Help! I think I screwed up.

[Heather J]

I think the issue they are concerned about here is the ROOF flying off, not the whole building flying away. Luckily you can get all kinds of inexpensive hardware to attach the roof to the walls. I think mine were about 60 cents each at HD, and I just used them between the wall supports and the rafters. Ask someone at HD, and hopefully they will know enough to be helpful (I find it's a toss up at places like that because the employees usually don't have much training, but usually there is *someone* there who knows something about building somewhere around.)

As far as the angle of the roof, if you lived in an area with lots of snow, I could see a real concern, because of snow load, but rain is just going to shed right off so you're fine. I was told to use 2x8s no more than 18 inches apart with a two foot drop on the 8 foot width, but I could easily get up to three foot of snow in a few days time (I remember getting that much in a day once, even though it's unusual).

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I'm not sure - that doesn't depend nearly as much on bldg height as overall stability does. But, it is certainly true that using those little galvanized widgies -- they can be called hurricane ties, or a variety of other names -- is never a bad idea

Pat

 

[Reinbeau]

Collar ties for peaked roofs. Helps with the snow load, too.

 

[jubylives]

Collar ties are mainly used like stated to resist live loads or in other words loads that are not always there. The main purpose is to keep the peak of the roof from lowering and pusing the walls outward. I'd recommend one of these if you are worried about the roof coming off.


http://www.tamlyn.com/index_files/HurricaneTies.htm


jeremy

 

[waynesgarden]

The whole building needs to be tied to the earth, from the rafters down to the floor. Ties like the ones in the link will work, as will the Simpson ties that we use. Even cheap, simple metal strips that fasten the rafters to the studs would be a good first step. (Collar ties won't help one bit for anchoring except to help the roof hold it's shape as it sails off your walls.) The sheathing will tie the studs to the floor assembly and you will need to use one of the anchoring systems mentioned for mobile homes to anchor the floor to the ground.

You live in an area that is not immune to hurricanes and your county has been hit by seven tornadoes since 1950. According to the tornado database, you are overdue for another.

I've always lived in the Northeast, in areas not noted for tornadoes but I've seen the aftermath of a storm with 100 MPH gusts in Southern NY State where a wall of an elementary school cafeteria blew in on top of students eating lunch, killing 9 young children and injuring 15 others. I have seen enough other buildings leveled by the errant tornado to know to ignore anyone that tells you the weight of the coop will hold it in place or offers as proof that they have a coop that hasn't blown away. (Yet.) We engineer our houses to meet high winds all over New England, particularly along the coasts. It is extra work and costs a bit more for construction, but the peace of mind is worth the expense.

Of course, no one is going to remember the chicken coop blown apart in a storm or in one of those " I wonder if that was a small tornado"" events, but you will, especially if you remember the thread where people offered simple steps to anchor the coop but you listened to the "don't worry, it ain't going nowhere" kind of advice.

Get some metal strapping for the roof and anchors for the floor.

Wayne

 

[LocoPollo]

This has all been wonderful advice! I am going to definitely get some anchors for the floor just to be sure. The place is actually in a valley with a mountain behind me and two hills on either side, so there should not be much low wind. Most of the time it is just high in the trees. Having said that, there will be that one fluke time when my hens go flying off to Oz without their ruby slippers and I will be really bummed. So I am gonna play it safe and tied things down after I get finished building it.

 

[Reinbeau]

Those upright 2x4's are holding the roof to the rafters, as well as the rafters being nailed very securely to the walls - the coop may blow off the blocks, but you could pick the whole thing up by the roof and the whole building would go up, not just the roof. It's all tied together. Hubby is from Maine, did construction up there, and understands snow loads and winds. We do need to anchor it to the ground, that'll be the next project.

 

[tommi]

A dilema. There is a product that I think is called a "hurricane tie down" used for mobile homes that will hold down a shed . But I think you could use what we used on our horse shed. Our shed frame is steel and on the bottom four corners the frame extends past the wall frame about four inches. There is a hole in this part( this is on the ground) In this hole you drive a small steel pole into the ground at an angle. ( about 1.5 feet long pole) Then you drive another pole into the ground through the same hole so the poles form an x shape. (two poles per corner) Put on all four corners, it works very well to hold down a shed. We are in Colorado and boy do we have wind.!

 

[cmom]

Quote:
You will be fine. I live on top of a hill with pastures all around and only have trees around my house. It gets very windy. I was concerned about my coop blowing over, it's not tied down. I live in Florida. We had some hurricanes go over us about 3 years ago and winds from some that have come close. I had some trees go down but my coop survived. A tree fell on my fence but the chickens didn't try to get out.

 

[bantamfan]

If you're worried about the building , I'd dig a couple of post holes about 24 inches deep, buy a bag or two of concrete mix from Home Depot or similar place, and pour mixed concrete in the holes then while it's still wet, right after pouring, insert a couple of "J" bolts into the wet concrete with the threads up. When the concrete has set in a day or so, attach a piece of chain, or , a cable, like clothes line size from the coop floor to the bolt and you can sleep nights knowing your kids will be safe and secure. But like most have said, you should be fine short of a hurricane.