# rubber matting/flooring



## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

If your interested in some reading, Penn state did a study on barn flooring for horses. I'll see if I can find a link and post it. 
I noticed you had carpet listed as a choice for the office. No way would I use carpet. I think hardwood or a laminate would be best for ease of cleaning.

Here is a page with a bunch of interesting articles http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/PubSubject.asp?varSubject=Horses

Heres the one on the flooring: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ub036.pdf


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## Aliboo (Jun 20, 2008)

rubber mats seem to work great, but DO NOT let them get buried in FEET of or excessive manure. i've seen it before, to the part where it becomes clay or mulch like and is impossible to get out of a stall. at my new barn they use rubber mats with small amounts of sawdust/shavings and FREQUENT stall cleaning. thats the best method ive seen


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## hotreddun (Jun 27, 2008)

I like rubber mats. I like them with a good solid bag of shavings per stall. Sometimes two. They definitely cut down on the need to scrape out pee holes. I would nix the carpet in the office as well.


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## upnover (Jan 17, 2008)

I love rubber mats in stalls! They allow for so much more cushioning, provide traction, and cut down on the amount of shavings needed. They're also nice for any place your horse is going to spend time standing (ie: grooming areas). I guess you could put rubber matting down on places like the bedding room/tool room, but I'm not sure why you would. It's very expensive and not necessary in places like that. For the feed room I'd recommend something that mice can't chew through. Something like good old sturdy cement, no wood flooring there! And I'd have to echo everyone else's opinions on carpet in ANY place barn related. Yuck.


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## back in the crosby again (Feb 4, 2009)

I agree rubber mats are nice in stalls, grooming areas and for wash stalls. In the aisle, I don't know if it would be worth the expense. The aisle is a lot of square footage and that will really jack up the price. I would use concrete in the bedding, tool, and feed rooms. It is easy to clean and like upnover said it helps with the mice. You can get a number of different finishes too. It can be as rough as a sidewalk or as smooth as a garage floor. 

In the office and tack room you could use linoleum or vinyl tile if you want a nicer appearance then just concrete. I have seen carpet used in a tack room before it was just gross. Granted the office would stay cleaner then the tack room, but think about all the times you will need to get such and such from the office when you have just been cleaning stalls.


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## Countrygal892000 (Apr 17, 2009)

I am a big fan of rubber mats... they are kinda pricey.. not as cheap as dirt would be... the only issue I have with dirt stalls is the pawing and the digging of holes and so on.. but like Aliboo stated.. don't let them get too dirty... they are really easy to clean and are great for horses... I have also been around this new dirt for arenas/stalls that have ground up tire in them.. so they are dirt and rubber... all the horses seem to love it... its easy for them to run in and its almost springy..

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http://www.rubbermulch.com/
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 That just is kinda what I am talking about.. but mixing with dirt...


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## kershkova (Jun 25, 2008)

they use sawdust were i keep my horse with a small amount of sawdust and it gets cleaned once a day


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