Do you need carpentry experience to build a coop?

[arlee453]

I am a self-taught carpenter... so to speak... At any rate, I can frame walls and hang siding and do roofing and am pretty handy with electrical connections too - all figured out either the hard way OR the easy way.

I highly recommend the 'STANLEY' do it yourself series of books you can find at Lowe's, etc. They are great with good pics and lots of good advice.

Also, my favorite MUST HAVE tools..

A GOOD cordless drill - get the best one you can afford. I have an 18v Black and Decker with the detatchable chuck and it has paid for itself over and over again.

A circular saw. I also HIGHLY recommend a table saw - it makes making straight cuts and ripping boards very easy.

And I'm a big fan of screws, mainly because I get really tired of nailing nails and I"m not as accurate with the hammer. PLUS you can take it out if you make the boo-boo. Get the expensive screws made for power drills. It will save you major time and headache.

 

[pacanis]

IMO you only need two things to build something.

One is to NOT be accident prone.
There are a lot of carpenters by trade walking around with pieces of fingers missing. Be honest with yourself and if you tend to trip on the vaccuum sweeper cord, burn yourself when ironing or cooking, cut yourself when slicing veggies, pull a muscle for no real reason.....
then moving around a bunch of wood, sawing, cutting, lifting, holding in place to fasten and working with power tools that can either bind and spring back on you or slip and go through your finger is probably not a good idea.
But if you are slow, deliberate, can keep a tidy work area and have a reasonable amount of dexterity and common sense. Go for it!

And...... Two. You need to be able to think things through and be good with puzzles.
Whether you are following a plan (something you probably won't understand without at least a couple architecture classes back in school) or building on the fly, you need to think far enough ahead so your 48" x 96" framework doesn't require 49" x 96" sheeting..... So you don't hold the sheeting flush with the corner stud only to have it fall just short of the last stud. The good thing is it's only wood! It's easy to fix mistakes if you don't get frustrated easily and don't mind buying extra material if needed. You just end up with more seams

Oh, and it helps if you sleep in a Holiday Inn Express before you start your project!

 

[Marlinchaser]

Quote:
No one mentioned staying at the HOLIDAY INN, in that case book the room and I will bring the tools, you still have to buy the materials though.

 

[professor_yellow]

Looks like you are getting some great guidance here. i hope you have gained more confidence in this notion of doing this yourself.
A couple points I missed earlier to even lessen the intimidation factor even more:

If you are buying your lumber and plywood at home depot or Lowes, they will cutt all of your lumber at no chatge. that includes all of your 2x material and plywook rips. This way you will not have to even by a power saw if one is not readily available.

As pointed out earlier, screws are best, but then you need a good drill. If you arent sure yest if construction is your trhing, use nails. You can buy a doable hammer for 10 dollars on sale.

A great sterter project, (which my kids started)is a 4x4x2 ft high brooder box. Use 2x3 for a frame, and 2x2 at the corners, and use 1/2 inch plywood for the sides and bottom. A crodd brace can be added so you can build some screen panels to keep birds in and other critters out. Quick and fun yet covers all the basics.

last, the chickens will not care what it looks like as long as it gives them shelter.

 

[54smokepole]

Another option for the not so handy:

A lot of home stores offer prebuilt frames for storage sheds. They are studs already connected with the floor joist, wall studs, and rafters connected together. It looks like the outline of the narrow side of the house. They usually make for an 8 foot wide shed. Decide how long you want your coop and then you know how many you need. You don't need much support on a shed/coop so you can space your studs on 24 inch centers. If you want a shed that is 8 foot by 12 foot, you would need 7 of these frames. (spaced at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 feet). Attach plywood for siding and roofing, add shingles and your done. I usually use metal roofing as I don't have to reshingle ever.

As far as building on 2 foot increments, I would further that and say always build on 4 foot increments. Efficient building recommends that as a best management practice now as most carpenters use 4x8 sheets of siding and it even further minimizes cutting.

Always build your shed or coop bigger than you think you need. You will use the space eventually and might prevent you from rebuilding in the future.

 

[Pelican49]

I think my biggest concern is how to build the roof. I'm not even going to attempt a pitched roof, plus unless I install guttering, it would drain into the run. I'm thinking more of a sloped roof where all the runoff would go towards the woods in back.

I have no idea how to make a roof, but guessing I'll figure it out one way or the other with lots of reading.

 

[pacanis]

Sloped and pitched are interchangable, meaning the roof is not flat. In other words, if you set a ball on a flat roof it would not roll off (all things being level), so it needs pitched or, has to have slope to it. I'm thinking you mean you want your roof without any peaks, but higher on one end than the other?
That, IMO, is a harder roof to build than one with a peak in the center, since the walls are not all the same height. Or at least whatever you are resting the roof on is not the same height, otherwise it would not have any slope (or pitch).

If you can make sense of what I just wrote you are well on your way, cuz I can't

 

[professor_yellow]

A simple slope is just that: simple! I design the coops 6 feet wide, and i make 1 long wall 6 inches higher than the other, and that is the amount of slope.I make the roof with 1 foot of overhang on each side.

For the roof, what can you get the cheapest? Once I had leftover composition roofing when i bought the house, so i used hald inch plywood over 2x3 joists. The 2x3 i made by ripping 2x6 down the center (which I bought used for a fraction of new lumber).

Others i picked up corrugated aluminum cheaply, so I again used the 2x3 on 16 inch centers, then used some cedar deck boards that I picked up for my nailers, then nailed the siding right to that.

 

[wilds of pa]

Dont forget Local ordinances/building codes, a law made by a municipality or other local authority.

Also depending on how large a pen is, shed type you may need a building permit?

Which means in most cases, they will come to inspect your work...

Just a heads up for anyone who didnt know

Charlie

 

[Marlinchaser]

Quote:
If you build it RIGHT, if they come to inspect, just tell them OH that old thing was there when we moved in, I'm just trying to fix it up a bit.

On a legal note: many places require a building permit to PLACE a prebuilt shed too.