BARN
CONSTRUCTION ©
2008 Cherry Hill ©
Copyright Information 
A barn should provide a safe,
comfortable, and healthy home for your horses. The site for the barn
should be properly prepared. The floor of the barn should be eight to twelve
inches above ground level. It should be located on well drained soil.
The addition of six inches of crushed rock covered by tamped clay is the traditional
favorite if the existing soil is well-drained. Poorly drained soils should
be excavated between three and ten feet. Several feet of large rock should
be laid at the base of the excavation. Crushed rock of decreasing sizes
should follow in layers leaving about one foot for the barn's topsoil. This
can be tamped clay or a mixture of three parts clay to one part sand.
If the soil is too soft, loose, or weak and its bearing capacity is inadequate
for the footings (support structures) of the foundation, the design engineer of
the barn will have to make adjustments in the location of the footings, the depth
of the footings, or the cement forms for the footings. The barn should have
a strong foundation made of either brick or concrete or pressure treated wood.
There should be plenty
of windows or doors to let the sun and air in but keep the
cold wind, rain, and snow out. Design your barn plan so that it can be warm
in the winter but cool in the summer. A temperature range of 45 to 75 degrees
Fahrenheit is best for horses with 55 degrees being the ideal. A humidity
of fifty to seventy five percent is good with 60 percent optimum, however it is
better to be a little too dry than damp. Horses need adequate ventilation
but can not take cold drafts.
Because horses roll, kick, and sometimes buck while in their stalls, the structure
must be very strong. In addition, all hardware, bolts, doors, handles, latches,
locks, and hinges must be heavy duty to withstand horse use. Stalls, alleyways,
and doorways must be safe with no protruding parts or narrow openings. Heavy
traffic areas should be well sloped and drained and have a protective, non-slip
surface that is appropriate for the use and the locale. 
The barn should be located with good access to electricity and water and be situated
so that there is room for future addition if desired. There should be convenient
access from feed storage to the barn and from the barn to exercise and training
areas. Many traditional designs and techniques have stood the test of time
but new materials and innovations are worth considering.
BARN
TYPES. In warm
climates, an inside aisle isn't essential, so many southern barns are simply single
rows of stalls which open to outside pens or runs. Cold climates require
inside access to the stalls. A very simple and popular barn plan style consists
of two rows of stalls which face each other and are separated by an inside aisle.
Closed barns
are either uninsulated, insulated, or insulated and heated. Heated barns
are expensive and an unnatural environment for horses and tend to result in more
respiratory illnesses. Insulation is an air-filled or material-filled space
between the inner and outer walls. It can include blanket, rigid, sprayed-on,
and foamed-in-place products. Insulation prevents condensation by keeping
the temperature of the interior walls the same as the air inside the structure.
The overall
shape of your barn is usually decided by the roof type and whether you plan to
have a loft in your barn. Storing hay or bedding in a loft over the stalls
does provide some insulation for cold climates but is such a potential fire hazard
that it is strongly recommended to locate your hay storage in a building separate
from the stable.
The gable roof is very popular and allows great flexibility in layout. The
shed roof is often used for three-sided shelters or small stables or as an addition
to an existing building that has a gable roof. The monitor is essentially
two shed roofs with a gable in the middle. This is good for long rows of
stalls. The area under the upper gable roof can be windows, vents, or clear
panels. Commonly
horse barns are of pole, frame, or masonry construction. Pole barns are
quick, economical buildings. They usually consist of 6-8 inch diameter pressure-treated
posts set three to six feet below the ground with the bases fixed in concrete.
The poles are set at from eight to sixteen foot intervals and have trusses attached
to support the roof. Since the need for vertical support beams in the center
of such a building is eliminated, the result is a clear inside span which makes
for very flexible barn planning, the possibility of indoor riding spaces, and
ease of expansion.
Frame or masonry barns require footings and foundation walls which extend out
of the ground. A trench is dug where the outer walls of the building will
be to below the frost line (the maximum depth the ground freezes in the winter)
or according to the appropriate building code. Concrete footings are formed
and poured in the bottom of the trench to transfer the load of the structure to
the soil. The foundation walls of concrete block or poured concrete sit
on the footing and extend about 16 inches above the ground level.
When choosing the materials for your barn walls and roof, consider cost, durability,
maintenance, fire resistance, and aesthetics.
MISCELLANEOUS
EXTERIOR FEATURES. 
To handle water from the roof during a rain, you may wish to consider the inclusion
of gutters, down spouts, and rones (concrete splash pads). To keep
entry-ways from becoming muddy when snow slides off the roof, you may wish
to attach overhangs to the roof to shelter the doorways. To prevent fire
by lightning strike, you may wish to include a properly installed lightning conductor
to the most prominent roof.
Page
1: Planning Horse Facilities Page 2: Barn Construction Page
3: Fencing and Turnout Areas Page
4: Training Facilties | 2.jpg){kind=small}
