It's been two months since my last barn update, and one day if you want to get technical ;)
It feels like we haven't made much progress lately. Looking back at my updates, I'm happy to see that we have. I love that about blogs!!
I left off with the arrival of stall parts, and soon discovered a snaffu...the doors were suppose to alternate opening sides, so that the stalls could share one water pipe and have front waterers back-to-back. The openings were all on the right side, which doesn't work with our water plan. Crap!
With custom building, something will go wrong. It's guaranteed. Brad took a good hard look at past communications. He discovered we were charged for feed doors. They were not installed, and not on the final drawing. Unfortunately, the alternating doors were also not on the final drawing that Brad signed off on. Many communications indicated the doors alternate, with no feed doors - but shit happens.
This is were working with a good company pays off. They want to make it right, and Brad feels partially to blame for signing off on the final drawing, so they worked out a solution...
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| Brad set up the first test stall |
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| they sent one feed door he cut out the bars (laying lower right of photo) and attached the feed door & used touched up paint they sent |
I am not thrilled he is cutting up our expensive stalls, and has to do the work. However he is happy with the solution, and the company, and to be honest - you cannot tell when you look at the stalls. Brad assured me the stalls are just as sturdy. I hope he is right.
The good news is we have feed doors now lol! As for the waterers, the horses water will need to move towards the back, instead of the front. Still back-to-back, with piping in the middle of two stalls. Our horses won't care one way or the other. Guess what this means? More digging!
The rest of the feed doors arrived yesterday. Brad is hoping our son can help him get the other stalls set up this weekend. Window grates have already been installed.
There is still a lot of work left!! Human rooms need panel/trim work, bathroom stuff needs to be ordered & installed, waterers need to be ordered & hooked up, fans have to be installed, not to mention fencing pastures etc. Wish I could take some of this off Brads plate!! What can I say, we've been focusing on the house and just got our occupancy permit! Our house is not completely finished either, but it means I better start sorting & packing!
Inside of the barn currently looks like this:
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| we have lights! |
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| the saloon is nice and toasty we found a good use for our freebie fan |
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| crates with stone for the columns waiting for our mason & the truss/posts still need to be finished |
We've come up against our fair share of building mistakes/challenges, and have learned to think outside of the box, not get all worked up and just resolve them. Some things just didn't occur to us, and others are just plain errors. In the end, everything gets worked out, many times for the better.
8 comments:
Nice having a handy husband who can come up with ways to solve problems isn't it! But frustrating that it isn't quite what you thought you were getting.
That is going to be one heck of a barn. And moving into your house will be awesome!
Having a husband who works/knows the trades, is definitely an advantage. If they don't know how to fix it themselves, they know someone trustworthy who does!
A touch of Red \Green should be in every man - Mr Shoes loves being the hero, I'm sure your husband doesn't mind the role either. It does seem like forever when you're working on something that grand & a house besides, but you'll be in SOON and you will love it all SO much. I'm excited for you!
Like everyone else said it's nice to have a handy guy around. It will all work out and you'll be happy with the results when you get the horses there. Our waterers are in the back of the stalls and the horses don't care as long as they have water. ;) I think you're progressing along at a good pace. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were barns, pastures and houses! Hang in there.
Every auto-waterer I have ever seen is in the back of the stall. Ours will be fine in the back as well, and maybe even see less abuse then they would up front. Our thoughts for placing them towards the middle of the barn, was it's easier to keep an eye on them & ease potential flow problems quicker/easier. There would have been less piping to potentially freeze & placement would be further away from the cold exterior wall. If they were to bust/leak down the road, they are closer to the center drain. With that said, with all the insulation we put in nothing should never freeze in our barn. This snaffu is costing us time and $ for the feed doors, but I must admit feed doors are much easier.
Very nice!! I’d be spending a lot of time in that saloon....like living there!! I’m curious, though, will any of the stalls open out into runs? Our waterers are at the end of the outside enclosures. Having it open isn’t conducive to keeping it heated. Will your barn be totally heated?
That was very nice of you to give them all windows!
It's going to be awesome Aurora! Wow, I can't even imagine such a nice barn. Your horses are going to be spoiled. :) They deserve it, right? You guys too. Lots of work, but when it's done it's going to be amazing.
Then...the house! :)
Linda, none of our stalls open to outside enclosures. Our barn is not heated, but it is very well insulated. I personally don't think heated barns are good for horses, altho they obviously have advantages - mostly for humans. However our saloon & bathroom are heated with in-floor heating, and it's a treat to warm up in there!
Yes, our horses absolutely deserve the best we can give them. I am looking forward to experiencing the barn and general life with them again! Lorie, with the exception of storage areas (closets, pantry etc) our house is done. We have our occupancy permit. The delay in moving is stopping day-to-day life to make sorting & packing a priority. Hoping I can wave a wand & we magically are moved in and living at our land ;)
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