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Help needed on coop pop door design please? *pics inc*

Discussion in 'Coop & Run - Design, Construction, & Maintenance' started by Dewsetter, Jul 4, 2011.

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  1. Jul 4, 2011 #1
    Dewsetter

    Dewsetter Chillin' With My Peeps

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    Apr 30, 2011
    Liverpool, England
    Hi,
    I have built my coop and am now a little bit stuck on how to design and construct the pop hole.
    The coop itself is made out of a plastic outdoor storage shed type thing. I think maybe they are designed for storing bicycles.

    My problems is that the main door (which I will open up to clean it out) and which the pop hole is to be cut out of is slightly convex so I wouldn't be able to use the basic up and down sliding door as it wouldnt work (there is also some moulding on the inside of the door, I presume to strengthen it so this would also make this type of door no good as well.

    It won't be easy to attach hinges as I dont think screws would hold in the thin plastic material the whole thing is constructed from.

    I only have a very basic and limited amount of DIY tools available to me.

    The best (if you can call it that!) ideas I have come up with is to cut a hole and use cable ties/zip ties as hinges and two little hooks, one to hold it back when open and one to fasten it when it is closed.

    Should I put the hinges at the top or the side?

    How big does the hole itself need to be? I have got all large fowl, 1 of which is a Brahma

    Many many thanks in anticipation of any help at all.

    Pop door will be cut on the door on the left so it is level with the ladder.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2011
  3. Jul 4, 2011 #2
    chicken_noob

    chicken_noob Chillin' With My Peeps

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    Jun 22, 2011
    Chehalis WA.
    On that set up you could get a cheap doggy door at home depot and then cut you pop door opening to that size. And since its a thinner plastic wall for this you could also get a piece of 1x2 at home depot and use that to screw into from the outside, so you'd sandwich the plastic house wall inbetween the doggy door and the 1x2. The dog doors come with a plastic flap to hold house heat in but just remove that. Also the doors have a "groved" edge and a sliding insert that would work well for the pop door. OR to keep it a lil cheaper, you could almost do the same thing. Buy the 8' 1x2 for a buck, cut it into 8 1ft sections. Then cut a 1sq ft pop door hole and use the wood to sandwich the edge of the pop door. Using about 3 screws per section this will mostlikely force the concave to be flat giving you a nice section to have your doorstep. Then the can trim the cutout piece and in the same sandwich style you can attatch hinges. Not sure if that's what you were asking or not but hope it was a lil helpful.
     
  5. Jul 5, 2011 #3
    Dewsetter

    Dewsetter Chillin' With My Peeps

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    Apr 30, 2011
    Liverpool, England
    Thats great thank you very much, that gives me some really good ideas to work on. I like the idea of a ready made doggy door so i think I will have a look for one of those. I never even thought of a doorstep. How deep does that need to be? Is it normally just about the same width as a perch?
    Thanks loads for all the help.
     

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