Metal Barns

When it comes to picking the foundation for your VersaTube Barn, there are four types to choose from: prepared bare earth, gravel, asphalt, or concrete. Any of these can work nicely for your barn’s foundation (although you’ll likely need concrete footings), but which style you choose really depends on how you intend to use your barn. In the case of horse/livestock barns, the flooring is a very important decision, so really, the best way to pick which foundation you’ll go with is to first decide what finished floor best fits your needs. Here are some of our best tips to pick a floor for your VersaTube barn:

Concrete

There are many pros that make concrete a common choice for horse barns. It’s easy to keep clean: stalls, aisles, and tack rooms can just be rinsed clean. It’s very durable and avoids dust and mud more than other flooring choices.

On the negative side, it’s hard on your animals’ legs so you’ll need to use rubber mats to protect. Concrete can be slippery and can cause sparks as shod hooves strike the floor. It can also retain urine odors.

Asphalt

Asphalt as a finished floor can be a good choice. It’s pretty economical, and unlike concrete, it’s porous so water and odors drain away. Compared to concrete, it’s more gentle for hoofs and legs.

Sand

A common choice for stall floors, it’s very gentle on a horse’s legs. It’s not slippery and drains really well. It absorbs moisture and doesn’t retain odors until it’s heavily soiled. But then, it’s fairly easy to take it away and replace. You’ll also save a bit on bedding costs because you don’t need much bedding material on top.

On the downside, it can become uneven. It’s hard to disinfect and can be hard to maintain. If your animals eat off the floor, they can ingest the sand pretty easily, which can lead to health issues.

Bare Earth

Dirt is budget-friendly, easy on animals’ legs, and non-slip. It’s absorbent, but the quality of drainage varies, based on what type of topsoil is used/available. A layer of gravel under the dirt can greatly help with drainage issues, though.

On the downside, it’s affected by weather tremendously. It can be dry and dusty, sandy, damp, muddy when it’s raining, or even fully freeze. Depending on drainage, it can retain odors and it’s hard to disinfect. It does require frequent maintenance and can be hard to muck out.

Crushed Limestone, Quarry Sand, Road Base

Crushed limestone can make be a great flooring choice. Installed over a bed of sand or fine gravel, it produces excellent drainage. It’s nonslip and is easy to level.

It needs to be well packed, but that creates a hard finish that becomes hard on horse’s legs, meaning you’ll need to use rubber mats or another method for comfort and health.

While this isn’t an exhaustive list, these are some of the most commonly used flooring in barns. There are pros and cons to all of these choices but when you understand how they perform, you can choose based on what features are most important to you. A good option is to use a different floor in different areas. For instance, you could choose easy-clean concrete for tack rooms and non-slip road base or sand for the aisle and stalls. Once you’ve settled on your finished floor plan, pick your foundation for your new VersaTube barn! Read this for more specifics about choosing the foundation for your structure.