# Efficient Small Barn?



## FoxRidgeRanch (May 20, 2008)

Could you guys suggest some small barn idea for me. I want at least 2 12 x 12 stalls could be 14 x 14s, at least 8 x 8 tack room or 6 x 10-12. Also a grooming/tacking up area.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Are you looking to build yourself, contract to build, or a modular/prebuilt barn, and what price range? Or are you just looking for ideas for the layout of the stalls, etc?


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Well, let's see....
Since you are rather vague with # of stalls wanted...
A center aisle, 12' wide, sliding door at either end so a tractor, truck or trailer can be pulled through if needed... Fully enclosed with a Minnesota location in your avatar you need to be able to do winter well.
I will assume you need to do all feed/hay storage under one roof design...
I would do 12' ceiling height with a solid floor above for keeping warmth in in winter cold and stable stall fans to move the air around in summer swelter...
Depending upon your design you might get a hay loft or extra storage for blankets and "stuff" upstairs or a lounge for relaxing......
Stalls, say we do 4 12'x12' box since that is a size most any horse fits in very comfortably.
Obviously, you will balance your stalls on either side of the barn 2 + 2.
I would either put the stalls with adjoining wall, then locate the feed and tack opposite each other at the other end of the barn. Or separate the stalls by putting them on the 4 corners and feed and tack in the middle.
Putting stalls on 4 corners would allow more light and ventilation{cross-ventilation} from window openings on 2 walls. One of those openings could be into a paddock with a dutch door. This also stops any fighting with another horse in the stall but they can see each other...
I would do overhangs on both sides of the barn 10' high and 12' wide...this allows you to have shade, protection for the horses from the weather and outside storage for a tractor, horse trailer or just equipment needed around a barn. Obviously if you do storage you need to rethink stalls opening into attached paddock space.
So, knowing you have harsh winters...I would add an additional 12' of general length to the barn for a indoor grooming area doubling as a wash stall too, sloped concrete floor to a drainage run-off or drain, great lighting and electrical outlets that can also be used by your farrier or vet when they are in attendance. It would also allow you to get a few tons of hay inside if this is your only place to store hay.
Your wide center aisle also is a great grooming space...make sure you put in outlets at every stall, outside and inside the feed room and tack room....all GFCI for safety. Add to those thoughts exterior of the barn outlets at either end and both sides along with water spigots outside on each wall to fill outside buckets, hose the injured anatomy part and not have to do it inside during nice weather...
No-freeze water hydrant in the middle of the barn so a hose to fill buckets is not so long and not much to drain during winter freeze...._I don't like automatic waterers as I have seen them clog and more importantly no way to judge if the horses are drinking or not....in a pasture is a different issue and more necessity.

_ This is a simple layout of a barn with mostly necessities. It can be expanded upon or even minimized from this description to fit your budget and actual needs.
Remember it is cheaper to do from the beginning than to add on later or have the "I wish...." saga happen.
I think keeping it simple and very functional is the way to go....make each "space" a 12'x12' area gives you a lot of flexibility if built correctly right from the get-go. With slight "tweaking" you can go from a 4 stall to a 8 stall with not much expense or change except to then add with a extra building that which you take away...
So, although it sounds huge when you look at size on paper, when you diagram and draw it out it is not... so size would be complete edge to edge, corner to corner 36' wide by 96' long....or make the stalls smaller in width not depth and then the barn stays 36' wide but now would be 80' long.

Happy planning...
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## FoxRidgeRanch (May 20, 2008)

I'm in the planning stage, sorry I was so vague I was rushing lol. So here is what I got and what I'm hoping for.


I have 4 horses, I might lease one out this Spring and if she likes her a lot she may buy her. I am looking for a smaller style barn that has 2-3 stalls at least 12' x 12'. I already have a hay loft in the old barn and I rarely use it, I don't plan on having horses hunkered in a stall for long periods unless injured. I wants a decent size tack area as I have 2-4 saddles depending on if Kelly has his here too. I have wall racks for saddle but prefer not to stack more than 2. I kinda want it to be a one story. I have an idea of what I want on paper I'm going to quickly recreate on paint for you guys the dimensions may be a bit off as I'm not great with paint but you can get an idea. I also want a lean to off one of the sides just for a quick get away. a fence would run around everything and butt up to the doors and the lean to opening so they are not rubbing or kicking the outside steel. It would most likely be steel shell with dirt floor, our area packs really hard. Kicking boards in horse accessable areas up to 4.5 feet. I would like to have a tacking/grooming area near my tack as on really cold days (-20 or so) I don't have much energy to be running 200 feet for my heavy saddle and all my gear. I'll post a picture in a couple minutes of kinda what I was hoping but then again Im not a construction worker and am not sure if it would structurally make any sense.


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## FoxRidgeRanch (May 20, 2008)

I almost always ride alone so I'm thinking of a single horse in the Tack/Groom area. Does this make any sense or am I off my rocker, I muck by hand, no tractors or 4-wheelers.


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## FoxRidgeRanch (May 20, 2008)

Its going to be a very basic barn, not at all fancy. I'll probably just get the Beams, walls and roof up at first them work at the inside, Im going to have about $6000 to start with.


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## FoxRidgeRanch (May 20, 2008)

Also forgot to put the outta stall door next to the wall instead of by the other stall gate.


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## Bright Stride Equine (Oct 20, 2016)

FoxRidgeRanch said:


> I almost always ride alone so I'm thinking of a single horse in the Tack/Groom area. Does this make any sense or am I off my rocker, I muck by hand, no tractors or 4-wheelers.


I like it! Simple and practical. That being said, since now is the time, I would think over if you will need any extra storage area...wheelbarrows, shavings etc.

Also, it might be handy to also have exterior doors on the stalls, especially if they would open right into the paddock. I work at a barn that has that and it is the best thing ever.


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## FoxRidgeRanch (May 20, 2008)

I might make it a few feet bigger it really depends on how expensive everything is. I just using typical corral panel type 4' gates for the stalls and doors cept for the interior Sliding door. I still have to figure out where Im setting this barn  as our pasture is not very level and the whole thing is slightly down hill. I just get lost in the whole thing, I really want to start on my barn but don't know how to go about it :S


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## Bright Stride Equine (Oct 20, 2016)

FoxRidgeRanch said:


> I might make it a few feet bigger it really depends on how expensive everything is. I just using typical corral panel type 4' gates for the stalls and doors cept for the interior Sliding door. I still have to figure out where Im setting this barn  as our pasture is not very level and the whole thing is slightly down hill. I just get lost in the whole thing, I really want to start on my barn but don't know how to go about it :S


Maybe see if you can get a company to come out and give you a quote


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Don't you want enough stalls for all the horses you have? You could make the barn 36 X 36 (without the lean to) which would allow you to have 2, 12x12 stalls on each side, 12 foot aisle, and 2 other 12x12 areas at the end for tack & grooming area or you could put 3 stalls down one side, 4th stall on one end of the other side, tack room in the middle with a side door that opens directly to your grooming and tack up area.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

FoxRidgeRanch said:


> Its going to be a very basic barn, not at all fancy. I'll probably just get the Beams, walls and roof up at first them work at the inside, Im going to have about $6000 to start with.


Here is the type of pole barn that we have built using a very simple, flexible design. This barn is about 28'x30' not including the roof overhang. I like this simple plan because each "section" is roughly 15'x28' and you can make it as long as you want (this one has 2 sections and you can always go back and add sections).

Here is the framed structure.










Once you have the structure, you can do whatever you want with the inside..stalls, tack room, storage, whatever. We don't stall our (5) horses so for this barn we just wanted a shelter area and hay/tack/storage area that we can also put our trailer in.

Here with the shelter area added.










Here as we were putting the metal siding up.










and the large, sliding door.










the shelter side...










and graded to direct rain away, added stone screenings, and gutters










We did all the work ourselves and it was about $4500 in materials.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

The only thing about your design that I find a bit cumbersome is that you have to walk the horses out of their stalls through the tack/grooming area. Putting dutch doors on the outside of each stall would allow you to build the shelter over the dutch doors and turn them out that way rather than walk them through the entire barn. Or just do like me and leave the doors open and let the horses decide whether they want to come in or out. I had a 10 x 24 foot overhang built over the dutch doors as well, to keep the stalls dry and provide additional shelter. 

My barn is 48 x 32, but that's because my husband uses half of it as an equipment bay. The barn section is only 24 x 32 with 3 10x12 stalls, a 10 x 12 tack room, 12 ft aisle (which I LOVE) and hay loft above. We tack up one horse in the cross-ties and another in the spare stall, but since it's full of hay now, we just tack up in the horse's stall and it works fine.

I'm not sure how you would turn a horse around in your setup either. It seems a little tight, but maybe I'm visualizing it wrong. As for your tack room, it's easy to build saddle racks (or buy them) so they fit right against the wall, using very little space. My tack room is very roomy. I have a mini-fridge, an old freezer to use as a bin for feed, water, stairs to the loft, a bench, shelves for supplements, etc. and still, there's tons of room in there. 

Here's a pic of the outside where the dutch doors are:


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I see a lot of great ideas and thought out functional barns given....a labor of love they started in concept and finished in practical working design...

I know you are going to use every penny you have budgeted and then some to just get the structure up....built to your states building code.
I am at $5000.00 and only have a roof 24'x36'x10' high with a vertical roof {helps to shed snow load} and a upgraded metal thickness for strength.
_Metal Carport and Garage Kit Builder_
So, once I added walls and sides with a large frame-out door {13'- 20'} for access, 6 windows {3 each side} for some light....
I hit $9000.00 in a hurry...don't forget to add sales tax, delivery & installation is included in price.
I also added 4 extra panels {a panel is 3' wide} for the covered attached run-in 12' in width the length of the building....they will then match in color and material thickness. You still need to make or buy the support system underneath to hold them up though.
So "my barn" would be enclosed 24'x36'x10' high with now adding that 12' overhang = 36' wide or 48' wide depending on how you set up the inside for 3 - 4 stalls, feed and tack room, aisle for ease of access and grooming room...and the possibility of inside storage for wheelbarrows stored out of the way.
So....I have some issues with your "now" design.
You have _not_ enough stalls for your current horses...so you not bring everyone in is not how I would wish for my horses to be kept or for ease of feeding actually... 
Your design with the number of _current_ horses means time and labor intensive and not practical every single day to feed.
You make a point of saying you do not use tractors or anything more than a wheelbarrow to clean...
I would still want a wide aisle to use as a cross-tie area for grooming. To eliminate the need for that space...put in eye bolts and ties in every stall.
I would _not_ want my stall doors to be side-by-side unless you have full doors as many horses can get testy when stalled and bite play with their neighbor when entering or leaving the stall... a change in interior design for me.
As for starting the barn build...
The one thing I think you do need seriously considered is to have your land prepared properly...
No barn should ever be ground level but put on a raised pad for drainage and stability to build on..._yes my opinion from what I see happening near me._
Horses walking on the surface compact/sink the ground and soon what was high & dry is now low, wet & damp happening.
I have a pole barn, my neighbors have pole barns and so do most around here.
They all start out as a roof and supports and go from there in finishing design and function needed.
Some were started on a raised pad of packed dirt and material, not concrete...
What I can tell you is after the settling of that pad....those barns that were built raised are high and dry during our rainy season...that would also help greatly for your snow and thaw time of year. 
Huge for you...
There is nothing worse than a barn that floods for you to clean and the animals to be in for any reason...
Having a pad made is money well spent for loads of dirt and the machinery to spread and pack it in the size of your future barn..

So, the other thing is.. 
I would_* not *_want my feed and tack in the same space...talk about a mess.
2 separate areas, both_ fully enclosed_ to keep out the barn dust, grime, filth _and rodents._

I would also insulate the roof of any barn if you use metal roofing...it is deafening in rain and can bake the inside of the barn during the day and then drops the moisture captured from heating and cooling cycles turns into wet horses, tack, feed and hay.:-x
Metal barns today offer insulating as a feature when placing your order...it is not expensive when you consider the loss of equipment, feed and mess it can save! 
_If you can't tell, I just recently did a ton of research myself for a future project....:wink:_

Some other things to consider....building a functional, well laid out working barn is hard work to go from concept to working project to finished functional and working structure.
It doesn't need done overnight, but a true work in progress as money and time are available...but it must be firm in design before the first thing is done._Again jmo._

The one thing I have learned from doing many projects is if you think it will cost xyz, double it or triple that cost to get it completed. 
So for me doing your barn...from site prep to finished inside I would be looking at close to $12000 - $18000.00. 
Depending upon how much you can and will do yourself will make a huge difference in finished cost...but materials of lumber, nails and_ labor is expensive._
That is a lot more than you were thinking but probably will be spent in actuality.

Best of luck with your project. 
:runninghorse2:...
_again all my opinion.._


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