Converting an Old Shed

[DonyaQuick]

Poles starting to happen...3 in, 5 left. The remaining holes aren't obvious because they're covered with rocks to stop them from being toad traps.

You may be thinking...canister vac?? I too had doubts at first, but my husband did a combination pressure washer and canister vac to blast out the harder areas. Some large rocks still had to be pulled out but it worked. The poles will not stay that tall; I'm not 100% sure why he wanted them that long since he's going to cut them down a lot. There must be some other thing the cut pieces will get used for.

Drainage is doing its job well. Heavy but brief rain today and it was funneling a lot of water off down the far side of the shed. Most likely will need to put in some additional shallow drainage up by the run feeding into this ditch.

Meanwhile...angry broody is angry no matter how many dances Mr Cuddles Junior does for her.

 

[aart]

Drainage is doing its job well. Heavy but brief rain today and it was funneling a lot of water off down the far side of the shed. Most likely will need to put in some additional shallow drainage up by the run feeding into this ditch.

You'll need to dig a trench to drain the trench itself away from coop and run.

 

[DonyaQuick]

You'll need to dig a trench to drain the trench itself away from coop and run.

That's coming. Not 100% sure where we want it to go yet; straight shot down may not be the best since it has to be planned around another structure that's going to go in next year. For this year I'll probably just get to empty out a couple yards away from the shed, but so much water flows through it already during storms (which will only increase with the covered run dumping from the roof down the same side) I think it's ultimately going to have to go out to the edge of the field in one way or another to not create a bog.

 

[DonyaQuick]

More boards in. Still needs more vertical beams but needs the horizontal ones to help stabilize the outer ones through a coming storm and to help make sure the other four holes get dug out in the right place (they're started but not down to depth).

 

[DonyaQuick]

 

[DLA]

I'm converting an old shed on my property that used to be a coop back into one. In some respects it looks pretty horrible and at times I've wondered whether it was worth it, but actually most of the wood seems in good shape still. I thought I would start a thread both to get ideas on some aspects of the conversion as I encounter problems and to help motivate me to actually press on with it; I have some chronic joint issues that are making things harder than I'd hoped. It was completely filled to the brim with junk to begin with - some interestingly useful but most not. Last fall my husband worked to pull a lot out of there so he could store some tools, then the winter stalled things.

This is what I've got to start with. Those "doors" are going to have to go.
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I think I want the run to come off of one or both sides of the pic above/below. Prorbably the one below to start with...I'll likely end up having to start with just a kennel type thing for the run.
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Even ignoring blatant problems like no HWC over the big ventilation holes you can probably see a lot of the issues...siding is not great in places, roof is weirdly truncated on one side which lets snow in. I want to keep the ventilation both sides so I guess I need to add some vent covers; I don't think extending the rafters to make more roof will help significantly with stopping snow coming in. On the other side I can stop snow going in by adding something across the ends while still leaving the bottom open.

Then there's the inside...fun to be had with the roof being leaky.
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Fun to be had with these nasty rotten boards...and whatever Narnia land is under there...
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And then just...crud and more crud to tear out. I don't know what to do about that weird high shelf on the left. I could tear it out, but that's the side with the oddly truncated roof where it's going to be more of a challenge stopping snow getting in. So if I kept that shelf then I could have roosts under there that would have zero risk of any snow getting on chickens.
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Definitely doing to have to tear these cabinets out.
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And so, today I made one itty bitty little progress step from that image above: tore out the shelves. And now you can see the place where the old pop door was covered up! I don't think I will be using that for the pop door though.
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I really hope I haven't gotten in over my head with this project.

I just ran across this post. This is so strange. The old cluttered shed that needs cleaned out and repaired, having joint issues, and wondering if you're in over your head. I went thru exactly the same thing! From reading all the subsequent posts looks like you are making fine progress!
Here's something I did with my door that really helps with ventilation and I later added an awning over the door to keep the rain from blowing in.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I hate hardware cloth. I hate it. I hate it so much. Did I mention I hate hardware cloth?

And there's still more HWC to do...but progress has been good and my husband installed a great roof. He did an amazing job with the frame too.

We will have to cut out some on one HWC panel for the "chunnel" once built. The HWC was such a pain though that we decided to get it on, get it stretched, and then worry about removing bits as a second step.

I realize this has become somewhat of a diversion to the shed itself but the shed became a real puzzle with how to deal with that rotten door header so my husband and I worked on this part for a bit instead. The plan is currently that, once a bit more HWC and doors go on, it can serve as a daytime space for some young pullets while the sheed is done up. Then once the shed is done and chunnel connected, main flock can join.

Shed steps left to do:
- a bit of work left on the big door header (on the side adjacent to the white ones)
- new big doors
- repaint
- Finish that snow protection plan for the overhang-less area I posted a while back and fill gaps with HWC
- Linoleum the floor
- Chunnel

I just ran across this post. This is so strange. The old cluttered shed that needs cleaned out and repaired, having joint issues, and wondering if you're in over your head. I went thru exactly the same thing! From reading all the subsequent posts looks like you are making fine progress!
Here's something I did with my door that really helps with ventilation and I later added an awning over the door to keep the rain from blowing in. View attachment 3613332

That's a nice door! The doors for the run will be sort of like that. Those are my job for the holiday tomorrow so we'll see what janky mess I end up with lol. but I have to keep everything on the shed itself pretty solid I think, focusing mostly up high for ventillation. With the way snow drifts around I'd need a pretty big awning to keep it out of a mesh door anywhere on the shed and also will want to minimize winds coming in low for the winter.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Inspector Monster on the scene.

The HWC will not stay like that on the bottom; it'll get boards sanwiching the bottom and then the skirt portions will get covered up with something eventually.. Just had such big pieces it made sense to roll it out to mostly complete the predator apron (which just needs some patches at the corners and for doorways).

 

[DonyaQuick]

Run doors on...although I only did the HWC and hinges after some discussion of the amazing 11.25in vs 11.75in thing I did with the small shed doors.

HWC is on all panels of the run except the little tippy top rectangles. I've done 4 so far (2 back and 2 front on the left side) and they're fast to do, so can probably finish them in a couple hours, but now I have to look for a gap in the comming days of rain and more rain if I don't want to play on slippery ladders...which I don't really.

 

[DonyaQuick]

HWC gaps filled all around and corner skirt patches done. Still needs those bottom boards screwed in (the long extra planks that are in the previous photos), but it's good enough for a daytime/supervised pullet play pen for my 6 little olive eggers while waiting on that.