Ideas for new stone goat shed.

[MINESAPINT]

I have 2 goats which are rescued, not for milking, just for looking pretty, being mischievous & enjoying their life with us. They have a 1 acre paddock and a makeshift wooden construction offering some shelter but when the weather gets dodgy we bring them home into a converted garage. It would be better if we could provide a better shelter in their own paddock.

I intend to use some stone from a building that was knocked down. The stone is old & a bit rough with not many square cornered pieces so building a "TIDY" square cornered building is pretty much out of the question. I am looking for ideas but am thinking along the lines of square/oblong but with rounded corners or just go for a round building. I am certainly thinking about a green roof and will probably provide access for the goats to keep their own roof trimmed. I have also considered a corballed (if that's how you spell it) roof.

It's over to you.

Thank you.

MINESAPINT

[contadino]

Yes, I'd be interested too. At the moment I'm building a goat house that's square on 3 sides, but as it butts against the trullo, the 3rd side is convex. I'm wondering whether that's just gonna be a pain when trying to clean out and am thinking about squaring off and backfilling with rubble.

[frozenthunderbolt]

could you build wooden forms then use concrete/lime render in layers with the stoned to make short squat stable (as opposed to unstable ) walls which you could fit some rafters to and top with a layer of polythene plastic and then cover with sod?

[MINESAPINT]

Just to add some more information. I am not short of stone to complete my project. I am thinking of providing a building with internal dimensions of about 3m x 3m or equivalent size in oblong or circular with solid walls of about 18 inches thick. I will provide adequate foundations for the walls and insulate the floor. I was wanting to save up plastic bottles to provide underfloor insulation but Mrs MINESAPINT did not agree - storage space! I will use polystyrene unless anyone has better/more sustainable ideas.

I am a competent amateur builder but could do with advice including constructional details of turf roof. Obviously if I placed turf onto plastic it would slide off. I have given this some thought but have not drawn any satisfactory conclusions. I also understand if using stone I should use lime mortar and have read up on this and it looks fairly complicated compared to the simplicity of using cement. It will also work out substantially more expensive.

If I go for circular building it seems to complicate the roof construction. Anyone any ideas?

MINESAPINT

[contadino]

If you opt for a teardrop shaped building, with the door at the thin part, you could have stalls around the outside. So you just walk into the middle kinda thing...? I suppose it depends what you want to use it for, really. Is it just for them to sleep in?

[marshlander]

There's an article in Permaculture about sedum roofs http://www.permaculture-magazine.co.uk/ ... le_37.html

Isn't there a drawback with turf in that it's a lot heavier, needs a decent depth of soil and feeding/watering?