If your current barn strays from your fantasy, don’t despair! With a little time and effort, you can replace those old stalls or install new stalls in a stall-less shed or barn. Soon, you’ll be walking down the beautiful barn aisle of your dreams.
Step 1: Decide What You Need
Before you pick up the sledge hammer to demolish existing stalls or head off to buy lumber, figure out what you need and want in your new stalls. If you are replacing existing stalls, decide whether you need to replace the entire stall or only the stall fronts. If the dividing stall walls are in good repair or only need minor repairs, you can save time and money by leaving them in place and only replacing your stall fronts.
If you want to add stalls to a shed or barn that previously didn’t have stalls, Charlie Poore of Quickstalls, Inc. (www.quickstalls.com) recommends getting out some paper and a pencil and drawing your barn and plotting the layout of the stalls. Come up with a few different layouts to consider. If you aren’t sure which layout you like best, get stakes and string and plot your preferred layout. Walk through it a few times to get the feel for where walls and doors will be and whether the layout works for you.
When deciding what you need, consider both your current and future needs. For example, if your goal is to eventually purchase a stallion, include a stallion-safe stall now. If you plan on foaling out mares in the future, either install broodmare stalls or build stalls with easily removable dividers so that you can turn two regular box stalls into one large foaling stall.
Also think about future resale value: don’t build stalls smaller than 10 x 10 feet, as that will limit buyers if you have to sell your property. Also, avoid installing stalls anyplace where the ceiling will be less than eight feet tall (10 to 12 feet is best).
Step 2: Decide Whether to Build From Scratch or Buy a Kit
Next, you need to decide whether to build stalls from scratch or to purchase prefabricated stalls (also called stall kits). Building your own stalls saves money and lets you customize the stalls to your barn and farm. However, it takes a lot of time, construction skills and the right tools. So if you’ve never built anything before, using stall kits might be a better option.
Stall kits cost more than building your own stall, but they’re much easier to install. They come in two basic forms: support post stalls and modular or portable stalls. Support post stalls get strength from posts set into the barn floor or ground so you’ll need to install the support posts first. Most manufacturers recommend using at least 4 x 4-inch posts set a minimum of three feet into the ground. Support post stall kits come in different forms, but most require you to fit together several pieces before installing them. They also normally do not come with the lumber for the stall, so you’ll have to purchase that separately, cut it to the right length, and slide it into metal channels in the stall.
Modular stalls don’t need support posts; they come in panels that are held together by brackets. They can be installed in a barn using brackets to attach them to existing walls, or they can be used as free-standing portable stalls that can be moved and reconfigured (the panels are heavy and require more than one person to move). Some portable stall kits include four complete stall walls that must be snapped together with brackets, while others require more assembly.
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