![[Company Logo Image]](images/logo.gif){kind=logo}
Toll Free 888-327-6474
|
Toll Free 888-327-6474
|
|
|
Frequently Asked Questions Won’t I have to occasionally pull the grid up and clean under it? No, the grid is a permanent installation. You will just spray through it with a hose sprayer for occasional cleaning or disinfecting as you would in any barn. Why doesn't a stall floor smell bad with the urine just sitting under the grid? Stable Grid floor is exposed to air, thus it doesn’t have a smell like stalls with rubber mats. The urine goes through the floor and rock base and is absorbed into the ground. How will I clean my stall without the fork getting hung on the grids? Stable Grid has a locking border design. The grids cannot move sideways or up and down like the ones that don’t lock. The floor does not wave. Your floor will be perfectly level so it will be like cleaning a level dirt floor. The fork will glide across the entire area if you keep your plastic fork at the proper angle. Your literature says that the savings in bedding will pay for the grids. Does that mean I won’t have to use bedding with your system? You bed the stall as if it were a dirt or clay floor. A dense wood product is an excellent choice and don't skimp! You just won’t have to remove wet bedding so the bedding last a long, long time. I have seen some grid floors that get sort of wavy and are hard to clean. Why do you say this won’t happen with Stable Grid? Stable Grid has a border around the entire panel which buts up against each other and locks. Once the grids are attached, it is very, very difficult to take them back apart (and not recommended as it could cause damage if done incorrectly). This system does not allow horizontal or vertical movement of the grids. If the grids do not lock, the weight of a horse can cause one of the panels to go down and force the adjoining panel to rise giving a stair step appearance. If the grids have a loose connection or horizontal connection, the grids can start to wave in the same way that boards tied together do not necessarily stay straight. I have seen another grid that appeared to be softer or rubbery. Wouldn’t that be better for my horse? The weight of a horse will feel the shock absorbing qualities of Stable Grid. If the grid is soft enough to flop around or be compressed considerably under 100 lbs., it cannot maintain it's shape and will permit the floor to become unlevel. Stable Grid is firm enough to hold it’s shape without borders and yet it still has shock absorbing properties and is flexible enough to mold over hills, etc. Can I drive over the grid unfilled with machinery to drop fill material? Yes, we test every production run – empty on concrete with over 25,000 lbs driven over it and it will compress some but once the machinery is removed it comes right back to it’s original shape. The grid must be on a good base! Why don’t you have dealers and/or distributors? That would make freight more reasonable in my area. . .Quite simply, it would raise the price and it would be a headache. If a dealer/distributor buys grid at the wholesale price, which is our regular price now, they would also have to pay shipping. You would pay them the same price you can buy directly from us for, plus a considerable markup, plus shipping so it would cost you as much as our competitors are charging, or even more. In addition, distributors usually act as a middleman for several items and are not that customer service oriented. We like to keep track of our customer base to ensure that they are happy with their purchase. Dealers/Distributors care more about the customer before the sale and not so much after as they don’t really have a stake in the company that they represent. We pride ourselves in our customer service before, during and well after the installation. You really can’t pay someone else to take that kind of an interest. As many of you have already found out, there are importers and distributors out there that are very underhanded, rude and lack business integrity! What does it mean when you say that Stable Grid is a self contained system? Stable Grid has a secure locking mechanism. It does not need walls or a wooden form to stay together. There are no rough or open edges – the grid has a smooth, solid border. Why does Stable Grid have small squares in the pattern? Stable Grid has small cells and ¾” squares to give the system added strength and load bearing capacity. The small squares also ensure that the grid panel does not lose its shape. Compare our design to the competitors and you will see the difference. More cells, smaller cells, more strength. Does Stable Grid have anything on the bottom to keep if from moving? Stable Grid does not have any prongs or prickers. We have stabilizing bars on the bottom which seat into the base and tiny cleats on the top surface to give added traction initially. We have no sharp edges on the grid at all. I want to buy an American Made product but how do I tell? Other companies say they are American because they are sold here. If the grid does not come in standard US measurement, it or the mold are probably not American. Stable Grid does not have any European affiliations, partners or licenses. (Your competitor) says your product is inferior that's why it cost less! We hear this all day long. What else would they say? They have disguised themselves many times to try and get a sample with no luck! We have sold to horse owners, cattle owners, llama owners, kennel owners, residential developers, commercial developers, homeowners, landscapers, civil engineering projects, and the federal and local government . Our product is a HDPE or LLDPE which is more expensive in raw materials and more expensive to produce. Our product is less expensive because we have no middle men. We sell to the end user for the same price we would sell to a distributor or dealer if we wanted to structure our company that way. For every distributor, dealer, sales rep, etc. the price has to go up. It is much better to say their cost is higher because their product is "superior" or "the original" than to say they expect you to pay several salaries with your order. When I typed in your name, the (competitor) site came up. Yes that is another game. This is how competitors play when they can’t compete legitimately. This company has many distributors so they can’t compete price wise with a company that sells factory direct. 97% of our business comes from customer referrals. It must not be the case for them. Other companies tell me to allow for waste. Why do you say there will probably be no waste? Stable Grid is 1.5’x 2’ which usually fits an area exactly. In the rare instance that you have an odd size stall (or other area), you can cut the entire edge off after connection and leave it connected to use as the starting row for the next stall. If you don't have another stall to complete, use the leftover strip around a water tub, gate or other muddy area. How long does it take to install grid in a 12x12 area? Excluding the base and fill, it takes 5-15 minutes for one person. If it is your first stall, it will probably take 15 minutes and if you have already become familiar with it, it will take about 5 minutes. Where do you advertise? We do very little advertising. We are listed on several internet sites and advertise in several publications sporadically. We also exhibit in a number of expos. 97% of our sales base are referred by our customers! Why does it require force to snap Stable Grids together? The grids do take some force to snap - that is why they don't come apart. If they have an easy snap or just slide together, they will come apart just as easily. Why do some of the pictures on your web show wood under the grid? The grids have locking snaps. Depending on your base, and if it has any give, you may have to put a board under the joint while stepping down. If you do run into that problem, you can snap the entire section together on firm ground or concrete and then carry the complete section to the stall, etc. If it doesn't come apart in the air - it won't come apart on the ground. There is someone advertising that they are a distributor/dealer for Stable Grid – is that true? No. We do not have any distributors, dealers or sales people. We are not affiliated in any way with any other grid company. We are not sold under any other name/names. We do have a number of barn builders, landscapers, home builders, etc. that are licensed to sell the grid as a part of their overall installed project. In any other case, beware, it is not Stable Grid. Unfortunately with the web, it is very easy to pretend to be a legitimate business. Websites are easy to build. Some people even build websites of companies they are not affiliated and later attempt to sell leads to the company. Do your research when you talk to someone. You may find that they are a waiter or gas station attendant with time to play on the computer. One of your competitors says HDPE is brittle and your grid is a cheap immitation of their "original grid". What else would they say? They also claim they are the "original equine grid" when their grid was not designed for horses, it was an afterthought years later. When you constantly redesign your product, you can hardly call it "original". We could use LDPE easily. It is less expensive than HDPE and readily available. HDPE is a flexible material, it is just stronger than LDPE. We have never had a piece break. We are a manufacturer, not a distributor, and if LDPE was the better material, it would be simple to use it. It would give us a greater profit margin. As a distributor, they are stuck with what they have thus they are limited to trying to pass themselves off as an "original" and everyone else as an imposter. If you will notice, they also have numerous names for their "one" product. All of the names are very, very similar to every other manufacturer. We are horse people and we have driveways and yards. Our grid system was developed for our use as well as our customers. We were originally a distributor for a German product which was an expensive disappointment. Update: Stable Grid System is now manufactured in both HDPE and LLDPE. There is now a choice. One of your competitors says if I use your grid, I'll be sorry - it will have to be pulled up. We hear this a lot. Actually, if you use our grid, they will be sorry. They keep telling people our grid will have to be pulled up but they don't say when. We had 16 stalls and several gates of a competitors grid that actually did have to be pulled up in less than a year. It came apart, sagged and curled up. Why do you recommend against using gravel in the grid system? It does not pack. If you want to use gravel you should look for a grid with a solid bottom or a concrete grid. The grid system will keep the gravel from moving horizontally but there are many variables within the ground beneath. Any movement in the base from an earthquake, animal tunnel, frost heaves, etc. will give the gravel an opportunity to get under the grid system. This will cause the surface to become uneven. I keep seeing that your product is a cheap American imitation and you use deceptive marketing practices to try and steal business from the "original" grid. The person boasting this information also claims to be an engineer. Unless being a waiter and "Quickie Mart" cashier makes you an engineer, this is not true. There was a legal cease and desist on this person from the original importer of the "original" grid. He builds websites for companies without their knowledge or consent and then tries to sell leads to the company. Our product was engineered and prototyped in 2000, long before "the original" was on the market here. Our product has no similarities with that product in design, ability to stay connected, or strength. We made minor changes to our design prior to our actual production start to eliminate the problems we had with the imported grid. Our original prototypes have been in use since 2000. The idea of geo textile is not new. The marketing strategy of this company is interesting. They have numerous names for their product, many of which are within 2 letters of being a competitors name. They insist that all American products are inferior because obviously all Americans are idiots and then they expect Americans to buy their product. The name they are using now has been owned by our company since 2003, long before they used the name and they were aware of this. They also refer to themselves as the "original" equine grid flooring which is not true. Their product was not designed for livestock, that is why the cells are so large. We were the first ones to use their product as stall flooring according to the original importer and it was an expensive lesson. The floor became wavy, the pieces came apart and entire tiles were pawed up. They advertise as HDPE in some places and LDPE in some places. They sell on a multi-level marketing system so there are several mark ups before you get the product. There are several geo textile grids that have been used for livestock longer than them, they are not an original anything. Our product has been compared to their product time and time again and it wins. Our product has smaller cells, less expansion, more strength, a better price, no middlemen, and is owned, operated and manufactured right here in the US. If he really were an engineer, he would know that the strength is in the design. We did not copy their product. Our product is superior to the imported product in every way. America is the BEST Country in the World, support our troops and our industry. |
|
Send mail to
info@stable-grid.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
