[AT] OT Barn floor question

[Spencer Yost]

>I am buying a pre built Amish shed / barn for my animals.  They claim that
>they can not move it without a floor in place as it would not be rigid
>enough.  The barn is 12 x 32 which will wind up being two 12x12 stalls and

They are right - a non-pole built building must have a secured and anchored
foundation.  I'll let the horse people on the list jump in on the how
advisable it is to use concrete at all but I know you will, at the minimum,
have to have great rubber stable mats for the horses.  

As to the concrete, the floor will be plenty strong for a horse if you pour
a "proud" 4 inch floor that is never "shy" anywhere.  ("Proud" is carpentry
turn meaning to cut on the larger side of the line, or to make sure you are
erring on the side of larger, when you do something.  "Shy" is the
opposite)    So in other words, when you are leveling the gravel, make sure
you leave 4-5 inches for concrete everywhere.  There are all kind of
designs too for the floor - like including washing trenches in the
concrete.  The horse guys know more about this than I do.

Don't rule out concrete - It isn't necessarily that much easier to clean,
but it much easier to get it _very_clean_, if you know what I mean.   

Spencer Yost
Owner, ATIS
Plow the Net!
http://www.atis.net