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Putting stalls in barn
I am looking to put 3 12x12 stalls in an unfinished barn. Does anyone have suggestions on where to buy door hardware (or maybe premade doors) and other equpment (feeders, stall dividers, etc). Also, I was thinking of using rough cut 2x6's (cheaper?), maybe even tongue and groove or shiplap (for extra strength). Any thoughts?
I know next to nothing about horses (except that they take up lots of time and unbelievable amounts of money). My wife (the owner of the horses) and I are moving to a place where we can keep her horses at home rather than continue to board them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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Putting stalls in barn
You might want to get a copy of this excellent book. Much advice and ways to avoid big mistakes:
http://www.horsekeeping.com/horse_books/Horsekeeping_on_a_Small_Acreage.htm
JKJ
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Putting stalls in barn
Oliver; Most any TSC store or Fleet Farm will have the heavy hinges you need. I don't know a lot about horses, but I do know they like to chew on stall boards, so avoid any lumber thats treated with the green preservative most of that has some arsenic in it. We buy some rough sawn planks from the sawmill for heavy construction. If they're not kiln dried they will likely warp as the lumber dries out then your doors won't fit too well plus they're real heavy to handle. Probably your best bet is to use standard dimension lumber from the lumber yard and as needed replace the top board the horse chews up. I hope someone else chimes in her cause I'm kinda dim on the care of horses, I've built barns but never owned a horse. Good luck. Frank.
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Putting stalls in barn
Oliver, definitely take JKJ's advice and read that book. As a fellow horse husband I sympathize with you  My wife and I have built stalls for our two small barns, however, she's great at figuring out exactly what she wants and executing it, so I've only been there to help with the construction and not with the choice of materials... but here's my advice:
Rough cut is great, stronger and cheaper, however, we used kiln dried 2x6's just because of availability. We've always just nailed in the boards, makes it easier to replace pieces when broken/eaten through.
Some horses just love to chew (our two remind me of beavers occasionally), once you've finished with the stalls treat them with some sort of chew stop (there are clear treatments which are quite effective). It's amazing how quickly they can turn that beautiful new stall into something ugly (they will tend to eat just more than the top board...)
As hardwood mentioned rough cut is heavy, our 2x6 kiln dried stall doors are heavy enough, I can only imagine them with the extra weight. Since you're in Mass, door hardware (tracks and hangers) are available at your local Home Depot (look for Stanley hardware) or try your local feed store.
One thing to note before doing the construction, if you're considering stall bars be sure to decide on a manufacturer before starting/finishing construction. We were limited since the barn wasn't quite as big as we wanted, so we have slightly odd stall sizes which meant that we'd have to order custom bars which meant several thousand $$$.
I love tractorpoint.com, however, you may consider posting to a more equine oriented forum (and then perhaps update this thread with your findings), my wife is addicted to the Ultimate Dressage forum - very active and informative group.
Maybe I can get my wife to post, she's the one you really want to talk to
Congrats on moving your horses home! It'll save tons of money and if your wife is anything like mine, it'll make her happier to have them where she can see them all of the time.
HTH,
- Sergio
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Putting stalls in barn
Thanks for the link -- I checked it out and it looks like it will be really helpful. My guess is that my wife will start spending lots of time on that site.
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Putting stalls in barn
Oliver,
We are also about to move to a new place so my wife can keep her horses in the back yard. Our barn was built by a pole barn specialist. He did some things very well, others not so well.
The Bad: cheap door latches with rough edges that could cut. Stanley makes some nice ones for about $12, avail. at my local hardware store -- I'm going to upgrade. Sharp edges where horses can rub or walk aginst them are potential vet bills.
The good: stalls are lined with 2x6 "car decking" tongue and groove planks stacked into aluminum channels. The channels are mounted to the 6x6 corner poles. The T&G is removable, so for example we can open two stalls into one larger one (typically done for foaling), or replace damaged boards, no tools reqired. You could use any 2x lumber, it does not have to be T&G, but T&G will be stronger as adjacent boards reinforce each other. Important if the horses kick.
The stall bars are premade aluminum units with channels that sit over the 2x6s. Look for ads in any horse magazine for stall manufacturers and then find their local dist. I agree you should choose the bars and door hardware first. The 12x12 is a pretty standard size.
Don't forget water and food buckets/holders. A pass thru door for food is handy. There are also swing out water bucket doors (we forgot to ask for that so I'll be retrofitting when we move in).
One way (recommended by someone with 12 horses) to reduce cribbing (chewing of the stall) is to attach metal drywall corner edging to the vulnerable edges. Be sure that all nails are deeply embedded and you must routinely patrol for sharp edges and loose nails, particularly low down on the vertical edges. It also helps to give the horses as much time out of the stall as possible. My wife insists that horses don't really need stalls and confinment makes them crazy, hence the cribbing.
I just helped repair the field shelters where our horse is now boarded and I added some sacrificial 2x4s along the walls where the chewing was worst.
As for treated wood - the arsenic formulations (CCA) were phased out in December but are still being sold from inventory. The new copper formula (eg. ACQ) should be safer, but I suggest using the treated lumber only at grade level and untreated above that. Color is NOT a guaranteed way to tell them apart.
The Small Acreage is a good book.
We did not wind up using them, but BarnMaster makes a great barn & stall system with well thought out door hardware, pass throughs and grills. The panels are a sandwich of metal, foam, plywood and Hardipanel with metal frames. Although pricey they are fire, rot, insect and kick proof.
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Putting stalls in barn
Thank you for the input. In terms of the aluminum channels the 2x6s slide into, is there just one at each corner, leaving a 12' span? Is this something that can be found or ordered at most lumber yards or is it more of a barn or horse store item?
I'm sure as I start the building process, many more questions will follow.
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Putting stalls in barn
Oliver,
I don't know where my barn builder gets his Al channels, but they should be available at any big lumber yard, hardware store or metal supply house. They are just 2" wide, 8' long Al channels. There are two channels at each corner, facing 90 degrees away from each other, bolted into the 6x6 pole beams. Another way to think about it is there are two channels per side, facing towards each other. They butt against each other at each corner, so almost none of the pole beam is visible to the horses.
And yes, the 2x6's span 12 feet with no center support. Since they are T&G the wall as a whole can take quite a kick before any board will fail, and my builder says none of his ever have. The wall seperating two stalls is just one layer of the 2x6 T&G.
If this is not clear enough I can take some pictures of my stalls.
By the way, you don't have to use Aluminum. There is nothing that says you can't use a couple of 2x4's or 4x4s bolted to the barn frame with a space between them to form the channel. The Al is nice because it won't rust or rot, and it is smooth so the T&G is easy to slide out.
Hope this helps,
Neal
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Putting stalls in barn
Oliver - I built a 24 x 30 barn for our 3 horses 6 years ago. I purchased all the lumber rough sawn at Rowley lumber Co. in Otis Mass. It was about a 2 hour drive but well worth it. Bill, the owner is a nice guy with great prices & can offer you great advise on your barn project. I bought the 8" x 8" beams from him also. He is very knowledgeable. He actually drove down to my house in CT to help me lay it out & get started. I bought the stall fronts & doors at Shagbark, in a town called East Haddam, CT.
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