Horse Trailer Flooring

Horse Trailer Flooring
by Howard Katz
The three most common flooring used in horse
trailers are aluminum, wood, and composite.
Aluminum Flooring
Aluminum flooring is found only in all aluminum
horse trailers. Aluminum flooring is made from
aluminum diamond plate sheets that are usually
0.125-inch thick and placed over aluminum I-beams
also 0.125-inch thick. I-beams are usually welded to
the trailer’s frame spaced at 9 5/8-inch centers. The
following picture shows the frame for a slant load
aluminum horse trailer with aluminum I-beams
welded at 9 5/8-inch centers.
Horse trailer manufactures weld the diamond plate
aluminum sheet flooring into their trailers with the
smooth side up, the diamond design up, or they let
the purchaser decide which side is up. Most horse
trailer manufacturers drill holes in their aluminum
floors to reduce the buildup of dirt, moisture, urine,
and manure within the trailer.
The following two pictures show diamond plate
aluminum flooring with the smooth side up for a slant
load horse aluminum trailer with living quarters and
an aluminum stock trailer.
Wood Flooring
Wood flooring is found in all aluminum and all steel
horse trailers, and in horse trailers with a steel frame
and superstructure and aluminum sheet walls. The
wood used most commonly is 2-inch thick Douglas
Fir. Douglas Fir is strong, resists rotting, resists
absorbing moisture, and is resilient under load. The
boards are placed so that there is usually ½-inch to 1-
inch between them. This allows dirt and manure to
fall out of the trailer and moisture and urine to have
sufficient air flow to evaporate.
In all aluminum trailers, a Douglas Fir floor is placed
over aluminum beams welded to the trailer’s frame
spaced at 12-inch or 24-inch centers. The beams are
either aluminum I-beams or extruded aluminum “D”
beams. A cutaway of an extruded aluminum “D”
beam is shown in the following picture.
The following two pictures show diamond plate
aluminum flooring with the diamond design up for a
slant load aluminum horse trailer with living quarters.
HorseWheels Volume 1 Issue 6 - Page 1

In trailers with a steel frame, a Douglas Fir floor is
placed over steel beams welded to the trailer’s frame
spaced at 12-inch or 24-inch centers, as shown in the
following pictures.
Composite Flooring
The most common composite flooring material is
Rumber, manufactured by Rumber Materials, Inc.
Rumber is manufactured from scrap plastics and 100
percent recycled tire rubber through an exclusive,
patented process. One of the most popular and
practical applications of Rumber is flooring for horse
and livestock trailers. Rumber can also be installed
on ramps and as trailer bumpers, stall dividers, and
wall mats.
Tests comparing the effective cushioning of
aluminum, wood, and Rumber flooring materials
have shown that Rumber reduces physiological stress
on joints and soft tissue, measurably reducing hock
swelling and noticeably lessening the fatigue
associated with transport.
Rumber is manufactured as tongue in grove boards,
approximately 6-inches wide. It is available in 6-inch
length increments up to 26 feet long. It is also
available as sheets.
Rumber is typically more expensive than both
aluminum and wood as flooring, but its durability and
physiological benefits ultimately provide a cost
effective alternative to aluminum and wood.
Rumber is installed over aluminum I-beams or
extruded aluminum “D” beams welded to the trailer’s
frame space at a maximum of 12-inch centers as
shown in the following pictures.
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Page 2 - HorseWheels Volume 1 Issue 6

HorseWheels
Your
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should
be here.
Call us 909-227-0202,
fax us 951-693-4964,
or email us hkatz@iinet.com.
For more information, call Rumber Materials, Inc. at
877-786-2371, visit their website www.rumber.com,
or send them an email to info@rumber.com.
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HorseWheels Volume 1 Issue 6 - Page 3