Coop Flooring ?

[zekii]

Still in the building phase...We put treated plywood down for the floor, and are planning to use linoleium/vinyl sheet flooring to cover the plywood...
anyone here using this setup, and if so anything we should be aware of pros/cons ? We are going to put some insulation in the walls, and cover with plywood also, so have considered running some of the linoleum flooring up the walls maybe 8 inches...would this be a good idea also...anyone here done this also? Any other options for flooring material that would be helpful for house cleaning the coop ?

 

[darkmatter]

I recommend dirt flooring with DLM, see my BYC page.

 

[zekii]

We live in an area with extremes of temperature, so don't think a dirt floor will work for us. We are going to start with the deep litter method for floor covering. Also will have dropping boards under the roosts.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
IMO (I have some pens with linoleum over plywood, and some with just plain primered-OSB-over-cement-slab) it really does not make much difference to use vinyl flooring unless either a) you plan on using as little depth of bedding as possible, in which case the vinyl is somewhat worth it to make poo easier to clean off the floor, or b) you plan on hosing the coop out regularly, which honestly I myself see *no* point in.

Note that if you ARE going to be hosing, you had better be darn sure your vinyl flooring has a watertight seal around all edges and no cracks develop, because when it turns out it doesn't and they do (as WILL happen in time), you will get bad rot problems started underneath it. This only matters in the long run, though, and less of an issue with treated plywood than with plain; so it depends how long a life you're planning for your structure.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[crazyhen]

I have had a dirt floor and now have a plywood floor covered in vinyl flooring. I love it. Not as smelley and the wood shavings and straw stay dry and clean much longer. I like to add the straw occ. just because it smells good. My hens love to scratch in it too. I throw them some scratch in there in bad weather and it gives them something to do. I put shavings on the poop board because they absorb the moisture better and are quicker to clean off. Also I have vinyl below the shavings. Makes it easy to scrap off any hardened poop too. Gloria Jean

 

[cometchicky]

I have a plywood floor with hardware cloth then linoleum and I love it. It makes clean-up easy and adds just a little more insulation since the hen house is 18" off the ground. The linoleum covers the floor then comes up the wall 8-10". WE put a thin wood trim around the wall to seal the hardware cloth and linoleum. We were thinking of rodent protection when we put the hardware cloth down. It probably isn't necessary but we got a remnant and it wasn't expensive..

 

[zekii]

Quote:
Did you nail & glue the linoleum down, or just glue it ?

This is exactly what we're going to do, except we won't be using any hardware cloth on the floor.

 

[cometchicky]

We nailed it down. It went down very quickly.

I made the really stupid mistake of buying the chicks before the hen house was up, so anything that sped up the building project was a blessing.

 

[JackE]

I used rubberized roof coat I got at LOWES. You put that down, and you don't have to worry about seams or gaps where it meets the walls. Alot easier that fitting and cutting linoleum. Totally waterproof, if it works for roofs, You can't go wrong using it for a chicken house floor.
Jack

 

[TajMahalChickens]

I have a plywood floor covered in linoleum. I just got the vinal from home depot. Be sure to get the stuff that is waterproof on both sides, since water is at some time going to get under it. Don't be tempted to by the cheap one-sided waterproof stuff!

We nailed our on around the edges using baseboards. No glue. I can post pics of ours if you want.

Also, buy the most un-textured stuff that there is, since big cracks hold in dirt.

I have only have my floor for 9 months, so I can't tell you the long term benefits. But when I cleaned the coop out this fall it was quite easy to clean and disinfect.

I found that resin also works well. I resined my other coop on the floor and 12 inches up the wall. Although it takes longer to install, it has the benefit of no being able to have water seep between it and the wall.

Good luck!