Hello! My hubby and I just bought 7 acers with a house but no barn. We are pending inspection so pray for us. I have always dreamed of owning property and having a barn with lights! So with that said, I am starting to resarch barns and what will work best for us. I have never built a barn and would love to get anyones input. What did you do/not do when you built? What would you do different? What is your favorite thing about your barn? I want anything and everything. Pictures are always great too! Thank you and have a blessed day.

My barn faces east and west.  on the east end the doors have windows in the top half.  Unvelieveable how much light comes in!  (favorite part of my barn)

took a while to get there but we have a water spicket at the stalls and a short hose reaches every stall.  (less to wind up and keep coraled)

took 15 years to get a tack room.  I love my TR!  I actually had the horse shoes of my 1st horse put in the concrete when they poured it like he was walking throught the door.  it is really cool

my stalls have front panels and 2x6x12 on the walls that are set in channels.  That way everything is removeable if there is ever a time that no horses will live there. 

my leantoo is to short to put a trailer under.... boo!  Also the outside posts that hold it up are off center to the barns inside posts.  I had wanted to put a slider door under the leantoo for the barn but with the way the posts are set it would take some serious reinforcement on the leantoo, to be able too. 

Put solid floors in stalls. We dug down around 8" and basically built a deck for the floor. With rock underneath. We did a grid of 4x4s once we compacted & leveled the ground. Theres also ones alone the edges of the stalls. Screwed treated decking down and put mats on top of that. Screwed the mats down and caulked all the edges/seams. You have a permanetly level floor that will last a lifetime. Once a year we strip & recaulk where it needs it. It's a bit expensive initially but so worth the saved money on bedding and labor of having to level the stalls in the future or straighten mats back out if they get moved. 

Also, was at a barrel race that has retractable hoses coming from the ceiling. That was super cool. I would like to do that someday, get hoses out of the way on the ground. I also have a horse that knows how to get out of her stall, so I've learned to have the feed/grain/whatever you feed in an area she doesn't have access to if she gets out of her stall. Because she will eat a whole can, she has before. Thank God she didn't colic. I don't care if she gets into the hay though. But those are probably my top 3 

It is cold where I live so we made sure we had plenty of insulation. I have 3 box stalls and 4 tie stalls. Two of my tie stalls get used for storage (hay, blankets, etc.) I would rather just have them open for storage. Also have a larger area to keep squares that I love. I have my tack room that is locked and further insulated that also houses the water controls so it remains heated in the winter. I have saddle racks and small and large hangers on the walls for bridles, electrical cords, hoses, other tack. Also a large medicine cabinet to house all things veterinary related.

My ideal box stall is 12x12 or 12x14. Mine are only 10x10. But it is handy to have a couple of tie stalls for babies learning and other things.
We have concrete floors, with rubber mats in the stalls. I suggest getting a one size fits rubber mat for the stalls, makes **** scooping a whole lot easier!

Also have a "feed room" where I keep my grain that is locked just in case a horse gets in there. It houses their grain, dog food, cat food, shavings and other misc. Separate from tack room.

My advice... better to have more room than not enough. Our alleyway is wide enough we can drive the side by side through. It has come in handy when cleanign out ALL the stalls. We also have the capacity to chase animals up to the barn down an alley and into a trailer. Whether it be a loose bull or a baby that hasn't been handled yet, we are able to get them into the barn where they can be managed.

#1 - Select a high spot and invest in dirt to build a solid and higher foundation for building the barn. You will never regret spending the money on the dirt to prep your site and get it high so water will drain properly away from your barn site..

#2 - Install self-drain hydrants; install a turn-off valve for your water line near the barn with easy access.

#3- Bite the bullet and invest in mats for your stalls (and a proper foundation in the stalls for the mats).

Thank you everyone for your input! Lots of things on here that I had not thought of. I apprecaite your help!

We put a couple of electrical outlets on the wall with the stalls.  This way we can plug in heated water buckets and fans for each stall.

Read number one on this list like six times and then maybe read it one more time. Site prep! So much site prep. All the site prep. Wait for a really good storm and watch the water. Then site prep again. Can you tell I've been tortured by water over the last 5 years??

You can never have too many lights. I bought LED fixtures from Amazon and they are so bright that you have to wait a second for your eyes to adjust when you turn them off. Love them. 

Ha always dreamed of lights in my barn! Had a leanto growing up and it never had lights. Can't wait!

I second the site prep. Less than 6 months after we moved to our property we had a torrential rain fall - 13" in 12 hours. Our ENTIRE property flooded. Like 2-3 feet of water! We aren't in a flood zone, but we are close and lower than other areas. The water drains across our property when it gets high. So we used a transit to determine how high we needed to raise the barn site. We had to haul in dirt to build a pad 18" higher than the ground. At the end of May this year we had another big rain (which was not predicted). No flooding in our barn! Water went around.  

My barn is wood frame with metal siding. Rhino Pole Barns did an amazing job! And it's rated for Hurricanes up to 120 mph. The East and West ends have full garage doors to allow for air movement here in south texas. I do have a smaller 10x10 garage door on the North wall. It stays open most of the time, but will be closed in the winter to block that north wind. I have a fully insulated tack room to keep mold/mildew off my tack and feed fresh. It will also be an "office" as well. We have 4 - 15X25' stalls on one wall. They are open to create a "run" and can be extended to create longer runs. We have one more 15X20 stall shell on the inside we use for storage. We keep some hay in there (not fresh at all). The alley way is concrete and 15" wide. This seems big but you can drive a dually truck in and open the doors. I built it to what I wanted when I thought we would be here for a long time. However, we won't be staying here  more than a couple of years and will be building a new place in the mean time. There area  few tweaks we plan to make, but nothing big.

Look at lots of pictures and write down exactly what you want. Draw it out. Plan Plan Plan!

I third the site prep. Build it high. Thankfully we did, because we flooded something terrible last fall and into this year (we sit in a low valley). Everything around my barn was flooded, but the barn itself was nice and dry.

I think my most favorite part of my barn is the lean to because my horses love it. We ran it the entire length of the barn, on the south side. It's wonderful for protecting them from the northern, winter winds. They'll also stand under it during thunderstorms and blizzards.  I also love my tack room and my feed room, both are separate; just wish I could have gone bigger. I'm also a huge fan of the LED lights we installed. More of a financial investment, but they really throw a lot of light and are worth every penny you'll spend on them.

Totally get that! I still get a little thrill when I flip the light switches and light that joker up. 

My barn layout is a little haphazard since we built on to it as we had the money so there are a few things I would change now if I was starting over from scratch. I'd make the aisle a little wider and I'd relocate my storage room from one corner to the other. Concrete would be nice. Someone to come in and clean up after me would be even better. 

But, all in all, it's way more than I ever thought I would have and I still feel incredibly spoiled. I remember vividly the first day I bought a load of rolls for the winter and they stacked up in the barn with room to park the tractor and the horse trailer. Legit almost cried in front of the hay man.

Site prep! Make sure your barn won’t flood! Flooding was not an issue for us but the land dropped off steeply so we had to build up for a level place to build it on.

if you’re in a hot area taller eaves make it a lot cooler...mine are 12’ and it makes a big difference, same thing, ventilation was Huge for me. I live in south ga where 9 months out of the year it’s really hot so I wanted plenty of air flow...that being said, if it storms I do get some rain in my stalls but that’s a small price to pay imo bc it dries quickly and my barn is cool even in the summer.

my ideal stalls are 16x16 (that’s what I had growing up). However, that barn was built by hand and my new barn was a prefab pole barn that we closed in so because it was on 12’ centers 16x16 was not feasible. So...I had 4 14x12stalls and 2 14x 24 (have since split one of them). I have separate feed and tack rooms each 12x14 and a 12’ wide alley. So total barn is 40x60.

Concrete alley and feed and tack room was one of my must haves and I raised the feed/tack room floors about 4” higher than alley that way when we have hurricanes or thunderstorms with blowing rain and it blows in the alley way it does not run in my feed/tack rooms. (Poured mine in 2 phases due to finances)

Lots of lights! The guys thought I was crazy and argued with me about lights saying I didn’t need that many but I was adamant that it be Bright in there at night and I better be able to see clearly working under a horse at night...(and it is). I have outlets at each stall as well for fans or whatever may be needed.

when you wire your barn go ahead and wire it heavier than what u think u may originally need just in case you add something later.

i have water lines ran into each stall with automatic water buckets...another must have.

i used 2x12x14 to enclose my barn because I got a huge deal on the lumber...however that’s one thing I would not do again bc the sun is cupping the boards so bad, one of these days replacement won’t be pretty.

Let’s see if I can attach any pictures......

forgot to mention I have tons of bridle racks in my tack room but still not enough lol. My saddle racks are made out of 4x4 and we cut one corner to make it flat and the saddle sits on that part, there is a hook on one end and an eye screw in the wall, just place the hook through the eye of the screw and it’s ready to go, or just take it down and hang it flat against wall I feel not needed. I made my saddle racks about waist high so I wouldn’t have to do a lot of high lifting (learned from previous barn) and then a row of bridle racks over them for stuff I’m currently using. Then on the back wall we had less room so my husband did his saddle racks one set low like mine the another set on top to make room for saddles (bigger roping saddles). 

Also made some blanket racks inexpensively to go on the fronts of my stalls out of chain and pvc pipe, just measure to length run chain through pipe add a quick link and out small eye screw in wall. This way they are flat against wall Incase something runs into them...(my horses love to play with them)I made mine for winter blankets but they also get used to let stuff finish drying if need be and I hang fly masks on them in the summer too.