# Concrete Non-Slip Options



## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

Concrete can be textured but will wear down over time.
I'd keep the dirt floor as I've seen horses fall on concrete & it's not pretty, during & after.


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## Kay Armstrong (Jun 28, 2015)

These bricks in the middle are made of rubber, so very non-slip. They are held in place usually by a concrete curb sort of thing. In the picture they have real bricks instead.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Dirt floors are a bit resilient even with rubber mats. Concrete is unforgiving. A cement aisle is good. While the cement is wet, a stiff push broom adds texture by pulling it. The aisle will have to be laid in sections, floated then textured before the next section. This also allows for expansion and contraction instead of it heaving and cracking.


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## clwhizy (Aug 20, 2014)

Our barn has concrete aisle (there's some texture to it, not sure how they did it), then we added rubber mats where the horses walk/cross tie. It works great for us!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

My goat barn has brushed concrete floors . You just run a stiff pushbroom over it when it's wet. The goats don't sleep on it, they have straw in their stalls, but it's bare in the milkroom and hay room. Very good traction (not that goats ever slip much, and when they do, they very rarely hurt themselves). But hard to really clean brushed concrete, I have to disassemble & move everything out and power wash it. 

If you decide on concrete, be very sure to plan out how and where it will drain. Filthy standing puddles on concrete, or it all running under the grain bins, really a drag. I know!


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

PLEASE do not concrete the stalls. 

It doesn't matter how deep the bedding if you have a horse prone to stocking up, the horse is going to stock up. I lived it with the horse in my avatar when I had to have him in a boarding situation.

Fill the stalls with crush, then mats or grids, then shavings.

if I had a bigger barn, I love the idea of the rubber pavers in the aisle. My barn is small so the aisle is crush with Mats. It's been that way for about 8 years and is just now showing the need to pull the mats up and re-do the crush. Nothing was professionally done, so I am ecstatic things lasted this long


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

In the UK majority of stables are concreted. 

It is utter rubbish to say that it is going to cause stocking up or leg problems pr that no matter how deep you bed them they are on the hard.

Generally we do bed a lot deeper in the UK and I would rather have that than horses standing in dirt which wears unevenly, difficult to wash out, and with little bedding.

Horses are fine with concrete then rubber mats on top or deep bedding. 
It is not slippery unless you have what we call a screed finish, (this is a very hard cement finish and ultra smooth)

Horses will not slip more on concrete than anything else. I have had em slip on dirt, arena surfaces of various types out in the field when they are loose more than I have had on concrete.


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## BREED BOY (Sep 16, 2016)

*Also Polyurea Spray-Lining Coating = #1 I feel*

Your issue on horse barn / stall flooring got my daughter & son's attention. They sent it to me. We've bred several horse types for over 30 years. My biggest contract is with Frank Stronach but kids are about to sign with Rio Grande Livestock Auction for low end foods. She read your article with my son. They did this diametrically opposite of quality breeding on a farm 21 miles from mine with over 400 head quite well. They both started to a different breeding but with what I taught them for years, matters on any startup: Sanitary facilities. A supportive vendor named Spray-Lining Coatings, along with this post should aid any slip-proofing issues, maybe with experienced horse farms too. After building(s) are ready, a strong, sealed, water-tight, sanitary flooring, I learned is essential to lower maintenance, lower decease transmission potential, create insulation & aid healthy growth.

Aside from all other jobs they've performed, this single vendor was such great research, I'm compelled to comment, adding to your info. on over 40,000 sq ft of concrete I've always used a polyaspartic sealer over cement. Rubber can never last. Mats turn to germ-infested shambles. This flooring they located called SLC114AS by Spray-Lining & Coatings connects, actually molds or bonds into all stalls, ramps, around corners, all connected, seamless! This is a Polyurea Spray-on Lining (type) Coating. I knew of this through stuff called Line-X which is a polyurea bedliner spray-on lining in truck beds but price to do all flooring, pits, etc? Over $12/ sq ft! Forget that! 

Most important is these guys at Spray-Lining Coatings lends the equipment to apply it in their build cycle. Tech support person walked 'em through details, etc. This was 2 years ago. These kid's statistics for growth health, costs & prices topped mine for a few reasons parallel to all your replies posted here. I'm not necessarily advising this supplier, just any high-quality polyurea since it's a solution to very relevant, yet unknown or overlooked issues to health & your success. This website lists most or all other polyurea suppliers I think, Spray Bedliner - Trucks Floors Boats Trailers; Nationwide Dealers and DIY Kits.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

^
Siri types?


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## Tazmanian Devil (Oct 11, 2008)

Saddlebag said:


> While the cement is wet, a stiff push broom adds texture by pulling it


It may seem obvious, but that is called a "broom finish." Any contractor who works with concrete will know the term. That will definitely help to make the floor less slippery when wet. Easiest and least expensive way to go. You can still add mats/pavers/whatever on top of a broom finish later on.

Someone mentioned drainage... you need to consider that with concrete (really with any flooring option). One option is to install a drain (or multiple drains). The floor is generally graded (sloped) to the drain(s) at about a 2% angle. Without a drain, the floor is usually graded to the sides/openings of the building. Definitely, speak to your contractor about this before they plan out the job. I did a small concrete pad a while back and forgot to mention it... fortunately, I remembered as they were building the forms. If you don't ask, you may get a level floor making drainage much more difficult.



walkinthewalk said:


> PLEASE do not concrete the stalls.
> 
> It doesn't matter how deep the bedding if you have a horse prone to stocking up, the horse is going to stock up. I lived it with the horse in my avatar when I had to have him in a boarding situation.
> 
> Fill the stalls with crush, then mats or grids, then shavings.


I know people who don't like concrete floors. I won't claim there is nothing to the belief, but I haven't seen any strong evidence to support it. I am near three commercial barns (over 200 horses between private and hacks) with concrete flooring in all the stalls. Rubber mats and shavings are used. 

This is a densely populated area - limited turnout and the horses spend a considerable amount of time in the stalls. There is no pattern of stocking up or other problems. One of my horses is in a stall with a dirt floor and he is a little stocked up right now... I suspect these things are more a factor of the individual horse than the flooring. For the purposes you list, I would have no problem going with concrete.


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## BREED BOY (Sep 16, 2016)

*To everyone here: Besides horse we run hog & some dairy. At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all or some polyurea Spray-Lining Coating commercial, our horses have zero comfort or safety issues. That polyurea is like flexible plastic. Bumps or orange peel texture are like rounded little lumps yet stayed over 16 years!. Characteristic of that kind of Spray Lining is, "anti-stick", so it cleans like Teflon. (Hope my closeup photo uploads) In stalls & all trailers it's over 5/8 inch thick for cushioning. Ramps, alleyways, holding areas are about 1/8 inch & much less flexible. Its worth mentioning that over hog pits, slats have same spray-lining coatings but at 1/16 inch thick. In manure pits (fertilizer use in hog facility) same stiffer polyurea is not bumpy but flat, i.e. "slippery", same with chutes, hoppers, dumps....

OK it's true my son learned at Baer Labs, inventor of polyurea, so I'm biased. But it was those milk inspectors of dairy who advised vendor, Spray-Lining & Coatings. In any case, since over $10 bucks per sq ft couldn't be justified our cost for DIY with loaner equipment was under $1 buck per sq ft @ 250 mil (1/4 inch) thick. Almost all cement here is sealed with that stuff. *


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