Got a free "skeleton coop"(Lots of progress!)

[Squishypuff]

My neighbor has this enormous dog house "skeleton" wood frame he started. It's got a great raised wood floor, the framing of the walls will allow for me to have ventilation, it's a great little project! He made the main frame and never finished it, it was supposed to hold two large dogs but they got rid of the dogs. It's your typical dog house shape- with the peaked roof (I hope that makes sense)..etc. What I don't know is what to use for the walls and roof. Would plywood work for the walls? How do i measure? I'm not sure where to start measuring to decide what size materials to buy. Not only the walls, but what about the roof? Where do I measure to and from in order to leave room for whatever is supposed to hold the top of the "peak" where the two sides of the roofing meet?

I plan to cover over the ventilation areas with hardware cloth, and screwing walls on doesn't seem that hard if I can figure out the measurement thing. Also, how thick should the plywood walls be?

The roof is the most confusing part for me. My big horse-stall-coop is covered with metal corrugated roofing, and it stays pretty cool in there- BUT this is a lot smaller... Also, I don't know how to attach the roofing either. Doesn't seem like you can hammer nails through the metal or plastic roofing, can you?

I've built some little tractors and stuff, but i always throw it together as I go, and want to do this one right. But not knowing how to measure correctly kind of messes things up!

 

[KDK1]

Do you have any pics?

 

[Squishypuff]

I will in a few minutes when the kids finish breakfast ( :

 

[dianaross77]

Plywood will eventually rot. You could use smartside. It's a composite siding that comes primed and ready for paint. It cost's about the same per sheet as plywood but resists rot and insect damage. I know there are people who have used resin/plastic corrugated roofing on their coops and they do sell premade ridge vent for that which would be great for ventilation in a coop.

 

[Poppafrog]

Im new here but yes the corregated roof material worked good for me.

 

[bryan99705]

If you are in LasVegas, you need lots of ventilation. How about covering the upper walls and gables about 18" down from the top of the walls on 3 sides and plywood the whole wall against the prevailing wind. This would give the birds darkness and weather protection when they roost but plenty of ventilation for the heat.

 

[Squishypuff]

I'm in NC (Kernersville is a teeeeeny town that takes about 5 minutes to drive through, so everyone calls it K-Vegas) and it is insanely hot, that's for sure!

One thought I had is keeping one wall an open hardware cloth wall rather than walled... I could slap a tarp over that side in winter. It never goes below maybe.. 20* here in the winter, and we only get a tiny bit of snow for a day at a time, maybe 3 times a year! Another idea would be getting whatever type of wall, and getting it at about half the height of the actual area to be walled- do the hardware cloth halfway up, reaching up to the roof area. Does that sound logical?

Here are pics of it. The frame needs to be tightened up, they used mostly nails and it sat out so has loose areas, I'm going to use wood screws to get the frame tight enough to start building on.

 

[Squishypuff]

I've done a bunch of work, and the coop is turning out really nicely (I think, anyway). I used galvanized cage wire, which is a lot thicker and stronger than hardware cloth (though for some reason cheaper) and is a PITA to cut.

I was going to start painting it, but we ended up with a ton of rain so that's off for now. I still need to figure out roosts and a couple nest boxes. I'm also going to cut out big wooden eggs, paint them like easter eggs, and attach them over that small horizontal section of wire ventilation above the door. In winter, I will tack up some of the thick plastic sheeting on the windows, leaving just enough ventilation to keep things nice. The coop will be pale yellow, with white on the little "window panes" that I nailed up to cover the edges of the wire.

What do you guys think? What should I add next?

 

[teach1rusl]

I think it depends on how hot it gets in your area, or whether this will be under pretty much total shade or not as to whether I'd do metal roofing alone, or stick some cheap plywood down and cover that with metal (or shingles, whichever). If you get pretty hot weather, I personally wouldn't want a metal roof alone (unless it's in a totally shaded area), since it is a smallish housing. It's looking cute!

Metal roofing nails (or screws) work best, because they have a rubber gasket on them already to seal the hole.

 

[Squishypuff]

I found some various materials at Lowes... One isn't meant for roofing, it's deck drain something... But it's rubbery, waterproof, and seems like it would make a really good roof. There is also this stuff that is like a plastic-y material, but with a slightly rubbery feel to it. It's thin though, I guess I'd need to put plywood underneath? I have not decided where to place the coop yet. I'm thinking it will be in the shade, and the way the windows are, it will be easy to mount a box fan for the really hot days. I've been knid of ignoring the roof issue, mostly because I have no idea what to do there.. LOL