Insulation in Ceiling??

[Babe77]

Curious to know if anyone (in the building of their coops) has placed insulation into the ceiling along with the walls? We are at that stage and while we are placing insulation in our walls (live in Michigan) we are unsure as to putting it also into the ceiling area. The coop is 8 x 12.

6-20-09 (don't laugh at the overhang, the DH went "Overkill"

 

[Opa]

Insulating the roof will help in both winter and summer.

 

[Babe77]

Thank you for the response. Does it matter if there is no attic to the roof (like in a house)

btw: isn't that a pic of Sam Elliott??

 

[cmom]

Very nice coop!!! I live in Florida.I have my insulation in my ceiling. I did it to help cut down on the heat. I also have fairly large vents in the front and back of my coop for the heated air to escape. My coops are under shade trees.

Here is an old picture of the front of one of the coops and the vent in the back of the coop. The girls like to get up on the high roost and look out of it.

 

[CityChook]

I insulated in the roof. I do not have an attic. We installed soffet ventilation along with a ridgecap vent that extends the entire roofline (8 ft). We had to remove a couple inches of insulation at the peak for airflow (done after below photo was taken). The insulation has a 2-3 inch gap between the fiberglass and the plywood for the air to travel. It has worked great. We also added 2 10x10 vents on the Eastern gable with sliding panels so that they could be shut for bad weather or extreme temperatures. I am very very glad that we insulated the roof. Warning: it does get extremely dusty. If I could I'd try to talk DH into putting an interior plywood ceiling in to seal up that insulation. It would be so much easier to clean.

 

[Babe77]

Thanks for the pics. We also are planning on closing up the ceiling with Luan. Do you have any pics with the ventilation on your east side? We also are struggling with that. We know that we need as much as possible, but know we need to keep it draft free for the winters here.

 

[CityChook]

It's dark now, but I could take some pics tomorrow if you really want to see them. They are just white vents, 10x10, from Home Depot, screwed into the siding. They are located in the gable, where you see the little round vents in the photo. Those little vents were NEVER going to do the trick - my DH just liked how they looked. Sorry Charlie. Anyways, we screwed in some leftover trim pieces with a runner space on the 2 vertical outer edges of each vent. A scrap piece of plywood slides right into the space and closes up the vent. I leave the slides out unless I'm expecting blowing rain/snow from the East (very rare) or if the temp falls below 0.

PS - Luan seems like a great idea for the ceiling. It gets mighty dusty. And yes, keep the ventilation up high. It seems like it would let all the warm air out, which it does a little, but that's the point. Warm humid air out, fresh air in (at the pop-door). Patandchickens has a great page dedicated to ventilation. She really knows what she's talking about. If it's possible, consider putting in some vents underneath your soffets. That way, if it's snowing or raining, you don't have to worry about leaking. With the ventilation on the eastern side, we don't have any problems.

Feel free to PM me anytime if I can be of help.

 

[CityChook]

Quote:
BTW - That lovely overhang will do wonders for keeping rain out of your coop. Nice job.

 

[Monk]

I have insulation in the ceiling and walls of my coop, even in the floor but it is a elevated coop though. It's always a good idea. Don't forget to provide ventilation for your insulation in the ceiling also.
BTW, very nice coop!

 

[patandchickens]

What is your roof made of? If it is just metal (without plywood or OSB underneath) then ABSOLUTELY insulate it in MI. Otherwise you will have intractable condensation/frost/humidity problems all winter, big-time.

Frankly even if the roof is <whatever> over plywood or OSB, it would still be highly worth your while to insulate it in MI, because depending where in MI you are and how many chickens you have and how ample your ventilation is (see below), you can STILL get condensation=>humidity problems with an uninsulated sheet-goods ceiling, plus which the coop will stay significantly warmer with insulation.

Make sure you do not inadvertantly lose your ventilation when you insulate, though. Unless there are things on the other side of your coop that we can't see, you are going to run into real problems come January if you close off the openings between rafters on the tops of your walls. Using them for your wintertime ventilation needs may be just about adequate for you if you aren't planning a particularly large/dense chicken population. (Make flaps or whatever, to close individual openings off as needed). But therefore make real sure not to block them at *all* with insulation, even if that means tapering the insulation towards the edges.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat