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As always, any work carried out through a Department of Agriculture scheme such as TAMS II has to meet certain standards. Farmers should be aware of this when carrying out work to ensure they receive full grant payment for a completed investment. The minimum specifications for building work and materials can be found on the Department’s website. Certain materials in the construction of a shed need to be listed and pre-approved by the Department. For example, the Department operates a no-stamp, no-grant policy for roof cladding. Also concrete slats, plastic slats, precast concrete beams, precast slabs and precast hollow core slabs will not be eligible for grant aid unless they are listed on the Department’s accepted manufacturers list.
Here are some updated specifications that farmers undertaking building work should be aware of.
Concrete
The minimum specification for concrete is listed under S100. There are two strength classes of concrete given in this specification:
The Department says that those two grades will be the only ones permitted to be used in agricultural buildings.
Concrete for silos, silage aprons and effluent store
Because of the corrosive nature of silage effluent, this is the strongest specification. The Department specifies that if you are ordering concrete for walled silos, silage aprons, silo channels and purpose-built silage effluent tanks from a producer, it should have a 28-day cube crushing strength of 45N/mm².
When ordering, they say to use the “S.100 Mix A” form or request 45N concrete with 360kg/m3 cement minimum, 0.5 maximum water-cement ratio and slump (workability of fresh concrete) class S2 or S3. The concrete has to be certified to IS EN 206 standard.
Concrete for all other purposes
For all other purposes including slurry tanks where silage effluent might be directed, concrete should be purchased with a 28-day cube crushing strength of 37N/mm².
When ordering this mix from a producer, a “S.100 Mix B” form should be used or request 37N concrete with 310kg/m3 cement minimum, 0.55 water cement ratio maximum, and slump class S2 or S3, certified to IS EN 206, for use to Specification S.100.
Power lines
The Department says due to the complex criteria involved, where buildings are proposed within 35 metres of the centre of any overhead power line, the landowner must contact ESB Networks in advance to determine the specific minimum building clearance requirement.
Ventilation
The specifications for ventilation of sheds can be found under S101 on the Departments website. According to the Department, inlet ventilation must be provided directly under the eaves for the full length of each side of the house, or the lower side of a mono-pitched house.
This involves having an unobstructed gap of 450mm provided in houses up to 15m wide. This gap increases to 600mm deep in houses up to 24m wide and 750mm deep for larger houses.
The Department says a roof overhang of 400mm is recommended when an unobstructed inlet ventilation is used. Where vented sheeting is used, there must be an unobstructed opening of at least 300mm above the 1.5m vented sheeting in buildings over 15m wide and less than 24m wide.
This opening must be increased to not less than 450mm for buildings over 24m wide. Where sliding doors are present on sidewalls, the inlet ventilation requirements for that sidewall must also apply to the sliding doors. For example, if ventilated side cladding is present, then the doors must also incorporate this form of cladding. This also applies to unobstructed ventilation: the top part of the door must be left open.
The Department specifications say spaced (Yorkshire) boarding or fabric/plastic mesh can also be used in the side of a shed. These must be installed with a minimum depth of 1.5m along the full length of the house. Boarding must consist of treated timber laths secured at the top to roof timber and at the bottom to a 150 x 75mm cladding rail. Laths must be 25mm thick and a maximum width of 75mm. Gaps between laths must be at least 25mm. Spaced boarding may also be installed in place of gable cladding.
Agitation points
Farmers should be aware that a safety notice must be securely fixed beside every new agitation point. The Department says the notice should be as close to the agitation point as possible. The sign must be not less than 490mm wide by 410mm high, and must be printed on an aluminium alloy board.
Scraped passage outlets
The Department also updated the specifications for automatically scraped passageways. It says where an automatic/mechanical scraper scrapes slurry through an opening in a wall to an uncovered slurry tank, the opening must be no more than 25mm higher than the height of the scraper blade. The width of the opening must be no greater than the width of the scraped passage.
Additionally, a steel hoop, minimum 16mm diameter, must be attached to the wall at 1.2m above passage level to keep animals away from the opening. The hoop must extend for the width of the passage and protrude 300mm into the passageway and have a solid cover over it to prevent animals’ legs from going down inside the hoop. If it is necessary to have the opening higher than 25mm above the scraper blade, then a slatted area must be constructed directly behind the wall, with a safety fence or a mass concrete wall constructed around the slatted area.
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