Attaching Polycarbonate roof to cattle panel?

[R Wind]

We're new to chickens, building a first 6.5x8ft coop with walls of old cedar fence panels. (Extremely well worn, 30 years old. I don't think cedar oil will be a problem at this point. )

We're trying to build this with materials on hand for the most part. We're screwing this together with brackets at corners and floor, because we're thinking we'll move soon and want to disassemble the panels and take it all with us in a pickup truck.

We've gotten to the roof system, and I'm thinking -- in aide of light weight and movability -- that we'll build:
-- an extension above the front wall;
-- build similar triangular sections above the side walls;
-- cover all with hardware cloth.
And then rather than rafters, make a sloped roof/ flat platform atop those open-air sections, made of a cattle panel. Should be stiff enough.

We have a source of inexpensive polycarbonate wavy roof panels. Does anyone have an idea for attaching the poly to the top of the cattle panels? (We know we could add purlins but it adds weight and cost.) We've not worked with polycarbonate roof panels before.)

More details below. Would appreciate suggestions. Thanks!

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So far the floor and walls are in:
Concrete block piers.
Two large heavy-duty pallets with 10" wide oak floor boards.
Plan to cover the floor with a layer of 1/8" fiberglass wall paneling for washability.
Four walls of the old fence panels (on three rails).

People door on one side; chicken door on another. I have a layout and concept drawing.

It's under elm and oak trees; should be shaded. We have, hot humid Summers, a few cold spells in winter not too often down into the teens. (But we do occasionally have a colder spell, such as the 2F abnormality this year.)

I'll also need suggestions on ventilation. We'll have to add one or more windows. Not decided where to place them yet.


There are sizeable gaps between the old fence boards. We thought on the bottom 30 inches (up to the middle rail) to add battens to stop drafts. On the top two feet between rails we are planning on stapling hardware cloth, allowing that extra bit of ventilation.

 

[AOrchard]

I've not worked with wavy panels before, lots of experience with flat, but my first thought is to use wire to weave through the cattle panel, then go over the top of the poly panel in a valley, and tie tightly, making a loop. Another option is drill two holes in the poly on each side of a cattle panel line, push bolts through, and then use a metal bracket and nuts on the underside, to sandwich the cattle panel between the bracket and the poly. That'll give a tighter hold, but will require caulking of each bolt, or rubber gaskets, or something else to keep the holes waterproof.

 

[R Wind]

@AOrchard, ty vm for the reply and thoughts. I am struggling with using the poly now it comes down to it because like you, I don't see a way around piercing it which is so anti-waterproofing, lol. Other than framing a panel.

p.s. I had a thought about the roof under-structure after I wrote this. Could just extend some T-post sections or angle iron sections vertically above the walls (we have some old bed frame rails) and make a sloped cage of cattle panel for the whole roof system. Still have to cover it.

I need to look at a whole lot more of the 2500 chicken coops on this site!

 

[AOrchard]

I am struggling with using the poly now it comes down to it because like you, I don't see a way around piercing it which is so anti-waterproofing, lol.

I'm not sure how to apply this to wavy polycarbonate with the cattle panel, but for my flat panel roofs, I have a piece of wood that the polycarb is drilled into, and the wood runs the length of the panel in the angled direction. 95% of the water that goes through the holes runs down the wood and drips off the end simply by virtue of gravity. The water prefers to follow the wood down to the end, rather than dripping in the middle. I didn't do any waterproofing on the holes actually, but that wood piece was enough to make the difference. Maybe there is a way to augment your support structure so that when the water does come through it's funneled off to one end?

 

[AOrchard]

For example, could you cut off a one foot section of wavy polycarb, and attach that underneath the cattle panel below where you puncture the roofing panel? Use that one foot section kind of as like a gutter, so any water that comes through is drained away (or drained into a waterer for the animals, if more creative).

 

[R Wind]

From your previous post, I was thinking gutters to catch drips under the nail. But this is way complicated.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Here's a thought: Attach strips of cheap 1" x 2" boards across the cattle panel, held in place by wire or small U brackets or what-have-you. Then screw the polycarb panels to the 1x2's, using roofing screws with the rubber gasket.

Or rip down some of your cedar fence planks and use those instead of 1x2's

 

[R Wind]

Here's a thought: Attach strips of cheap 1" x 2" boards across the cattle panel, held in place by wire or small U brackets or what-have-you. Then screw the polycarb panels to the 1x2's, using roofing screws with the rubber gasket.

Or rip down some of your cedar fence planks and use those instead of 1x2's

TY BarnyardChaos. I think that's the most doable. It would be still light weight, too.

Really appreciate the ideas, it's helping me think. If we were to under-lay one of the wavy wooden strips meant to provide nailing and an edge closure for these roof panels, and in a similar fashion attach it to the cattle panel (instead of to roof rafters), would that work better than 1x2's or lath boards? I don't know how thick these closure strips are, but I caught sight of a DIY "make your own wavy closure strips" in passing and I assume with a bandsaw or jigsaw, you could cut them out of a piece of dimensional lumber to match the profile of your roofing panel. If it's worth the time. For a 6.5ft x 8ft building, we surely don't need that many.

 

[R Wind]

I typed the following before I mulled over the 1x2 suggestion above.

There are no more cheap 1x2 boards around here, sigh. No cheap boards of any kind. I will need some for battens for the bottom 30" or so, too. I need to check a real lumber yard in another nearby town or a cedar sawmill nearby - the big box stores want $3.61 for a subpar cedar fence picket here.

Hmm. I have some free old pallets and could rip pallet boards for both battens and purlins.

You know, we tend to ignore the wood in the form of cut down branches all around us. But I saw some perches made of tree limbs on this forum yesterday. We cleared a semi-wooded overgrown section of the yard and some lower hanging limbs for this chicken coop. I wonder if I could repurpose some long straight limbs as similar purlins.

Wild brainstorming... If my better half wanted to spend the time, he could weld a tab with a drilled hole onto the cattle panel at intervals for bolts. Or how about cheap plumber's hanging strips that already have the holes drilled? I guess then you'd have to drill corresponding holes in the poly or sheet metal roofing panels. That's all a lot of work. I think the purlins of 1x2's or of wavy closure strips if we can get them makes the most sense.

 

[Tonyroo]

With the materials suggested for the roof. I can only think of one product that will make it permanent. It's a product called (liquid nail glue) it's sold at big box hardware stores. But requires a 24 hour curing.