by Robin Stanback

The cool, dry days of fall herald a brief respite for many horsemen. The breeding season is well behind them. The yearling sales are all but over, and they can enjoy watching their farms' alumni on racetracks throughout the world.

This break before the breeding-stock sales provides the best time to develop and implement a preventative maintenance and repair plan for all the structures essential to every working farmÑthe barns, run-in sheds, and round pens.

This year, preventative maintenance may be second on the list for many farms affected by severe weather. Florida, Louisiana, and Texas grabbed headlines throughout the hurricane season.

"There are a lot of farms in Texas right now that don't have anything left to repair or maintain," said Mike Sims of Ranch and Golf Construction Inc. in Montgomery, Texas. "They are going to have to start from scratch."

Kentucky also saw damage caused by near-hurricane-force gusts in mid-September. Many a barn roof took a beating in the spring as well when hail storms hit the region.

"This year there are a lot of people looking to repair damage done to farm structures," said Bernie Woods, who has been doing barn repair in the Bluegrass area for more than 45 years. "Right now is the optimum time to do it, too. The weather is a little cooler, but it is still dry. It is a good time to paint. As dry as we have been, the wood will really soak up the paint, and that protects it very well."

A torn roof panel, a sagging door that becomes hard to open, or boards that pull away from the building are obvious signs of work that needs to be done. However, Sims and Woods agree that subtle problems may need to be addressed first. "You need to start the process of evaluation on a farm structure with the foundation," Woods said. "Everything is dependent on that foundation. It has to be in good order."

Foundations for newer barns almost always are made of concrete. "When we design a new barn, we typically use concrete runners along the foundations," Sims said. "They provide us with a solid, level surface to build upon. When you look over a barn with these types of foundations, you want to examine the concrete for cracks. Caught at an early stage, problems can be easily repaired."

Solid foundations

Older structures, such as the tobacco barns that have been put into service as horse barns in the Central Kentucky area, may have foundations of stone or wood. "Lots of farms that have renovated these barns have lifted them up and put in a concrete foundation under them," Woods said, "but some of these barns were built so well that the foundations they had are still being used."

The stonemasons and builders who designed and constructed those structures often relied upon local materials: limestone rock and oak, chestnut, and cherry trees indigenous to the area. They had to design foundations that would stay strong through frost cycles that cause the ground to heave. The process involved digging below the frost line to set the first layers of stone or the mud posts that formed the foundation of the building. Barns that used mud posts were built on solid, stout posts that were planted well below the frost line, usually on a bed of gravel for drainage. The main vertical timbers in the barn were attached to them.

Woods walks through barns and looks for signs of settling. If he sees a post that has been damaged by water or termites, he will recommend that it be replaced. Of course, the cause of the problem will need to be addressed as well.

"Drainage is important to these barns," he said. "The people who built the good barns knew to place them where they would not have a lot of water runoff or pooling, but things can change over many years' time. A new driveway to the barn might channel water toward it in a different way than it did when the barn was built. That can cause problems. You can replace the post or reset the stone, but if the water continues to erode the ground, you will always have a problem."

For Woods, the next most important aspect of barn maintenance is roof repair. "We had a lot of calls after that windstorm came through in September," he said. "It is really important to make certain that roof panels are kept tightened down. In this area we have plenty of farms that use metal roofs. I actually prefer them. The new materials and paints make them last a very long time. Some of them can go 30 or 40 years if they are well maintained.

"They have to be screwed onto the wood beneath them. Those screws can become loose, and you need to put them back in from time to time. If you don't, wind can get up under a panel and take that entire piece, and maybe the one next to it, off the barn. Repair at that point becomes more expensive. Having someone check the roof yearly and make certain those screws are tight will be far less costly in the long run, and the roof will last a lot longer."

Electrical check

Checking the barn's electric circuits and wiring also should be high on the list of yearly inspections. Sims said many barn fires can be prevented by paying attention to wiring. Rodent problems are largely an issue in older barns that have exposed wires the animals can access and chew.

Newer structures have to pass building codes that require conduit to protect the wiring itself.

"There are still problems that can occur," Sims said. "It does not take a great deal of time to check the circuit breakers and look over the lines. Preventative maintenance on barn wiring can save the entire structure."

Leveling stall floors and checking interior walls for exposed nails or chipping paint can best be done in cool, dry fall weather when most horses are out of the barn. Many of the barns that Lawrence Schwering of Lucas/Schwering Architects in Lexington has designed rely more on masonry than wood.

"Masonry units, properly finished with the right paints, are more dimensionally stable than wood structures, and many people like the look of them," he said. "An advantage to these is that they can be washed down and disinfected easily. Setting a time every year when every stall is inspected is a good idea. Reapplying the paints when necessary will help to keep the areas easily cleaned and attractive."

Wooden stalls also can be sealed and painted. "I use Zar clear polyurethane and have had real good luck with it," Woods said. "Some people just prefer wood stalls, and they want to have the opportunity to clean the surfaces and disinfect them. This product makes that possible. It also looks good. You do have to check over the interiors of the stalls regularly to see where horses have chewed or possibly kicked a wall hard to make sure the surface maintains its coating."

Exterior walls might need attention as well. Woods believes that fall is the best time to paint the outside of a barn. "In Kentucky this year, and last year too, we had such dry weather that the wood is very dry. That is when you want to paint."

Before painting

Work may need to be done prior to putting on that protective coat of paint. Many barns show the normal wear of small paint chips flaking away, especially on south and west sides of the buildings that get the most sun exposure.

However, a close inspection of all outside barn surfaces may reveal problem areas that should be addressed before paint is applied. Moisture problems, probably caused by roof and flashing leaks, are indicated when old paint has peeled off in large flakes down to the bare wood.

Wood that has direct contact with the ground may wick water up into the wood surface, causing rotting near the base of the walls. If the surface was not properly prepared before the barn was originally painted, the top layer of the coating may peel away.

Properly preparing the structure surface prior to painting will help to make the investment in paint last a lot longer. Hand scraping might work for smaller structures, but larger areas may be just as effectively prepared by using a power sprayer. Sandblasting wooden structures is generally not recommended because it can do more damage to the wood and create dust hazards. Sandblasting can be used for masonry buildings.

Bo Whitman, co-owner of Lexington Paint and Supply Co. in Nicholasville, Kentucky, sells paints for barns all over the United States. "Different areas of the country have different needs and traditions when it comes to painting their barns," he said. "In Florida, for instance, there are quite a few block barns. They need an acrylic latex paint, and they typically go for lighter colors to reflect the sun.

"In the Midwest and certainly up the East Coast, you see a lot of red barns, because that was the tradition in their area. In Maryland, people like white barns. Here in Kentucky, a lot of people converted tobacco barns on their properties. Those were painted black, and many of the farms have stayed with that. There are people who want to have their barns a specific color that is different from the traditional colors, and that will always cost more."

An advantage to the black paints so popular in Kentucky, Whitman said, is that "we sell a product, fence coat black, that is extremely economical. It can be used on fencing as well as barns, and it protects and lasts a long time. You certainly would not want to paint a barn the size of a horse barn in a paint that would cost $30 to $40 a gallon. If you have a masonry barn, you are going to have to spend more money because those paints just cost more. They may last a little bit longer, too."

Fall cleaning

Finally, farm owners and managers should consider a good, old-fashioned fall cleaning. Schwering and Sims design farm structures with an eye toward the safety of the animals using them. That means "being certain of a clear ingress and egress in every building. You absolutely must be able to move 1,000-pound-plus animals into and out of the structure easily and safely," Schwering said. If cleaning equipment, hay bales, or other obstructions have found a home in passageways, they should be removed.

Anywhere hay is stored, dust follows. Steve Caddel has operated his own equine therapy facility in Lexington and has been the horsemen's technical adviser for Farmers Feed Mill for more than 16 years. Whenever possible, he advises people to have a separate storage building for hay. "A lot of people like to keep their hay inside the barn with their horses, particularly in these tall tobacco barns where you want to use some of that space," he said. "It is tempting to put in a hay loft, but from a safety point of view that isn't always a good idea. Hay creates a lot of dust, which can cause problems for the horses' respiratory systems and can also be a fire hazard."

Whether a hay loft or a separate building is used, it is important to clean out any hay storage areas prior to stacking new bales. Old hay, aside from the dust issues, also can harbor mold or rodent feces that may affect the fresh hay. A good fall cleaning should be applied to feed storage areas as well for the same reasons.

Taking the time to inspect farm structures and address any problems that are found may lengthen the life of the buildings themselves, but also will better protect the horses within them. "It is a whole lot cheaper in the long run to maintain a structure in good order than to wait until more serious problems arise," Woods said.

Robin Stanback is a freelance writer based in Versailles, Kentucky