When deciding between a fabric-covered equine building or a wooden pole building for your foals, colts, mares, and stallions, you need to consider how the two types of buildings compare. Edge Inc explains the differences.
Fabric Equine Buildings vs. Wooden Pole Buildings
Costs
The cost to build a standard wooden pole barn or building is less than a fabric-covered equine building, but you don’t offer much value to your horse’s environment with the standard option. Pole barns can be modified to accommodate horses—for a price. Adding upgrades like windows, stall doors, and kickboards drive the barn price up significantly. With fabric-covered equine buildings, most of the crucial equine components are standard. Fabric building contractors that specialize in equine buildings include the cost of building elements needed for your horse’s safety and comfort, such as windows, stall doors, and living quarters, in the total cost of the building.
Site Preparation
The site preparation for a fabric-covered equine building is straightforward compared to a traditional pole barn building. That’s because fabric buildings are more self-contained, allowing for the steel frame to sit on virtually any surface, whereas a standard pole barn’s site preparation requires more involvement, including:
- Sod and vegetation removal
- Topsoil removal
- Subsoil replacement
- Compact layer testing
If site preparation for a pole barn is successful, there’s still no guarantee that the foundation won’t shift over time. With a fabric-covered equine building, it’s guaranteed that shifting won’t occur.
Construction
The cost of lumber in Canada and the United States has risen, resulting in increased construction costs for pole barns compared to fabric-covered equine buildings. When you choose a fabric-covered riding arena or barn, it’s constructed with cost-effective raw materials that support a healthy environment for horses. Fabric structure contractors help you choose the right roofing, siding, paint, and stain options that won’t compromise the health of your animals.
Fabric-covered riding arenas also have faster construction completion times compared to traditional buildings. Once the site is prepped, fabric structure contractors schedule the delivery of your pre-engineered equine building. The experienced team arrives on site and completes the installation in as little as one week, depending on the size of the project. Traditional pole barn construction, on the other hand, can take up to one year to complete.
Maintenance and Repair
With fabric-covered riding arenas and barns, maintenance is limited, and minor repairs are more common with pole buildings. Since fabric-covered equine buildings use hot-dip galvanized steel, the building’s frame never rusts or crows, reducing the likelihood of major repairs, maintenance, and replacements.
If a repair is needed for a fabric building, it’s as simple as investing in a user-friendly repair kit, but with pole barn buildings, even a minor repair requires dismantling and new construction.
Natural Lighting and Ventilation
Fabric-covered riding arenas offer more natural lighting than pole barn buildings. They are also designed to reduce the intensity of shadows, giving your horse a spook-free environment to perform without fear. Fabric structure contractors use the state-of-the-art truss arch system to support your fabric-covered, indoor horse arenas, so you get maximized space for you and your horse to perform successfully.
Durability
With traditional pole barns, there is no guarantee or warranty on their longevity—but fabric-covered riding arenas and barns are meant to last. Fabric-covered equine buildings are guaranteed to last 15 to 25 years for covered buildings made with durable fabric and 15 to 40 years for steel-framed, indoor horse arenas and barns.
Providing Quality Fabric-Covered Riding Arenas for North American Riders
Edge Inc provides quality fabric-covered riding arenas and barns across the North American region.
We’re a comprehensive contractor specializing in design-build solutions for equine buildings. The Edge team works with well-known fabric and building material manufacturers to give you an unbiased perspective on temporary and permanent fabric-covered horse arenas and other facility applications.
Edge takes our customized equine building designs a step further. You can keep your horses warm in the winter with our barn insulation, and you can easily add a tack room and wash bay to your structure. You’ll have all the tools and space you need to operate your riding facility under one fabric-covered roof. Contact us today to learn more about our equine fabric buildings.
