Just started building ..... Insulation ??

[GermanChick]

Hi everyone,
we just started building our coop today. 8x12 (8x8 coop and rest brooder/storage-area). We thought about insulating it but we want to cut some costs and are kinda on the fence now if we should do it or not. We are in NW Missouri and I personally am more concerned about the hot humid summers than the winters. As long as the water doesn't freeze the girls should be fine even when it is cold, right ? So........... to insulate or not, that is the question

Decisions, decisions ...........

In the end, it will be probably "super-over-engineered", like all things DH builds

 

[nvmycj]

Keep the pictures coming! Are those 4x6's on the foundation? WOW!

 

[Montana-Hens]

I know the costs question, but I believe good insulation is key. In Montana, even with just a little insulation we never do supplemental heat.

 

[GermanChick]

I forgot to mention that we will put "house-wrap" on the outside and then put siding, that we have leftover from building our house, over it. Would that count as kind of insulation ?

 

[HorseFeathers]

Here in Maine insulation is all that is needed to get the "girls" through long and cold winters. Not sure what it's like in Missouri though.

 

[Mark's Menagerie]

I say no, my wife says yes.

we hve banty's so my wife insists on insulating our small coop, but growing up around chickens I can tell you we never had insulation and neve had problems with the chickens getting too cold (they were full size). if anything, you'd have to worry more about humidity than cold... as long as the humidity is fairly low, they should be able to keep themselves warm enough.

you could always add warmth to the coop if it got very very cold.

 

[CityChook]

That floor framing looks like it could withstand a bomb blast! WOW!

I don't know how cold it gets in Missouri, but for most genuinely cold climates, I'm a proponent for insulating. And it's easier to do it now than to move the chickens in, go through a summer/winter, and then decide that you want to do it and have to move everyone out and clean before you can install. The wrap and the siding will help, but I'd still try to insulate. Maybe at least the ceiling if nothing else?

PS - I'm coveting that barn in the background.

 

[patandchickens]

If it seldom gets below freezing, and never *much* below freezing, there is not very much reason to insulate.

Plus which, assuming the alternative is "leave the walls open/exposed inside the coop", it is just about as easy to do it later as it would be to do it now, just in case you change your mind.

Thus, I don't see any particular pressing need to do anything about insulating now, and possibly not ever.

Personally though I would SKIP the house-wrap. A) no, it has no insulating value, and b) it is a moisture barrier which IMHO is usually a BAD thing for a chicken coop. I will post the whole rationale if you really want me to but it boils down to "a chicken coop has different operating requirements/options/constraints than a house does, and you usually *want* it to be able to pass moisture through its walls". Housewrap will probably not cause massive problems, if you already have it on, but I truly think you're usually better off without it (for a coop).

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[iajewel]

I used regular house type isolation and covered it with 3/4" ply wood. I know its not cheap, but it will be there for a very long time and when Im 80 I won't be making repairs.

 

[RocketDad]

Insulation also keeps a structure cool when the sun beats down hard.

Just sayin' . . .