Paddock Replacement Project
12/09/08: We have started the second week of the paddock project. All of the footing has been completed. This was a huge effort - there was quite a bit of excavating and filling involved. New drain pipe installed along the north end of the barn and connected to the downspouts (no more floods in Cory's stall !!!) The fence posts were set on Monday and the hoof grid installation will being today (Tuesday) We continue to be on schedule and slightly over budget . The excavation was more then anticipated. It was a long way down in some of the paddocks to get to firm soil. There was a contingency amount included in the budget to cover these types of expenses. Construction projects always have a certian number of things that are uncovered and need to be addressed. The project is still expected to complete on time which is great. There will be more information coming about the new requirements for keeping your paddock clean and free of shavings. Thresholds are being installed at every paddock doors. During the construction period - there have been a number of other projects underway to take advantage of the empty barn. These projects are independant of the paddock replacement project and none of them are impacting the timeline for getting the horses back to the barn. Some of the projects being done are: Replacement of Darby's stall floor. The barn is scheduled to be painted this weekend - weather permitting (can you say snow !!!) 11 structural columns are being replaced - mostly along the outside wall by paddock doors. We will be sending more pictures in the next few days. Thanks again for all of you support and cooperation during the project. Hopefully with all this effort the barn will last for another 40 years. Thanks
12/04/08: These are some before and after on the east side of the barn. They dug down to firm soil, compacted, and filled - using broken up concrete for the base to facilitate drainage. It was pretty exciting on Thursday when the double dump trucks arrived and had to share the drive way with all the pre-school cars but everyone cooperated and things went smoothly. They are working on the west side excavation Friday morning and more dump trucks are on the way.
12/03/08: Work continues on schedule. The big machinery is very impressive, but there is a lot of manual labor as well. The drainage ditch along the north side of the barn had to be dug by hand and there were a LOT of tree roots!!! The crew is moving along on schedule. Thursday the dump trucks start arriving to haul away the dirt that has been removed from the paddocks.
12/02/08: Construction began yesterday as planned. The task of the day was to get all of the old fencing down and all of the concrete holding the old fence posts removed. This was accomplished !!! Thanks to all that helped get the barn ready - and especially to all stall occupants that moved their horses and prepped their stalls over the weekend. This is a huge undertaking and it would not have happened without all of your cooperation and participation. This is a great example of what a co-op barn can do. THANKS
.JPG "12/02/08")
