Post-Frame Construction System for an Equestrian Center

To properly design and build a sizable horse barn and riding arena for Vision Design Build Remodel’s clients, Cody spent much time in research before he began the design process. He determined that the best system to use for the entire building was post-frame construction. This is a building technique that was originally pioneered for horse barns and other agricultural buildings, but through the years has become the construction method of choice for many commercial, industrial, and municipal projects. It enables a wide open expanse to be entirely supported by large solid wood posts in a durable, cost-effective manner. The roofing structure for our clients’ barn is a combination of wood rafters and massive steel roof truss. The weight of the roof is transferred to the ground through the embedded posts.

Design decisions carefully take into account our clients and the well-being of their horses

To prolong the life of the posts, we selected pine wood posts that are pre-treated for in-ground usage. Then the bottom of each post was treated by applying an elastomeric coating—a stretchy black membrane that protects the wood from water damage. The concrete footings were poured in the locations specified by our plans, the posts were inserted into the concrete with reinforcements , and concrete was poured all around each post, embedding them four feet into the ground.

The custom stall system from Equus includes grilled fronts with drop down openings on the sliding interior doors for ventilation and visibility. We installed the black powder coated steel components, which are tough and weather resistant.

The all steel exterior Dutch doors from Equus are hinged so that the top of the door may be opened or closed independently from the bottom. They are designed with crossbucks, a big white “X”, on the outside to help provide that popular traditional barn appearance.  We installed door holdbacks on the outside of the barn to keep the doors in the open position when needed. These exterior stall doors provide a direct exit from each stall for safety in case of emergency. Sliding barn doors also open into the arena from the stall area.

nov16-wash2The concrete stall floors, which include steel rebar reinforcements, are grounded for the safety of the horses during electrical storms. We extended several of the steel bars out past the interior of the building and grounded them to grounding rods that are extend eight feet down into the ground.

The walls of the wash stall are made from white corrugated metal panels. A special boom sprayer swings back and forth like sprayers at a car wash. The sprayer hooks into a hot and cold frost-free mixing valve to ensure the pipes don’t freeze and then burst. The wash stall has a concrete floor sloped to a long linear drain. The drain includes a hair trap that will keep hair out of the septic system that was installed specifically for the horse barn. Every design decision that was made carefully took into account the desires of our clients and the well-being of their horses.

Be sure to see more photos of this project on our website.

If you are contemplating building a horse barn, workshop, or any other large building that would benefit from post-frame construction, please contact Vision Design Build Remodel. We would enjoy working with you.

Next, we’ll look at how Green Means Great Performance for this Equestrian Center.