Need quickie advice, building now

[Howard E]

Just out of curiosity, what side of the barn is the coop on (north, south, east or west) and what is the source of all the water that is creating all that mud?

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Just out of curiosity, what side of the barn is the coop on (north, south, east or west) and what is the source of all the water that is creating all that mud?

The coop is positioned on the west side of the barn.

As for the mud, well I don't think about it(except in expletives) but there isn't anyplace with foot traffic that isn't similar here. Here meaning the whole area. I'm on a plateau area but it's still rolling terrain. My snow plow guy had a mountain of snow there thats still melting, likely not helping. But i wouldn't call it much worse than usual really. We get about 300 inches of snow average.

My place is drain tiled and turns into rock hard ground by late May. No real flood risk right here but the closest town has had floods to rival anything in the US.

The area in the photo gets tons of traffic though, the horses in and out, coop visits, and lately my coop remodeling contributes I'm sure. I normally walk really carefully and seldom there in the winter and the grass survives. Tromped all over it yesterday. My horses halter was the only thing holding me up last night on my last trip through lol. Gravel disappears fast, I'm considering getting wood chips to make a path.

 

[Howard E]

Water in all its forms is absolute worst thing you can have around buildings.

So goal for any and all buildings should be to site them in such a place, build them in such a way that water always, always flows away from them vs towards them or is allowed to linger around them. Easier said than done. Especially so around livestock buildings, with their foot traffic in and out. Over time, they always manage to create low spots around the high traffic areas that begin to resemble little moats. I've seen these around cattle barns and feedlots that were so bad their bellies were dragging through the mud with each pass.

BTW, I am dealing with this myself. The uninformed folks who built the horse barn where I live now placed it where they did because X marked the spot where they wanted it to be. But in doing so, they failed to take notice of the obvious and placed it straddling an old farm terrace. The one that collects and concentrates surface water into a channel that flows straight into the side of the barn, where the natural drainage would have it flow under or through the barn, emerging on the other side. When I got here, a 1 inch rain would have 8 inches of water ponding on the uphill side. They had installed some drain tiles through the terrace so as to bypass the barn, but these were not nearly deep enough. So this barn, and the adjacent area where they set up their water tank for their horses, has mud problems. The area around the water tank where their horses stood was nearly a foot lower than the adjacent surface. Their horses did that over time and it was only going to get worse as time went on.

The solution is simple. Gravity works. So ALL buildings should be placed on top of what from a distance would look like an inverted bowl. The building is elevated and water flows away from it. (Mine looks like it was placed in the upright bowl......and acts like it). If it wasn't elevated when it was built, the only solution is to lower the ground around it, or install drainage around it to allow gravity to take over and give the water a place to go other than standing around to cause problems.

Looks to me like you had the right idea with the grass hay. Elevating them up and out of the mud. It may be nasty down deep, but up top where they are, high and dry?

 

[Ruralhideaway]

The barn and immediate area is actually raised. It's not tons but when you step off that sidewalk I'm going to say it's about 8 inches to lawn level. The barn floor is luckily high and dry, those long ago builders(barns 100 yrs+) got that right. I think some gutter work could help. The barn roof slopes to the driveway side, dumping all that snow melt where it runs off toward mostly that side in the pics.

 

[Howard E]

Exactly. Thats what roofs, gutters, farm terraces (and guys who plow snow) do. Accumulate water. What happens to it after that is what makes all the difference. Goal is always to transport it away from the building where it can disperse on it's own without causing any more problems to uses in and around the building. Looks like you are on the right path. But also a teachable moment for others seeing this who might be as uninformed as my former owners were. They made the mistake and until their mistake is corrected, any livestock who show up will be made to pay the price for it.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Agree on all counts. Horses really are a special kind of mud maker. They seem to churn the clay underneath up and then the ground just sinks away, creating more and more mud. I'm getting 17 yards of flat pine chips delivered so at least I might stay on my feet a little longer. And contemplating gutter upgrades.

 

[Howard E]

BTW, this can be solved with any building. If it wasn't built on a hill, you have to lower the sea level surrounding it. New Orleans sits about 10 feet or so below sea level. But the cost to keep it dry is expensive!!!!!

 

[Ruralhideaway]

When things go wrong in that city they go wrong in a big way too. Ten feet? Crazy

 

[jthornton]

It's really weird to drive down river road and look up over the levee and see a ship go by that way up higher than you are... The pumping stations in New Orleans are massive huge. And guess where the worlds largest water pump is...

JT

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Fascinating! It's oon my bucket list to go to New Orleans.