# converting a cement floor pole barn



## rbethbag (Jan 17, 2016)

how do you convert a plain, cement floored pole barn into a horse stable? Ideas?


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

What's YOUR idea of a stable? What do YOU need from the space? 


Lots of horse barns have cement floors because they are easy to clean and stalls are always level. Just put thick rubber mats with plenty of comfy shavings in the stalls to prevent leg fatigue, and put rubber mats in the aisle to prevent slipping.


For stalls, you can either anchor them into the existing cement or buy "free standing" or "portable" type stalls that have support brackets that don't require drilling permanent bolts into your cement to be secure.


If it's currently just a shell without finished walls, make sure you put a safety barrier such as 3/4" plywood or tongue-and-groove pine on the bottom half of the metal walls to prevent hooves from kicking through and legs getting sliced up. Metal is also prone to condensation during weather changes, so your ceiling needs to be properly insulated to prevent it from "raining" inside.


The property I bought last year had a cement floored shop with a large run-in shelter off the back for the horse living quarters. I was positive I had to add stalls for a "real" horse stable, but the setup has actually proven to be fantastic! No time is wasted moving horses in and out of stalls twice a day, but I can still divide the run-in to separate animals for feeding if necessary. I lined portions of my slick-as-ice-cement shop with rubber mats so I can safely walk horses through or tie them for grooming/farrier. I do have corral panels that can be setup over the mats as temporary indoor stalls if ever needed for extreme weather or a sick horse.


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## rbethbag (Jan 17, 2016)

Great ideas. How did you insulate the roof, rolls of the pink insulation? Did you then cover that up with something?


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## Blue (Sep 4, 2011)

*Cynical*, would love to have some pictures. Sounds really convenient.


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

rbethbag said:


> Great ideas. How did you insulate the roof, rolls of the pink insulation? Did you then cover that up with something?


My shop has a metal roof with layer of Tyvek moisture barrier between the metal and the rolled fiberglass insulation, then wood paneling inside. I've seen several barns that use chicken wire to hold up the insulation. If I stalled horses in there regularly, I'd wager all the extra moisture might make all that non-pressure-treated-wood paneling mold, so the wire makes sense.


Blue - between age & a big roof leak, the interior is UGLY and I'm slowly replacing sections (ceiling & walls were all insulated & fully paneled) as money allows. It's an old pole barn with double sliding doors on the front short side and an extra wide human door (my 1200lb QH can walk through unsaddled) leading out to the run-in shelter off the back (two 15' deep side walls with an 34' wide open front, opening to the sacrifice paddock.) Inside the shop, my 10x9' tack room is in the far R corner next to the run-in human door, and I can put two 10' deep x12' wide corral panel '"stalls" up along the right side of the long wall next to the tack room and still have 10' aisle. Currently, my ATV, riding mower & drag reside where the stalls would go. The L side of the barn used to be large stalls, but the previous owner converted that entire long side into a spray-foam-insulated efficiency apartment & storage room (storage now holds my hay) to live in while they built the new house. Looks more like a windowless dungeon than apt, but has a bathroom w/small shower, washer & dryer, fridge and A/C window unit - nice lounge during TX summers and I have hot water for alfalfa mashes in winter. It's a really unique setup, just UGLY and in need of a major facelift!


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## Allison Finch (Oct 21, 2009)

I used to train at a farm in Colorado Springs called BARA Farms (now Cactus Creek Ranch). The barns had cement floors in the stalls and brick walkways. The cement floors were heated, which was nice in the COLD winters. The barns were also passive solar, with lots of light. 

They had stall mats and lots of shavings, as Cynical mentioned.



one aisle



The other aisle


both aisles ended in the indoor




I wish I had taken good photos of the place while I was there. It was top notch. Now, it is sadly lacking upkeep.


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