DIY Builds
DIY Builds
Photo: Tobias Bjørkli
Most barns only require heating in one or two rooms, commonly the tack room and utility room. A warm tack room will provide a place to prevent freezing of medications and grooming products and give you a place to warm up between chores or horses.
As a rule of thumb, there will be a measurable loss in four to six weeks of warm (over 50 F) weather. It is just a rule of thumb.
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Failure to obtain a permit before commencing a project can result in a penalty. The fees are set out in Section 109 of the Florida Building Code as...
Read More »Heating If you live where it gets cold in the winter, youll have to decide how much of the barn to heat, if any. Ask yourself: “Is the barn primarily for my comfort or my horse’s health?” Horses are generally more comfortable–and much healthier–living outside or in an unheated barn. It has been found that horses living in a stable rather than outside have higher antibody titers, meaning they have been fighting infectious agents likely caused by bad air and dirty bedding. If you can, build a variety of paddocks, runs and sheds so horses can live outside most of the time. All but very young foals and sick horses will do fine in an unheated barn as long as they are protected from drafts. When it gets really cold, below 0°F, it ishealthier for a horse to wear a blanket and have plenty of fresh air than to close the barn up tight and blast him with a heater. When a horse does require additional warmth, because of sickness or injury, you can use an infrared (radiant) heater or a well-protected heat lamp. Most barns only require heating in one or two rooms, commonly the tack room and utility room. A warm tack room will provide a place to prevent freezing of medications and grooming products and give you a place to warm up between chores or horses. A heated utility room will keep your washing machine, pressure tank, water heater or other water appliances from freezing. An exception is a show barn where horses are kept with a short hair coat year round. A temperature of 50°F is comfortable for people to work and is healthy for horses, too. Any space that is heated, whether one room or the entire barn, needs to be insulated and have a vapor barrier on all sides (as well as the ceiling, walls and floor) to prevent damage from condensatio and to make efficient use of energy. Condensation Damp air contributes to respiratory ailments, stiffness, and bacterial and fungal growth. It also promotes condensation, which can drip down onto your horses, tack and feed; rot framing; rust metal siding and roofing; ruin insulation; and cause ice to form on ceilings and walls. Condensation problems occur mostly in climates where temperatures dip below 35°F for an extended period of time. Barns in the desert and uninsulated barns where the inside and outside temperatures are about the same seldom have condensation problems.
Bubble wrap: if you're on a budget, consider insulating your storage shed with bubble wrap. It's cost-effective and prevents the heat from...
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One of the most commonly used types is the ledged and braced shed door. This type of door comprises a series of boards lined up to form the face of...
Read More »Dutch doors on outer stall walls can allow the top door to be latched open to admit outside air and to let a horse put his head out directly into fresh air. An open top door generally provides adequate ventilation for a stall. Grillwork on the top portion of stall walls and using walls that stop short of the ceiling will enable air to flow throughout the barn more freely than having solid walls from floor to ceiling. Using stall guards (straps or chains) across open stall doors also encourages airflow but can lead to safety and behavioral problems and will allow bedding to spill into the aisle. While large doors at the ends of a barn can provide good ventilation, they will also admit birds, insects and other unwanted animals. A solution is to install giant sliding screens to keep out pests and strong wind while still admitting gentle airflow. There are many ways to let warm air escape through the roof. A pot vent is a simple metal dome that covers a hole in the roof. A cupola is a short and usually square tower with louvers on all sides built over a hole in the roof ridge. One or more cupolas can serve as large vents and add a bit of character to your barn in the bargain. Continuous ridge vents are perhaps the easiest and most effective roof vents to install. Some are concealed by shingles, while others serve as a ready-made ridge cap to finish off steel and other types of roofing. Fans If your barn is sheltered from natural airflow–for example, by trees or land formations–or if you keep it closed tight, you’ll need to install exhaust fans and intake vents to move air through the barn. Exhaust fans are rated in cubic feet per minute (CFM), or how many cubic feet per minute of air they move. When researching an exhaust system, figure 1 square foot of vent or inlet space for every 750 CFM fan capacity. More than this will create a draft, and less than this simply will not ventilate the barn adequately. Ceiling fans that draw air up toward roof vents are one solution. Make sure they are at least 11 feet high to prevent horse contact. Portable fans mounted on stands or fastened to the walls or trusses can also be used to move air through the barn and can be focused on stalls to cool horses and to dry bedding and on grooming areas to keep flies away. Vents with integral fans placed high on the outside walls in each stall are another option. Use screened vents with louvers or downward pointing hoods on the outside to cut down on drafts and to keep out insects, birds, rain and snow. How Much Venting There should be sufficient air intake and exhaust openings, with or without fans, to ensure six to eight air changes per hour (one air change is the time it takes for all of the interior air to be replaced with fresh air). A large air volume and good airflow is important for distributing fresh air throughout the barn without drafts and for minimizing concentration of bad air around the horses. The air volume inside a barn can be increased by having higher walls or a gambrel, monitor or steeper-pitched roof. Vents are rated by “net free area,” which refers to the size of the opening while taking into account blockage from insect screens or other obstructions that interfere with free airflow.
Either way a tent is most likely OK in 40 – 45mph wind. Some people have pointed out 30mph seems to be the top end for tarps. Oct 6, 2008
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Proper ventilation is needed to ensure the energy efficiency a metal roof provides. An effectively ventilated metal roof helps to prevent energy...
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Floor Vents For a wood floor, such as in a tack room, that has space between the floor and the ground, foundation vents will remove humidity that migrates up from the earth and prolong the life of the floor. The total vent area should equal 2 square feet for each 100 lineal feet of foundation perimeter, plus one half percent of the crawl space area. A vent fan controlled by a humidistat will turn on and off according to a preset humidity level. It can be mounted in the foundation or connected to the crawl space by ducting. Ice Dams Ice dams are often the result of poor ventilation and insulation. They occur when snow melts on a warm part of a roof, then runs down the roof and refreezes along the eaves. Ice dams can build up many inches thick and water backed up behind them can run under shingles, ruining the roof and even leaking into the building. Ice dams are exacerbated by poor insulation in heated barns and by poor ventilation between roofing and insulation. Good airflow under a roof ensures that the roofing stays cool from the peak to the eaves. Building codes of many northern states require an extra waterproofing membrane at the eaves to prevent damage from ice dams. Gutters can also cause increased ice buildup. Make sure gutters slope correctly and are cleaned out each fall so they can drain properly. Vapor Barrier A vapor barrier keeps moist air from migrating through walls and ceilings and into the insulation. If moisture should collect within the insulation, the insulating value is greatly reduced. If moisture moves through the insulation, it will condense on the back of the siding or the underside of the roof and lead to rot and rust. A vapor barrier is always installed on the warm side of insulation. Putting a vapor barrier on the cold side will trap moisture within the insulation. Only one vapor barrier is needed or recommended. A vapor barrier on both sides of the insulation is asking for trouble because if any moisture should get between them, it would be trapped and could lead to rot, mold and mildew. A vapor barrier can consist of almost any waterproof membrane, including special paints, plastic sheeting, laminated paper, Kraft-backed aluminum foil, foilbacked gypsum board and spray foam. Insulation Insulation keeps heat in your barn during the winter and out during the summer, while also absorbing sound. If you are planning a steel roof, think seriously about insulating under the roofing to make the barn quieter during rain and hail. Insulating a barn but not heating it will still result in a slightly higher inside temperature. The three types of insulation most commonly used for barns are flexible, rigid, and reflective. Loose fill cellulose insulation is made primarily of ground-up or shredded newspaper, which is flammable even when treated with fire retardant chemicals; it is not recommended for a horse barn. Heat Movement Heat always moves to cooler areas and is transferred in three ways. Conduction is direct heat exchange through an object like paneling or studs. Convection is the transfer of heat through air. Radiation is the movement of heat across open spaces (examples of this include the sun warming the earth and a woodstove heating a house). Conductive heat loss through walls and ceilings is slowed down by mass fiber insulation (batts, rigid board). Convection heat loss through walls and the roof caused by air infiltration can be prevented by sealing all holes through which air can move. Radiant heat loss can be reduced by using a reflective barrier. R-Value The “R-value” of insulation refers to its resistance to heat transfer. A higher R-value means higher insulating capability. R-values can be found printed on the insulation itself, on the packaging, or attached on labels. The amount of insulation a barn requires depends on where it is located and how it is built. For information on insulation recommendations for your area, contact the local building department or gas or electric utility. A chart by the U.S. Department of Energy that shows recommended insulation levels based on geographic zones can be seen on the website of the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association, www.naima.org. Used with permission from Trafalgar Square Books, 388 Howe Hill Road, North Pomfret, VT. To order Horse Housing: How to Plan, Build and Remodel Barns and Sheds, visit HorseBooksEtc.com or call 1-800-952-5813.
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