Reinforcing my coop exterior walls, what to use? Advice please!

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Noymira

Noymira

Songster
8 Years
Mar 9, 2011
978
5
121
Chittenden County, VT
My shed (soon to be coop) has OSB exterior walls. There are a few worn and soft spots near the bottom I think are a little weak. I would love to reinforce the walls from the outside but what should/could I use?

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Can or should I put a second layer of OSB or something else over the lower half of the exterior walls? Or would I be better off cutting out just the worst spots and replacing them? Should I reinforce with wire?

I also have quite a bit of pressure treated lumber around, but most of it is shorter lengths of 2-4' and 3-5' from a swing set I picked up. I would love to know if anyone has any ideas for that? I was planning on making some small raised covered beds to make a bit of a salad bar for my run, but there's more than I need for just that.

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OSB is not a good siding material. (It is ok if it has really weatherproof siding OVER it, but not when itself is exposed to the elements).

Honestly your best bet would be to rip it off and replace with plywood.

If you don't want to do that, if you just want to patch, your most predatorproof and durable solution would be metal siding (like the stuff used for roofing only it can be lighter gauge if desired). You *can* just put more OSB on, as patch or doubled up, but the same thing will happen to it; plus which, if you have those rotted spots, you probably have other spots that are merely weakened and that you won't know about unless a predator finds them *for* you.

Or I suppose you could cut out those spots and then put vinyl siding on the whole shed.

To me, replacing with 1/2" plywood (you can paint it whatever color you want) would be simpler and probably cheaper though.

Just save the p/t wood bits, you'll have 'em when you need 'em. Like for short garden fenceposts. No point in wasting them when not required.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat
 
I was thinking that grooved plywood..that would look nice..maybe it actually has a name...but I know you will know it when you see it.
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x2 what Pat said.

OSB doesn't hold up to wet weather. We use T-111 an exterior grade 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. Still needs a coat of paint.

Until you change to the plywood, if you choose to do so, the PT wood is better than the osb. Where the current rot is is the most water exposure so the PT would hold up to that weathering.

If you need to keep the OSB, go over it with a nail and hammer. Try to nail into the OSB, move a few inches and try again, creating a grid over the entire sheet; you are looking for the soft spots that indicate rot. Use a sharpie (marker)to keep track of the progress and soft spots. THen you'll know what needs replacing with the PT.

Looks like a nice big shed! GL
 
Thanks everyone, more for me to research and price out. I've checked the shed over a lot since the snow has melted and the OSB has dried out more and there does not appear to be any rot, yet. But I do want to add some sort of protection, I think a determined predator would be able to get through if they really wanted to. I've been checking prices of plywood and the pressure treated is looking to be about $30 a sheet around here vs. $15 a sheet for non pressure treated. Would the non pressure treated work with a good primer/sealer and paint coat?

I really am dedicating the bulk of my pretty limited budget to get decent wire for a good sized run, so any creative ideas on siding the shed would be great! I'm not too concerned about cosmetics right now if I can use what's lying around.

I do also have these garage door panels, could I do anything with them? I was going to use them inside the coop to cover the insulation, but I can find something else that will work for that when we get to that part of the project this fall. I have some metal roofing panels and vinyl siding that's lying around too, but I'm still digging through piles of each to see what I have. The previous owner (my dad) was a contractor and left behind lots of random material.
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Painted regular plywood is pretty weather proof. You could also try the 5 inch wide fence boards that are pressure treated. Placed horizontally and overlapped like lap siding. Here they run 1-2$ for a 5inch x 6 ft board.
 
Quote:
Oh for sure use plain (non-p/t) exterior-grade plywood. (Do make sure it is EXTERIOR). P/t is totally unnecessary for siding. If you like the look of the grooved T-111, you can always paint lines onto your plain plywood...
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Or, if you want a temporary fix, and there will be no mammalian livestock in this enclosure, you could just screw some of that spare roof tin you mentioned over the deteriorated spots, and save up for actual T-111 if you really have your heart set on it. (Personally I like plain plywood better, it is a bit more durable, but <shrug> nothing *wrong* with T-111)

If you were going to just patch it for now and wait a year or two to do a tearoff and replacement, it would not be a terrible idea to splash some paint on the OSB. Doing it now won't do AS much good as it'd have done to paint it when first built, but if it may be A While before the walls are replaced, paint can still extend the life of the OSB even now. Any kind of discarded mistint is fine. If you can find some free leftover primer, you can use that instead or mix it with leftover/mistint paint, it will adhere somewhat better and give as good protection.

Those garage door pieces look quite useful but probably not for this project, save 'em for where you can really do them credit
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Good luck, have fun,

Pat
 

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