Authentic Woods KD (Knock Down) 10' by 16' Coop Build

[Ted Brown]

Just got back from my Sunday morning shopping trip. John (miller) was true to his word and had my battens and frame materials (2" by 3" pine).

A note: I had wondered about the 2" by 3" rough cut frame materials specified by Woods in his book. John pointed out that there was more "beef" in the 2" by 3" than a store bought 2" by 4" (actually 1.5" by 3.5") from a big box. I did the calculation, he is correct, a foot of the 2" by 3" contains 72 cubic inches of wood, a foot of store bought is 63 cubic inches. I have no worries that the Woods materials specs will produce a very solid building.

Pictures tell the tale, note that all the wood in the trailer (100 ten foot battens, 24 ten foot 2" by 3" and 7 12 foot 1" by 4" strapping) cost me $100CDN. All materials so far is $380. Pictures below show my last load of 1" by 6" pine boards off loaded at home, the battens and frame material in John's yard and some of him cleaning up his yard.

Happy I am!!

 

[Ted Brown]

Off loaded battens and framing materials along side of 2nd load 1" by 6" pine boards, 1st load in background behind blower.

1, 2, 3 GO!

 

[sofboiledeggsusan]

Just got back from my Sunday morning shopping trip. John (miller) was true to his word and had my battens and frame materials (2" by 3" pine).

A note: I had wondered about the 2" by 3" rough cut frame materials specified by Woods in his book. John pointed out that there was more "beef" in the 2" by 3" than a store bought 2" by 4" (actually 1.5" by 3.5") from a big box. I did the calculation, he is correct, a foot of the 2" by 3" contains 72 cubic inches of wood, a foot of store bought is 63 cubic inches. I have no worries that the Woods materials specs will produce a very solid building.

Pictures tell the tale, note that all the wood in the trailer (100 ten foot battens, 24 ten foot 2" by 3" and 7 12 foot 1" by 4" strapping) cost me $100CDN. All materials so far is $380. Pictures below show my last load of 1" by 6" pine boards off loaded at home, the battens and frame material in John's yard and some of him cleaning up his yard.

Happy I am!!

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[sofboiledeggsusan]

it is great to follow your project this way...brings a smile to my egg-covered face!

 

[Ted Brown]

A day later than hoped but actual build is started. I spent about 2.5 hours this afternoon, will plan for 3 hours per section average so about 42 hours for the 14 sections. I will keep track and see how close I come. Assembly will be additional to that.

I have started with section "A" from the Woods book (when I looked that up I realized I have put the initial two exterior boards on the wrong side so will have to re-do). For my build this will be the side on which the run, and therefore the pop door, will be.

I started by cutting and laying out the 2" by 3" frame boards. I made a few mistakes on the vertical end boards and the top sloping board; I was working from the diagrams in Chapter III and discovered that they are not detailed enough to simply use the measurements and do square cuts. Angled cuts are needed and this means the measurements are sometimes longer/shorter than specified. (I may make a set of notes to identify these differences in case someone might choose to replicate my approach.)

This mistake caused me to adjust how the top sloped board is fitted, mine is inside the verticals rather than over top. The loose fit pictures below illustrate.



Full loose fit layout shot. Note nothing is attached together, this will occur as a result of the exterior boards being attached. The middle board does two things: adds rigidity to the section; provides the support for roosts. This board is 2" 9" from the bottom of the section, a second 36" to 48" board will be attached 12 inches up from bottom to support the dropping board.

 

[Ted Brown]

Once I had the frame cut and laid out I cut a couple of exterior boards and one batten. As I said I will have to remove these and put them on the other side. Note that this is another nuance that is not talked about in the Woods book - one needs to think about which side of the frame the exterior boards go! Please excuse my ugly feet.

 

[Ted Brown]

I have a guy with a portable mill coming in tomorrow. He will cut my hydro poles and some additional logs I have laying around to give me what I will need to complete the pole shed frame and do the support beams that the coop will sit on (will be elevated off the ground by 2'). Pictures of this tomorrow.

 

[sofboiledeggsusan]

good pics

 

[Ted Brown]

Rod (guy with portable mill) just left. I started with:



The large pile is wood that I will block and split for firewood, I used two maples from this pile to make two 16' 4" by 4" squares for each side of the frame foundation for the coop.

The rest are western cedar hydro poles that I had cut up to be used for the upper frame structure of the pole shed that I am in process of building along with the coop build.

 

[Ted Brown]

The following pictures show the mill in action and the end results; total cost was $250CDN



I got:

1. Ten 6 foot 4" by 4" squares to be used as in-ground verticals to hold the frame foundation two feet off the ground.
2. Eleven 12 foot 2" by 6" boards to be used for horizontal braces at the upper part of the eight verticals forming the pole shed.
3. Four 16 foot 4" by 6" "squares" to be used as the main pole to pole roof support beams.
4. Twelve 10 foot or longer 4" by 4" squares to be used as the cross members for the frame foundation to support the coop.
5. Two 16 foot 4" by 4" squares to be used as the side members for the frame foundation.

The squares in number 5 above are maple,#2 is pine and the rest is western cedar.

I calculated the cost of same from my normal miller John, his total would be $642.10CDN.

Very happy I am!!