Micro Farm Coop Worklog [UPDATE: SHINGLES ON - PAGE 27]

[River Lizard]

Darkwolf,


I was looking at joist setup and noticed that you set the joist on the concrete blocks and not the main outside frame on the blocks. Here's the problem with mounting it that way, a joist is suppose to transfer the building load to the outside frame which is usually the foundation but in this case it's concrete blocks. What's happening now is your wall load (including the roof) is pushing it's load on the outside frame and those 2 joist are holding up the main load (which given time will fail or push the floor up)

Please don't take my word on it, do some online research on foundation loads and joist transfers. I believe you'll see what I'm talking about.

By the way, Good looking coop!!!

 

[DarkWolf]

I understand all that, but it's not as bad as you'd think. Because the entire floor is sheeted the loading is spread across all joists. The likelyhood of a failure in that situation is slim to none. That being said however it's always good to have a contingency plan. In the event of issues, it won't be any problem to jack the structure up and install 2-3 4x6 skids under it in order to spread the loading across the skids.

So I'm basically gambling, but my odds are good..

But.. I should have gone with the skids idea from the get-go, but chose not to for one reason or another. My greenhouse and garden shed will be built on rubble rock foundations, for sure. No playing around with those.. This, is just a chicken coop..

 

[River Lizard]

Darkwolf,

OK, as long as you're already aware of it (wasn't sure if you knew or not) and didn't want to see the end result of all your hard-work have problems down the road.
Look forward to see more photos of your coop!

 

[LavenderAndRoses]

Quote:
The same thing happened to us!

I bought a pair of chicks which were supposed to be buff orpingtons (pullets) turned out to be a red sex-link cockerel and pullet! We love them anyway!

 

[New adventure]

Hey, Dark Wolf, are you slackin' off? We haven't heard from you lately! If you don't finish your coop, there's no hope for people like me - I'm counting on you!

 

[Monk]

Very nice coop, quality work all the way!

 

[DarkWolf]

New adventure: LOL.. Just busy busy right now. The chickens have been enjoying the coop, regardless of the lack of run quite yet. Considering my sparse population it's not a problem.

I'm going to pick up some supplies to work on the run in the next couple days and I hope to have it underway by this weekend.

Monk: Thanks for the kudos.

 

[New adventure]

Dark Wolf, Just teasing you, thats how mine is too. The coop is secure and habitable, the birds are happy, and I haven't done a lick of work on it for almost a month. Now that the temps are close to 100, I might not do anything for another month! With gardening and my DD's wedding in 2 weeks, it's a busy summer.

 

[DarkWolf]

I know how that is... Well.. All except the wedding.

Garden is in and going full steam. Trying to clear out the attached garage to insulate it in prep for converting it to living space. Pesky mowing that needs done this time of year. Hard to squeeze in work..

Really am shooting for having it done soon though. Looking at picking up some more hens of laying age, so don't want them to be cooped (no pun) up so that any shift in the pecking order isn't severe.

 

[New adventure]

Geez, I knew I was forgetting something else!

I'd promised to clean out the garage and get rid of a bunch of stuff this summer! There's boxes I haven't unpacked in the 6 years we've lived here! No one else is brave enough to throw it out, so I have to deal with it someday. Oh, well, I'm the only one that does anything, so it can just wait!