[Carl f k]

I'm going to build my own and was thinking of using gravel for the floor, covered with straw, will let all the wee wee drain away and easy to disinfect and hose down.. What do u think?

[kja]

imo not a good idea you will get rats burrow under the soil and come through the gravel mucking out will not be easy on stones you really need a solid floor,the bedding will soak any wet up the floor should be concrete if you put a layer of polystyrene (jablite) under the concrete that will help with warmth too.

[clydesdaleclopper]

If you don't want to use concrete you can always use the rubber stable mats that they sell for horses and just put a nice thick layer of bedding on top of that.

[ballingall]

I have to say I agree that a solid floor is best. If concrete is too costly or difficult to get to the spot in question, then use gravel, but top with paving slabs. Liquid will still drain away between slabs, but it gives you a good solid base. My sister is doing this for her shed, and its what I plan for our new billy shed too.


Beth

[bloomer]

2 x 2 slabs are 3.50 each if you shop around or get on freecycle and collect from someone throwing them away. easy to lay and easy to clean...

[Anke]

2 x 2 slabs are 3.50 each if you shop around or get on freecycle and collect from someone throwing them away. easy to lay and easy to clean...

.... and the rats will love burrowing under.... I have seen it in someone else's shed....and in mine they are even going under the concrete base...
If you can afford it - concrete every time! Easy to clean out, with a good deep bed of straw on top warm too... ( or construct sleeping platforms made from wood).

[ballingall]

Yep, the rats do still burrow underneath, but as you said they are even burrowing under your concrete base, so it won't make much difference.


And if its Rebecca Torrance you are thinking of with the rats burrowing under the slabs, then the reason she put down paving slabs was because of the rats burrowing in the first place when she just had an earth floor.....


I would recommend concrete first, but paving slabs next.


Beth

[fifixx]

My winter barn has a chalk floor.  It is great - I build up the straw throughout the winter, never have damp problems and in the summer cleanout with a digger down to the chalk.  Presumably everything just soaks happily down into the ground and away, much like a soakaway.

If you have concrete, make sure it is slightly sloping for drainage - and know what will happen to the water otherwise it will be a muddy stinky area (from experience!)

[kja]

broken glass under the concrete floor will help keep rats away they hate their own blood !!!!!!!!!!! we put some down in a shed we had problems with the rats under no problem since.

[goosepimple]

That's a good idea kja so long as some doesn't work its way up or if the shed was to be moved later then it's a landfill problem area.  We use very prickly gorse under the house area of our chicken coops (which we use for ducklings in the first month of their life) - it keeps the rats from burrowing under and eating the ducklings and works really well so long as you don't leave a gap.  This works well under log piles or anything else where vermin will run. 
 
I think you can try other floor options but will end up doing concrete in the end Carl.  Gravel tends to work it's way into the mud if under pressure and even if you put slabs on the top they will eventually unsettle under the rat runs.  You can end up putting a lot of hard labour into other options over a time, and will probably end up doing concrete in the end.  I'd just do it first and like fifixx says lay it to a fall for easy hosing and sweeping out.  In 2 years time you'll be glad you did or it will be a job that keeps rearing it's ugly head.  Someone near you will give you a loan of a mixer and it's a fairly easy job to do.  Set out a wooden frame to the size you want the floor, bit of hardcore on the ground, sand or ash from your woodburner would do to fill the gaps, a layer of plastic (but it must be continuous, no joins) bit of rigid insulation to stop the concrete cracking and then the concrete on top.  You fellas all like mixing and messing, you'll enjoy it. 

[Lesley Silvester]

Gravel would wash away when you hosed it and it would be impossible to sweep the shed out when cleaning.  I have a wooden floor with drainage holes drilled in it but only because the shed was there when we moved it.  When it rots, I will have a concrete one.

[plumseverywhere]

I have concrete in ours on a slight slope. Its invaluable for when you want to give the floor and shed a thorough disenfecting if, for example, someone has had scours and you are concerned about transmission through the herd.

[Carl f k]

Scrolling through tinternet for the last few days the majority of people saying no no to concrete and using....... DIRT???  Yep pure black dirty dirt.. Don't think I'll go down that route, I have a plan

[Dogwalker]

I'd love to have a concrete floor.
Mine's the old cow byre,  old cobbles, patches of tatty concrete and ends of rotted wooden fixings and their holes.
I dream of a new shed with a easy to sweep concrete floor, one day...

[Lesley Silvester]

Scrolling through tinternet for the last few days the majority of people saying no no to concrete and using....... DIRT???  Yep pure black dirty dirt.. Don't think I'll go down that route, I have a plan

Are you going to tell us?

I agree.  A dirt floor might be ok but the water table was so high this year that your goats could be struggling in mud inside as well as out.