Raised flooring kennels- Photos please - Page 1

Hello-

I am going to be building a new kennel set up on a sloped piece of land.  I have option of bringing in earth moving equipment to create a level area for a concrete pad (costly)

OR, I am considering creating a raised flooring style kennel which would include synthetic decking, thick gravel substrate beneath and eventually a roof over the runs.  For my particular situation, this would work especially well if I was to install two separate decks, tiered on the downslope.  I currently have a 10 kennel system where each run is 3x17 with the doghouse included at one end in the measurements.  I would either put all 10 wide with a 5 foot curtilage around the outside of the runs, or split them into two sets of 5 runs each tiered.  

I am hoping someone out there has some good photos of something they have built in the fashion of raised flooring kennels.  What have you found to be the drawbacks of this and what could you recommend to make them most user friendly.

Thanks in advance

Camilla

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Would the decking consist of planks that allow water and urine to drain through?

I had a situation with my kennel where the gravel in the dog yard began to stink really badly due to so many dogs using the area. I had to rent a bobcat, and dig out most of the old gravel and replace it with fresh. You won't be able to do that if the urine is allowed to drain through the deck. I'd prefer a concrete pad, where everything drains out onto the grass or into some sort of a drainage channel in the concrete that can be hosed down to get rid of waste.

I know someone whose kennel runs are on a slope, and she has them 'stepped' with 3 different levels. If you do decide to go for concrete, make sure it is sloped for drainage. My runs are bowed in the middle, so water drains in two directions: onto the grass in one direction, and into a drainage channel in the other, which gets flushed out with the hose, and drains onto the grass.

I know you can't really see the whole thing, and I can take more later when it has cooled off considerably, but this 10X15 is off the side of an old tobacco barn w/ a 5X5 indoor area. One day I may steal the other side from Hubby and do the same :) My other kennels are 1 5X10 and 2 10X10 on a deck w/ galvanized sheet metal roofing. They can be configured differently, as I had 2 5X10 and one 10X15 about 2 weeks ago. I like the decks much better then concrete.Eventually, this kennel will have lattice up around the bottom and pea gravel for drainage around it.. maybe some nice shrubs or something :)

Melissa

I too am planning new indoor/outdoor kennels. I want my dogs off of concrete. We're planning on treated wood w/ rubber mats for inside 5x7 w/ 8x12 outside area on decking. I'm just hoping I don't shoot myself in the foot expecting my dogs to always use the outdoor area to relieve themselves. However, right now they're in 12x12 indoor in our old barn, and let out 3x day plus training & house time. They are almost always clean in the kennel. Friend has a +20 yr. old outdoor w/doghouse on decking. No odor, kennel panels don't rust as they sit on the decking, no digging, clean dog. She loves it. Easy to sanitize w/ bleach solution, easy to shovel off snow on exposed area.
Sue

Justde - My concern about treated wood is that the chemicals used are not good for animals and I worry about the dogs chewing.

Synthetic decking can be bought for a fairly reasonable price but is still more expensive than wood.

Sunsilver -Yes, I was planning to allow the urine to drain to the gravel below.  I have concerns about the smell and was thinking of running a heavy duty mister type system under the deck.  I would run a cleaning solution and water mixture through the lines to spray down onto the gravel- say once a week.  Not sure how well this would work.  I agree concrete is better but this is a 30 to 40 degree slope and it would require a lot of cut and fill.

Thank you Melba for the photo

I am attaching a couple of photos of my current runs.  They are 3 x 14 and have a 3 x 3 box for sleeping quarters at the end opposite of the gate for a total length of 17 feet.  They are currently set up 10 abreast under a 35 x 35 open air building (first photo).   I am thinking of setting them up 5 abreast in 2 sections on 23 x 23 decks (second photo shows them 5 wide).  I am brainstorming on different ways to set this up so that they have shelter from the sun and weather and have proper drainage
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