Cool Room Question

[okiegirl]

We bought a walk in cooler from a grocery store and are setting it up for a cool room.  My question is, has anyone used a gravel pit as a base layer for drainage under the floor?  We are thinking we would dig a 2-3 foot pit, fill it with pea gravel, then put a deep layer of cedar fiber on that.  Any input would be appreciated.

 

[moodog5]

We have a cool calf with no floor. And what we did was dig a trench all the way through the cooler and to the outside and put a pipe with down and put river rock around and over it. And then we have a thick base of cedar mulch over top of it.

 

[Sambosu]

A couple of individuals I know dug out an area about 2 feet deep.  They filled it back up in this order: approximately 8 inches of gravel, then 8 inches of sand, thin layer of lime, 8 inches of cedar fibers.  The floors soak up the urine very well and the lime helps eliminate the urine smell.  I didn't do it like that when we built our cooler this past spring, did it like cool calf recommended (concrete = costs more).  One benefit regarding concrete is you can covert your cooler to an indoor washrack during the winter.  Cool Calf has a drawing on their website for building a floor for a cooler.

 

[okiegirl]

@Sambosu... did the individuals pour concrete footers to sit the cooler on?  We are trying to decide whether to just pour concrete or go the gravel route.

 

[bcody21]

We recently finished our coolroom where we have a concrete floor, then 4 in peat gravel, then black landscape mesh, then 4-5 in cider
Works great to flush out needing every night and yet easy if u want to clear out the cooler completely and u still have concrete floor
The landscape mesh helps keep the gravel separate from the bedding
Good luck

 

[okiegirl]

ttt

 

[Sambosu]

At first we were going to pour a stem wall for the cooler to sit on and then pour the floor.  The concrete guy recommended pouring it all at once/ monolithic pour.  The cooler is setting next to the edge of the concrete slab and anchored into the concrete. 

 

[DonnyC]

How did this work out using gravel? We are currently attempting to build a cool room. We have the panels, just talked to calf cooler and they said the refrigeration would be $18,000... Of course I laughed wildly , thinking cool bot only cost 300-400. Even if I had to run 3 24,000 BTU A/C's brand new worst case $3,000 for refrigeration. Am I wrong in that assumption? We will range from 4 calf's to 8... Depending on the time of year. We really only need to reach a comfortable temperature 65-70 degrees inside the room, as the calves will be going to shows in 100 degree plus heat for fairs and Arkansas youth expo. Last thing we need is a calf having a heat stroke walking out of a 45 degree cooler in 111 degree heat. .. please advise if my thinking is wrong..