How Would You Insulate & Ventilate This Coop To Be?

[france]

Here is my shed. The front doors are two solid dutch doors and the tops are off at the moment. There is only the two small side vents you can see. There is no insulation at all - you can see the metal roof inside. The floors are just boards with large spaces between. We are placing it on concrete blocks to get it off the ground (to limit how much snow I have to shovel to get in) and level. I live in northern New England. How would you insulate and ventilate this? THANK YOU!

 

[patandchickens]

There are of course many ways to do things; but for whatever it's worth, what I'd probably do is:

-- lay thin (like 3/8") exterior-grade plywood on the floor, tacked down with screws and primed and painted with semigloss exterior paint.

-- insulate the underside of the metal roof, either by just gluing up some rigid foamboard (make real sure to use an adhesive labelled as ok for foam, some have solvents that will 'eat' the foam!) or if I was feeling ambitious I'd put the foamboard between the rafters and covering with thin plywood to keep it up there.

-- I might not worry about insulating the walls right now. Maybe see how it actually performs in winter. If you do want to insulate, probably the easiest way would be rigid foamboard panels with some thin wood strips tacked between pieces to screw a covering of thin plywood into.

-- install some new vents, maybe 8" high or so, tucked way up under the roof overhang on both sides of the front doors. Probably with weatherstripped flaps to close them down if desired.

-- and if I were going to be towards the 4-sq-ft-per-hen end of the occupancy spectrum, rather than lots fewer chickens, I would be strongly inclined to replace the existing two louvered vents with much much larger vents in the gable ends. With flaps or whatever to close them down as desired. Whether this would be one hole or a couple would depend on the actual structure of the coop, which I'm not clear on from the pics, but you could figure something out.

JMO though.

Good luck, have fun, cute coop!

,

Pat

 

[annek]

What a cute building! I would definately insulate the ceiling. In the winter it will sweat on the metal. I agree with patandchickens on the rigid foam board made for insulating basements. I get it from home depot and it is great. I cut mine close in size so it would hold itself and nailed it to secure with short roofing nails.

Only thing I would add on the floor other than the sheet of plywood is some hardware cloth to prevent predators unless you are adding the hardware cloth around the outside perimeter. Then I would add a cheap piece of vinyl for ez clean.

I would add a window or two for cross ventilation and light. I look for long ones that let both panes go up/down. That way you can open the lower in the summer and crack the upper in the winter. Get the largest you can. I always look at the clearance ones or go to local habitat for bargains if possible. I ended up putting in a beautiful anderson window in mine-better than my house!

Again I agree with patandchickens, the upper vents won't do a whole lot if you have any amount of chickens and you will need to move some air even during the winter so I would enlarge those. I would also add a few lower cut out vents that you can plug during the winter.

Personally I would insulate the walls too. Once the chickens are in, it is a lot harder to do. Plus at this point it is nice and clean and you can add the wall covering and paint before they get in.

My two cents!

 

[france]

Thanks for the replies! (Hi Pat from E-L! What a nice surprise to find you here!)

Do you think hardware cloth is necessary on the floor? I believe those are 2inch thick boards on the floor. This was my miniature horse run-in. I cannot imagine something getting through.

I also wanted to put in a window for light. Using hardware cloth as a screen. Our winters can get long and I would feel bad for the chickens stuck in a dark coop.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Oh wow... small world!!!! <falls over> I've pm'd you

Do you think hardware cloth is necessary on the floor?

I really wouldn't bother, myself, I don't think anything is going in thataway. The only reason I'm suggesting plywood is to mouseproof and to keep Nasty Stuff from starting to accumulate intractably in the gaps.

I also wanted to put in a window for light. Using hardware cloth as a screen. Our winters can get long and I would feel bad for the chickens stuck in a dark coop.

Yup, that is for sure a good idea too, I think I was somehow imagining that the tops of the doors were windowed but if they're not then definitely add one

Have fun,

Pat​

 

[farrier!]

I want your backhoe......I miss my backhoe, one heck of a lot more then my ex-husband. That backhoe at least worked!!

Cute building......I am "building" my chicken house under an existing overhang, I am worried about ventilation too.

 

[CityChook]

Definitely put in some long, narrow ventilation underneath those soffet overhangs. That way, when it storms, you won't have to race out there to close them up. I have gable vents like you and just put sliders inside so that I can slide in a piece of plywood to close them up when the weather is really bad. Only had to do it last winter a couple of times, otherwise, it was open all year.

I put my coop on top of a concrete paver pad and then on top of a base of landscape blocks. We get a lot of snow here and my coop was dry all winter. And because of the pavers underneath, I didn't have to worry about critters coming up from underneath (or making homes under the coop).

What a shame to cover up those pretty interior walls, but I think I'd insulate it as well. Make sure you put up a finishing layer of plywood over the insulation or those ding dong chickens will try to eat it. I painted the interior of my coop (walls and floor) and am so glad that I did. It's brighter inside and clean up is a matter of a wet soapy washcloth and fresh shavings. Sooooo easy.

Remember, if you're going to do deep litter, when you cut your pop door, make it 9 inches above the finished floor so that shavings don't fall out each time you open the door. You'll probably want to put a 1x6 across the front doors as well.

Man I wish I had dutch doors. Such a cute coop!