# Building our own school/arena/menage - Advice please



## sarahwilkes (7 January 2008)

We are just about to put plans in to build an outdoor school.

i think a 60 x 30m max with a lunging/walker area to the side.

we are hoping to do most of the work ourselves to keep costs low, as we have had a few quotes and the cheapest was £36k!!!!

Whilst it is really exciting - it is also mind blowing as there are so many surfaces and construction methods.

Can you offer me any advice re plans and constuction etc?


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## showjump (7 January 2008)

Where about are you?


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## sarahwilkes (7 January 2008)

North Staffs


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## showjump (7 January 2008)

Oh right youre too far away! My OH does this for a living along with fencing and stable bases etc. £36K seems high, esp if thats the cheapest. Is that from a company that provides its own surface, eg charles britton etc.

I think its cheaper to buy the surface sep, and also the premixed ones are much more expensive. What surface were you thinking of?


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## *hic* (7 January 2008)

*sorry - thread hijack*

Showjump - where does your OH cover?


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## showjump (7 January 2008)

Cheshire areas.


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## *hic* (7 January 2008)

Thanks - I'm too far afield then!


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## Patches (7 January 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
Cheshire areas. 

[/ QUOTE ]

What area of Cheshire? I'm on the Cheshire border, close to Crewe.


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## showjump (7 January 2008)

Where are you?


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## showjump (7 January 2008)

Yes think you might count!! lol!  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 We are near warrington.


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## dieseldog (7 January 2008)

Go to any local demolition sites to get free hardcore for your base, they have to pay to dump it in landfill sites so will be more than happy to deliver it FOC to yours.  We also got streetlights from them as well.


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## Patches (7 January 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
Yes think you might count!! lol!  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 We are near warrington. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Technically I'm over the border in to Staffordshire you see, but the Cheshire border is not five minutes away. We're about 5 minutes from Junction 16 of the M6.

Only reason I ask is because I happen to know the OP and she's about 20 minutes further away than I am by road. I wondered if that would still be too far.

I can't afford to have contractors put an arena in. I'm going to have to rely on hubby and his trusty JCB!


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## showjump (7 January 2008)

Well tbh i am only guessing that the OP would be too far, it prob depends on a number of things. I will pm OP my OH's webby address and she can always email/ ring and ask him.


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## Indianhazard (7 January 2008)

Hello, I put my surface in 'on the cheap' as that was my only option.  A local farmer took off the topsoil and helped me put 2 herringbone drains in that led to a big fat drain along the bottom with a 10ft soakaway in the corner.  In the drains I put tiny 'pebbles' so that when they came up it was no big deal.  I then put down 300 ton of sharp sand and again the kind farmer helped be spread it.  I looked into membranes/hardcore and different surfaces but realistically I couldn't go there.  My school (54 x 25m)is now 5 years old, drains fantastic and the only maintainance required is a good harrow a couple of times a year when the sand compacts too much.  Maybe in a few years I can add some rubber to the top but for the time being it's great, my only 'do it differently' would be to put shutters around the area before the sand went in, keeping the weeds from overflowing is a pain in the summer.  It is probably used by one horse at a time up to 3 hours a day. Total cost was £3.5K


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## sarahwilkes (8 January 2008)

Thanks for that Pols. 
i have to obtain pp yet but in an ideal world we want to do 40x30 and a 10 x 30 winter turnout area.

it is probably going to be a gradual process over the year our aim is to have them ready for autumn.

thanks for your advice.


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## gbgroundworks (21 November 2008)

ok few things, i do this for a living and no people dont have a lot of money etc but a proper solution will last you a lot longer than a diy or make shift one

sharp sand is quite acidic don't know if you have noticed issues with your horses feet and has a very high compaction factor. its used under block paving and flags for that reason, will set like concrete if left. not nice if your landing on it from 7 feet.

 the sand we use is silica sand. its free draining and has the consistency of the sand at the shore line on the beach. great for jumping, dressage.

we use 150mm layer of silica sand then 50mm combi ride which we power harrow into the sand to create a very durable surface.

brick hardcore is dirty and will break down and block your drains, we use clean washed stone 20mm-40mm in size in a 100mm layer plus wrap your perforated pipe in geotextile to protect it.

giles

we are high peak based covering high peak, south yorkshire, north derbyshire, and cheshire.


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