Best roof

[buffslat]

I posted earlier in the thread where I am located. I know that it's not the actual roof providing the ventilation, but sometimes a certain design is more effective than another. This is what I'm wondering.

 

[perchie.girl]

I posted earlier in the thread where I am located. I know that it's not the actual roof providing the ventilation, but sometimes a certain design is more effective than another. This is what I'm wondering.

sorry I only read the first post .... I tend to go on the info under the avatar... my bad. I think the best design is one you can complete with the least amount of effort. I am a mechanical designer and I strive for simplicity to make things easier to manufacture. I love a shed roof for that. Because it takes a minimal amount of work on paper to make a successful project.

The only problem I can see with a shed roof is facing the high side toward the prevailing wind. I get 100 plus mph gusts here and I have a vertical wall that blocks that, kind of like how a western Town is built. My ventilation comes from the fact that my coop is a Vertical wall of plywood with Dog kennel panels on the lee side. And a roof of heavy duty 115 degree reflecting tarp.... LOL.

I envy those who can climb ladders and swing a hammer at the same time. I am old and broken and do with what i can build on my own because its up to me to do it. This doesn't mean I don't know how to build...

The short answer is there is no real best design only one that works for you. Make it simple and logical. You are the best one to decide what you need. And if it isnt enough you can add more vent holes. No the roof should be designed for the precipitaion you are going to expect.

deb

 

[Dutch552]

On my latest 8x8 coop I went with a shed roof with a 12" x 8' open eave area on each end to maximize the amount of ventilation I could get out of the structure. It has worked very well and was a lot quicker and easier to frame up working by myself than a traditional gable roof would have been.

 

[buffslat]

Deb, that was why I posted. You gave me something I hadn't thought of, high wind. I live on top of a hill and the wind can be pretty strong at times. Although I figured an 8x8 building would be a little heavy to blow over?

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I built my shed/coop with only rough pencil sketches and mostly scrounged materials. Mine is a simple shed roof (corrugated metal, which I LOVE). The high side is on the north and slopes down to the south. The roof joist ends are open at the present, but when the weather warms I plan to box in the vertical part of the joist ends, and tack up hardware cloth on the portion of the bottoms of the joists that hangs out over the walls. I did insulate the coop part, and covered the insulation on the inside with thin plywood. When I put up that plywood I made sure that there was a good gap at the wall/ceiling junctures, and made sure that the insulation between roof joists didn't come quite to the edges of the walls. This has seemed to work real well here. I also put two scrounged windows in the coop, a small insulated double-hung on the north side, and a large storm window only on the south side. For these cold months I taped plastic on the insides of the windows. On any sunny day the temp inside the coop will be a good 20-30 degrees warmer inside than it is outside due to solar gain. I plan to build an arbor just outside the southern window when weather permits, and will grow beans or something on it to shade the window for summer.

The things I LOVE about a metal roof? Snow slides right off, even with not much of a slope. There is NO maitenance. I used a creamy-white colored metal so it will reflect summer heat. It is EASY to install. (Just don't do what I did and try to install the roof in the rain... ladders get slick when wet and foot-bones break easily.............

 

[ScottM]

> I live in Southeast Missouri. Winter temps upper 20's to low 30's

In my area we are expecting lows of -13F and that will stay for several weeks. It often gets down to -22F for periods of time. Some people worry when it hits just drops below zero. But the wild birds wont do any better than what I'm creating for my birds.

If you have a breed of chickens that are 'all climate' then I wouldn't worry planning for lots of holes in the eves.

/Scott

 

[perchie.girl]

Deb, that was why I posted. You gave me something I hadn't thought of, high wind. I live on top of a hill and the wind can be pretty strong at times. Although I figured an 8x8 building would be a little heavy to blow over?

Here in San Diego we get winds called Santa Annas. They come from the low Desert cross the mountains and head for the ocean. I saw a whole shedrow of horse barn blow over once. We are talking ring of steel Corrugated 16 gauge roofs and Steel laminated plywood walls. Each stall was 12 x 12 and framed in square tubing 1.5 inch square. The row of stalls rested on cinder blocks. Without anchors. Six stalls flipped over. No one was hurt but dang the whole thing had to be disassembled repaired and reassembled with wind anchors.

I agree it was a freak accident but if you do have wind Make sure to set some posts on the corners to fasten it to. or use some concrete footings. I use Tposts pounded in so far you have to dig them out as anchors. (again something I can do) They also make shed anchors which are removable if you have to be able to move your shed.

have fun

deb

 

[Mahonri]

If you get high accumulation of snow in the winter, a slanted metal roof will help it 'slide'/melt off.

Both my coop and my grow out pen have shingles. But I really need to spray on some insulation on the inside to help keep out the searing heat of the summer.

 

[perchie.girl]

> I live in Southeast Missouri. Winter temps upper 20's to low 30's

In my area we are expecting lows of -13F and that will stay for several weeks. It often gets down to -22F for periods of time. Some people worry when it hits just drops below zero. But the wild birds wont do any better than what I'm creating for my birds.

If you have a breed of chickens that are 'all climate' then I wouldn't worry planning for lots of holes in the eves.

/Scott

Wow thats freaking cold.... LOL. Sounds like Alaska. I have chosen birds too that are suitable for my environment. I started with Guinea Fowl this time to get my watch dogs in place and my next two breeds are Welsumers and Sumatras. I may stop there but eventually want some Blue egg layers too. Most were or will be purchased from blood lines that are from local breeders.... with the exception of the Sumatras. But Sumatras are a hot climate bird genetically so we should be fine there.

deb Oh and

to all the new people

 

[buffslat]

My hope is to have my coop built on skids so I can move it around and always have fresh grass in the run. My plan is to have an 8x8 coop with a hoop coop for the run which will be 16x8. The coop and run will be able to be separated so they can be moved.