Building New Coop/Barn...Phase 5 Great Barn Build, OCCUPIED! 3/6/16

[The BlanchRanch]

Quote: Sound perfect. I have a small coop. I have thought about putting in old server fans to keep it cool in the summer.

 

[speckledhen]

Sound perfect. I have a small coop. I have thought about putting in old server fans to keep it cool in the summer.

One of my former coops has a small squirrel cage fan right in the wall to exhaust heat. It does help a lot. That bldg is being torn down so I may salvage that little fan or find another one. DH is an electronic tech so he has quite a few parts around, if we haven't already junked them.

 

[speckledhen]

Operation Mega Gutter: Phase II-the Roll-Up Door Side

This took 6 bags, which was all we had. We took it slightly around the back corner and smoothed it into the threshold of the roll-up door. Looking at it, the roof should drain right into this gutter, but we'll have to wait until the next rain to see if it really does and how much splashes back up. We'll do the back wall next and the "inside" rock wall last of all since that gets the least of the weather hitting it, being on the eastern side.

 

[1muttsfan]

Looks like a lot of work done there.

 

[speckledhen]

Looks like a lot of work done there.

...says my right arm, which is threatening to fall off any second. Trying to whipstitch binding to the back of a queen size quilt with a hot rice bad hanging over that shoulder. I did the shaping today to save DH's back (wearing a rubber kitchen glove, I might add). We have a stretch of nice weather to do this, thankfully. It's about 60* today.

 

[speckledhen]

Today was Phase III of Project Mega-Gutter. DH mixed it up and shoveled it on but I did every bit of shaping myself-ouchouchouchouch, my back and shoulders hurt! After that, I started taking apart the empty side of the building we're tearing down, the part where Deacon used to live before Isaac passed away and he took over his dad's hens. That was some real torture, trying to get out stripped screws everywhere. Had pics of that but somehow, they disappeared.

This is the back wall where it slopes down, the back gable end. We didn't dig down far like the other two sides, just sloped it away from the building, did a shallow gutter that empties into the side ones at each end.




This works pretty well for DH to drive his mower over.


Not looking forward to doing this last side, not much room to groove here.

 

[aart]

Oooo that last side....no where to stand/kneel.......yikes!
Is that just dirt/base gravel there?

Maybe it doesn't need concrete since it's gable side?

 

[speckledhen]

Oooo that last side....no where to stand/kneel.......yikes!
Is that just dirt/base gravel there?

Maybe it doesn't need concrete since it's gable side?

Yup, that's all there is after we pulled up the drain pipe, just clay and the paver base. The side we did today was a gable side but facing the west where our weather usually comes from. I thought about putting pipe back down on the rock wall side, this time with proper gravel, but what if it is a problem still? So, may have to just do the best we can do. We used so many bags of quikcrete already. Today's five bags were almost entirely sand, not much gravel to them like all others we've had-same mix, or supposed to be. Made us wonder if they put the wrong mix in the bags. It was more like what you'd use for brick mortar than concrete mix. Sure went down smooth, though.

DH's back is not doing well at all. I wish I could sell a quilt or something and I'd hire out some of the work, but no one is buying and of course, I don't have a bed quilt ready, only smaller items in the store. In between the outdoor manual labor, I am piecing a double size quilt but it will take a little while to have it completed and in the store.

 

[aart]

I'd wait and see...recover some, both physically and financially.
Now you need another raging downpour (so it probably won't until spring-haha!),
so you can watch the concrete ground gutters to see how they are working and if you need to do that last side.

 

[speckledhen]

I'd wait and see...recover some, both physically and financially.
Now you need another raging downpour (so it probably won't until spring-haha!),
so you can watch the concrete ground gutters to see how they are working and if you need to do that last side.

We have a 100% chance of rain on Monday, starts on Sunday evening, so shouldn't be long before they're tested. I just want the wet gravel/paver stuff inside to completely dry out finally. It's almost there now but if it leaks inside again, well, we're set back a bit. Hopefully, there's no way it can just pour in like it did before during our 4 day monsoon! I can't see how it could, not with what we've done. DH wants to fashion some window awnings/eyebrows for at least the back windows so we can keep them full open during rains w/o risking getting more wet inside the building, but it's slow-going, with him having to recover for days.

You did hit the nail on the head when you said "financially". This stuff adds up quickly. I have some supplies in the building we're taking apart but we don't want to use old, nasty stuff in there. I have some OSB sheets we can turn to the unused side and use them up high on the walls, but we probably need to get some new plywood for the lower walls up to the tops of the windows (about 7' high from the bottom of the framework).



ETA: I wanted to thank you for all your help and moral support, you especially, Anne, but all the other folks who check in on the thread to lend a hand. It's very much appreciated. Hey, I just passed 70K posts. I ought to shut the heck up, eh?