# Which wood for floor



## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

I do not know what area you are in, but here in KY, my barn has oak floors in the stall. They are full cut 2", milled by an Amish lumber mill. They are installed over a base of probably 2 feet of gravel. 

I really like the floors in the stalls, except the foaling, but I put rubber mats down temporarily, so the were not so slick. 

I would not use treated lumber. Treated lumber is cheap pine. You need something tough.


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## jenkat86 (May 20, 2014)

I would not go with the plywood. We didn't use it in the horse barn as flooring, but we have used it for the goats. It's just not tough enough.


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## drjay9051 (Nov 4, 2015)

I appreciate the replies!

Looks like I'll go board lumber.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

No to the plywood. If you get it thick enough to hold, it will peel. pLUS, you have to have some drainage. The boards will change width and length with the seasons, and develop small gaps between them, and the urine and any water drains out. 

My barn is 4 years old, so I do not have any long term data on durability, but I right now, I would do it again....


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

No to plywood and pressure treated wood.


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## drjay9051 (Nov 4, 2015)

Well I just got "sticker shock".

Price of hardwood such as oak at big box stores is over 3 dollars a running foot!!

Now good old pine is affordable. Do you folks think i can use good old #2 pine


Biewer Lumber 2 in. x 6 in. x 12 ft. #2 Prime Kiln Dried Heat Treated Untreated SPF Lumber-206XXUSPFSC - The Home Depot

If I must use hardwood it looks like it is just unaffordable at this point.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

_*Can you contact a local saw mill for availability and price?*_

Might be cheaper than the "Big Box Store"....

However, transporting the lumber probably is your responsibility out of a mill...

Some kinds of pine are harder than others....ask someone who truly knows wood types and grades of the wood.

As a kid my horses stall had a wood plank floor.
Before I had the barn it was *not* a well maintained stall so I can tell you that unless you do clean and clean thoroughly regardless of spaces between planks you can and will have rot happen. 
I had strips rip loose and at times it was troublesome to protect my horses hooves from the "shards" as I thought of the pieces....
I have no idea how long the stall flooring was down but yes, it _*can *_rot and come apart as can plywood.
:runninghorse2:....


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## ChitChatChet (Sep 9, 2013)

Pine is a soft wood. It wont hold up to what you need.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

What area of the country are you in?


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## drjay9051 (Nov 4, 2015)

greentree said:


> What area of the country are you in?


North central Florida (Ocala).

i was hoping southern yellow pine would work but some say too soft. Folks at Yella wood seem to think it is O.K.

I am going to look at planks used for decks. it may be an option.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

I guess you are finding why there are not so many wood floors for horses, they are difficult to cope with because of two issues, unlike a vehicle they will insist on pooping and peeing in their stalls, and that means the wood is always under attack. Also they put a lot of ground pressure down, lots of weight resting on 4 smallish points of contact, makes them difficult to support.

As you are finding, the 'right stuff' comes with a hefty price tag, I guess that is why rubber mats on concrete or dirt are used so often.

I'm guessing deck boards will be made from soft wood again, so may not hold up for very long...


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Yella wood will do just fine!!
It is a harder dense pine that they build homes with btw....
Be careful where you purchase as the box stores dimensional lumber is not true to size numbers but smaller in dimensions. I have been told that one of those box stores imports their lumber, it is not the quality you think and avoid it... I don't know how much of that is fact or fiction, but...
Purchase all your lumber from the same place so you don't have sizing issues...

Look at the local farm supply, also Sparr Building.
Yella wood pressure treated is done in a plant only open to businesses in Lake Panasofskee. 
There are many saw mills though that I bet can mill what you want at the same or better price than the "big" box stores...

Good luck.
:runninghorse2:..
_jmo..._


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## zandstrafarms (Feb 14, 2015)

Pricing must be different than here. We built our hay loft using that same tongue and groove plywood, 8ft long sheets. A,few months later called our local saw mill for pricing on rough cut hardwood and it was FAR cheaper than the ply. Heck, we didn't even use ply, it was chipboard because ply was so expensive! 

Our hardwood for irregular cut (means varrying widths) was 0.25 per board foot.


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