Stagnant, humid air can be the bane of your barn. Its damage might be obvious in your horse’s chronic cough or the peeling paint on your stall doors. Or it might be insidious, such as rotting wood in hard-to-see places that affects the building’s structural integrity. Fortunately, you can take simple steps to improve the ventilation of your existing barn and consider certain design elements when building a new one.
Why it Matters
Poor ventilation and its associated high humidity levels reduce your barn’s life span by giving rise to wood rot and rust, as well as providing a welcome home for destructive insects such as termites and carpenter ants. Mold grows in feed bins, and paint peels. Ammonia fumes from urine make the barn an unpleasant environment for horses and handlers alike.