# Need kennel floor ideas



## UGA hunter (Jan 18, 2013)

I need some suggestions for kennel flooring. Right now it's gotten muddy from all the rain we've had blowing in. Concrete isn't an option. What else would work but wouldn't be too terribly costly? Here's an older pic of my kennels right after I finished them.


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## waterdogs (Jan 18, 2013)

Build a deck style raised off the ground if concrete can not be used.


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## UGA hunter (Jan 18, 2013)

Would it go right above the ground inside the panels?


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## Kderwin (Jan 18, 2013)

I framed with pressure treated 2X4s so it was lower to the ground and then placed my panels on top after constructing using the 5/4 decking boards - spaced approx 1 " apart.  This works very well for me.

PS: Good job on the kennel so far.


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## JuliaH (Jan 19, 2013)

UGA,

I have used treated pine for wood floor with treated 4x4's for a base with success and I have used horse mats. Those black rubber horse mats from Tractor Supply are great and can be bleached too. Those fit inside the kennel walls when I buy the interlocking kits, or the kennel sits on them when I buy 4x6 panels. Both work great and all of this is less expensive than concrete.

Julia


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## southern_pride (Jan 19, 2013)

Pea gravel


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## JuliaH (Jan 19, 2013)

I  have seen the pea gravel idea before. Couple of questions.. how deep to keep the dogs off the dirt successfully?  How often to replenish from losing some due to picking up after dogs or scattering for other reasons?  And, is there a framing needed to keep it from scattering?

I can see the drainage being good if it is deep enough... 

Julia


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## shakey gizzard (Jan 20, 2013)

Check Ups and Fed ex for their old conveyor belts. They can be cut to length and are free!


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## southern_pride (Jan 20, 2013)

We use pea gravel in some of our kennels. You can just put it directly on the ground, or to make it last longer, put a base layer of crush and run, or even landscape paper down to prevent it from getting pressed into the ground. As far as it scattering, you could put a border around the outside of the kennels(maybe some landscape timbers). We make our 4-5"thick and add some more when needed. Here. it runs about 20-25 bucks a ton, and a ton will give you enough to do about 2, 10x10 kennels.


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## JuliaH (Jan 20, 2013)

That sounds like a real nice floor   I had not thought of it but as you describe here, it has real possibilities. Sounds less expensive than stall mats too.

Julia




southernpridepitbulls said:


> We use pea gravel in some of our kennels. You can just put it directly on the ground, or to make it last longer, put a base layer of crush and run, or even landscape paper down to prevent it from getting pressed into the ground. As far as it scattering, you could put a border around the outside of the kennels(maybe some landscape timbers). We make our 4-5"thick and add some more when needed. Here. it runs about 20-25 bucks a ton, and a ton will give you enough to do about 2, 10x10 kennels.


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## UGA hunter (Jan 20, 2013)

I've heard of three problems with the pea gravel. One being that you lose a lot scooping poop. Another that it holds the odors really bad. And the third that the dogs will eat it. Do you have any of these problems? I've heard put lime and sand under the gravel to prevent the odors. I've been strongly considering the pea gravel but those were my concerns.


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## simpleman30 (Jan 20, 2013)

JMO, but i wouldn't have kennels if i couldn't have them on concrete.  why is concrete not an option for you?  just wondering.  i'm assuming the initial cost.  anyhow, i do have a puppy brooder that is in a big single kennel on dirt. but it only houses a mama dog and a few pups at the time once or twice a year; not enough waste produced to even worry about cleaning it out, as it goes away within a few days.  to be honest, i haven't used it in many years except to house a female in heat or a problem dog that needed to be separated from the other dogs on concrete kennels.


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## southern_pride (Jan 21, 2013)

UGA hunter said:


> I've heard of three problems with the pea gravel. One being that you lose a lot scooping poop. Another that it holds the odors really bad. And the third that the dogs will eat it. Do you have any of these problems? I've heard put lime and sand under the gravel to prevent the odors. I've been strongly considering the pea gravel but those were my concerns.



Our dogs mostly have very solid poop. I'm talking bust out a windshield type solid. So I don't think loosing poop has ever been a problem for us. We take a muck rake like you clean out a horsestall with(imagine a pitchfork with 15 tines about 1' apart), you scoop up the poop, shake the rake, any gravel falls through the tines and you're left with a pile of _ _ _ _. lol. As far as the odors, our concrete kennels stink way worse and it was sealed then painted with a 2 part epoxy paint(and pressure washed and bleached every week or 2. Now, granted none of them smell like potpourri, lol, but the gravel doesn't hold smell bad at all, especially if you lime under it. Not talking about the white powdered stuff, I'm talking about agriculture lime like what farmers have spread on their fields. 

I have a friend that a pup of theirs died from swallowing rocks, but we don't keep pups on it. Our pup pens have river sand in them.


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## JuliaH (Jan 21, 2013)

Solid pup... you must be feeding good quality dog food   The biggest problem I have with concrete is the little callouses that my dogs can get because of the hard surface. The cement pad is about 7 years old (+/- a bit) and I don't have an odor problem and I do bleach as needed.

Like you, I love powdered lime for control of odors in horse stalls and in any area that causes odor. 

The stall mats have been good too, and I bleach those as well. Might cause shorter wear time, but has not shown a problem yet and the oldest of those is about 5 years. 

The most important part of kennels is the maintenance I think. Lots of good ideas here, but all take some amount of work to keep clean and not smelly or full of bacteria.

Julia


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## grouper throat (Jan 22, 2013)

Concrete is best but I used conveyor belt material from the mill before I had my new kennels and it worked good.


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## zacherwalker (Jan 22, 2013)

I've seen a pea gravel kennel my uncle has in WI for his dogs.. Granted he is in the grading business so this was a no brained for him but he built a barrier with rail road ties aim the ground where you will have the kennel then ran sand crush and gravel packed down the first inch or so gravel with just a hand packer and then laid the top most spread ontop the packed stuff. He barely loses any pea gravel when taking poop because the bottom is packed. Oh I forgot to mention under the kennel he ran landscaping drainage pipes to keep water and whatever else trickles down moving. I don't think he's had a problem with smell for all I know. But it didn't cost much money to build I think the most expensive part to it was the drainage pipe as crush sand and gravel are all like 15~20 a ton or so if that


Sorry after sending this post I just realized southernpride said about the same thing


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## gsu51 (Jan 22, 2013)

Concrete with epoxy covered cushion.  Pea gravel sounds like a bunch of work while concrete is not that much more expesive.  I used conveyor mats before my concrete


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## UGA hunter (Jan 23, 2013)

Thanks everyone! The pea gravel is at the top of my list but the conveyor sounds interesting! I know someone said that UPS or FedEx will cut to length but what is the width? My kennel is 10x30 and right now is just split in half with a dog in each 10x15 run.


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## grouper throat (Jan 23, 2013)

You might want to check with any factory facility if you're considering the conveyor belt. I got mine from the local paper mill when they were doing one of those cancer donation drives and it was cheap. It's 1/2 inch thick and can be cut with a good knife. It's durable too, I've had it for 7-8 years and there's no telling how long they used it for.


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## gunslinger33 (Jan 24, 2013)

I would check on M-10 sand from a local rock quarry. M-10 is crushed granite and will pack faily well. It's off white in color and pretty fine in texture. It will hold urine odor but it works pretty well. I would worry some with pea gravel getting cought in pad of foot.


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## headbust (Apr 19, 2013)

UGA hunter said:


> I need some suggestions for kennel flooring. Right now it's gotten muddy from all the rain we've had blowing in. Concrete isn't an option. What else would work but wouldn't be too terribly costly? Here's an older pic of my kennels right after I finished them.


super nice kennels all you need now is a couple of these great catch dogs i breed and sell,only the finest pitbulls in fl.5/4 deck boards is a good way to go.


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## DukTruk (Apr 22, 2013)

Another option is sand.  Another suggestion that will make it easier to maintain is the french drain under whatever floor system you use.  Use a compacted crusher run base with a french drain (black pipe bedded in 1" stone).  Put landscape fabric on top of that and then sand.  When scooping poop use a "bedding scoop".  It'll pick up the big pieces and let the sand or gravel fall through the cracks.

Bedding scoop (I didn't know what it was called either)


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## StikR (Aug 5, 2013)

DukTruk said:


> Another option is sand.  Another suggestion that will make it easier to maintain is the french drain under whatever floor system you use.  Use a compacted crusher run base with a french drain (black pipe bedded in 1" stone).  Put landscape fabric on top of that and then sand.  When scooping poop use a "bedding scoop".  It'll pick up the big pieces and let the sand or gravel fall through the cracks.
> 
> Bedding scoop (I didn't know what it was called either)



This!  You can buy these rakes at tractor supply.  

I put a treated 2x6 border around teh bottom, then I put that black landscape fabric on the dirt, then lay old chainlink fence on top of it to hold it down and to prevent the dogs from digging up the fabric or from digging out.  After that I fill it up with 5" of pea gravel. If you don't put teh fabric down it will turn into a mess as they dig and the dirt mixes in with the gravel.


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## king killer delete (Aug 5, 2013)

JuliaH said:


> UGA,
> 
> I have used treated pine for wood floor with treated 4x4's for a base with success and I have used horse mats. Those black rubber horse mats from Tractor Supply are great and can be bleached too. Those fit inside the kennel walls when I buy the interlocking kits, or the kennel sits on them when I buy 4x6 panels. Both work great and all of this is less expensive than concrete.
> 
> Julia


I use the black mats from tractor supply on top of marine plywood. works great.


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## specialk (Aug 7, 2013)

i've had concrete down for 23 years....i use a scrape blade i got from lowes to clean it off(i think it is made for scraping tar and paper of roofs)....then a hose it down.....i pressure wash it a few times a year.....


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## spring (Aug 20, 2013)

Here's an option an option you might want to consider. I have this flooring in a kennel that I periodically use and it has a lot of advantages over concrete or just dirt..


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## hhbgl (Sep 8, 2013)

I would recommend concrete block mix, it packs as hard as concrete and has very easy clean up and you don't loose as much when you're scooping poop as you do with sand or pea gravel. It's fairly inexpensive too, if you have a concrete block plant nearby or a masonry supply store they usually have it.


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