very jealous! all i have to suggest is lots of storage, so you can have everything laid out to hand - i’d probably opt for shelving so you don’t have to root through boxes /drawers, and everything is easy to put away again
Click to expand...
Thank youuu! I’m not sure there’s space to have shelving in the main part as my biggest horse is 17.1/2 but have big drawers opposite and was thinking maybe one of those pocketed stable tidies on the wall perhaps for bits and bobs.
 
Instead of a gas shower I had a household electric shower fitted in the washbay. It is fitted to a board that I can lift off the wall with a valve on the water inlet pipe so that I can turn the water off to the shower unit.

Definitely shelves of something similar for storing lotions and potions. If possible I would consider having wire baskets attached to the wall for storing bottles, sponges, etc so any water than splashed onto them will run away rather than sitting on the shelf.
 
eggs said:
Instead of a gas shower I had a household electric shower fitted in the washbay. It is fitted to a board that I can lift off the wall with a valve on the water inlet pipe so that I can turn the water off to the shower unit.

Definitely shelves of something similar for storing lotions and potions. If possible I would consider having wire baskets attached to the wall for storing bottles, sponges, etc so any water than splashed onto them will run away rather than sitting on the shelf.
Click to expand...
Ah cunning! We used to be at a yard with an electric shower and it regularly needed replacing so we’ve gone with gas, but it was a really hard decision to make as I’m always nervy of anything that might explode/cause a fire 😬

Good shout on wire baskets, I have a bunch of metal hay feeders from the old stables so wonder if I could repurpose one, though I suspect the gaps might be too big thinking about it.
 
For lotions and potions I was planning to use the top of the wall or go fancy with some of those bottle shot measures mounted to the wall, but think that would probably be a bit too faffy as we usually buy everything in 5l bottles.
 
Are you planning on using the wash bay as a grooming area/ tacking up area too or literally just washing?

One of the high arm hose things are really useful for stopping the hose lying on the floor and getting trampled. Something along the lines of:


Also I saw someone on facebook who used spirit dispensers for their shampoos and it looked a really easy way of doing it as there was no longer any trying to undo bottle caps with soapy wet hands and would help to keep it looking neat and tidy:

 
Squeak said:
Are you planning on using the wash bay as a grooming area/ tacking up area too or literally just washing?

One of the high arm hose things are really useful for stopping the hose lying on the floor and getting trampled. Something along the lines of:


Also I saw someone on facebook who used spirit dispensers for their shampoos and it looked a really easy way of doing it as there was no longer any trying to undo bottle caps with soapy wet hands and would help to keep it looking neat and tidy:

Click to expand...
I think most likely it’ll be used for washing/potentially clipping in winter, but for grooming/tacking up I generally just have them in their stables.

I did wonder about one of the hose arms but not sure I have the height with the solarium as one of my boys is already enormous and only rising 6 🫠

I love the spirit measure idea (was basically what I was trying to describe in my last post but baby brain scuppered the description 🤣) but currently have pumps in 5l bottles so not sure it’s really needed aside from making the place look pretty (which I’m all for tbf!)
 
Identityincrisis said:
Wow!!! If dreams came true! That looks lovely

My only suggestion was going to be as Squeak has suggested and use an overhead boom, i liked it at the last yard i was at
Click to expand...
Ah thank you! It’s literally my dream come true, or will be once the wash bay is done and is no longer posh parking for the husband’s tractor!

I do like the idea of an overhead boom but struggling to work out how it would work with the solarium and enormous part-dinosaur of mine 🤣
 
I think you’re right in a hose boom intercepting with the solarium really.
I’d say they’d both ideally be about the same height.

We only had one drain in the one I use, suppose it depends on how fast your water gets away but again the one I use works just fine and they are very wet low lying land so I assume a high water table
 
poiuytrewq said:
I think you’re right in a hose boom intercepting with the solarium really.
I’d say they’d both ideally be about the same height.

We only had one drain in the one I use, suppose it depends on how fast your water gets away but again the one I use works just fine and they are very wet low lying land so I assume a high water table
Click to expand...
Yeah even with the adjustable height of the solarium I just can’t see a way of making it work, plus knowing my boys they’d probably freak at the thought of something above them 😂

Ah that makes me feel more hopeful, tbf it was all worked out when it was first put in so should be fine, but that was a while ago so I’ve had a chance to overthink it!
 
FestiveFuzz said:
I think most likely it’ll be used for washing/potentially clipping in winter, but for grooming/tacking up I generally just have them in their stables.

I did wonder about one of the hose arms but not sure I have the height with the solarium as one of my boys is already enormous and only rising 6 🫠

I love the spirit measure idea (was basically what I was trying to describe in my last post but baby brain scuppered the description 🤣) but currently have pumps in 5l bottles so not sure it’s really needed aside from making the place look pretty (which I’m all for tbf!)
Click to expand...

I think you're right it wouldn't work with the solarium and as you've already got pumps on your bottles it probably would be extra faff using one of those dispensers.

It looks an absolutely incredible setup, hope you enjoy it for many years :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top