Lewlew's coop build

[lewlew]

So, I have been working on my coop, my chicks will be here the week of May 15th! I am going to keep them in a brooder inside my house for a while so I can finish their coop. It's been a little slow working on it because of the rain around here this past month.

It is 8 x 5 and it will be 6ft tall in the front (from the floor up) and 5 ft in the back.

The floor was made with 2 large pallets connected with a plywood floor and then I put down some vinyl flooring over that.



Then I've been working on framing the walls, I have never done anything like this, so the framing is not correct but hopefully it will do! lol








I will be working on putting the exterior plywood siding up this week (if the weather permits). Then for the roof, I am hoping to use some smoke colored polycarbonate so the inside won't be to terribly dark inside.

There is a human door on the front and a window beside the door and there is a window on the back side as well. The eaves on the sides will be open for ventilation (covered with hardware cloth) as well as the windows.

I am so excited! I have been reading and learning as much as I can for the past 2 or more years and I am finally getting CHICKENS!!!!

 

[lewlew]

Well, I just saw where another member used polycarbonate roof and it ended up like a greenhouse and was way too hot... Ugh. I need to figure out a different roof. Would using barn tin be better?

 

[Eggsoteric]

Looking good thus far! As long as you have plenty of ventilation, tin is fine. I used some old barn roof tin that I had laying around on one of my tractor builds and, even though it sits out in the sun most of the time, the inside coop area says cool. Good ventilation is a must though.

 

[lewlew]

I am making more progress. Also my little babies arrived this week! I got 8 little chicks. One sadly passed this morning The remaining 7 are doing great, very energetic and come running to me when I approach the brooder. SO CUTE!

But anyway... I was able to get a good bit done with the coop, I added hardware cloth around the bottom and up on the eaves. Also put up the siding on the walls. The last piece of siding I had was 2 inches too short for my last panel, so I will have to run back to the store to get another sheet UGH... But here are a few pictures of where I am now with the coop.

 

[lewlew]

Just updating and I have questions... So, I found some old barn tin to use for the roof (more than I need for $25 so I am super happy about that). As soon as it dries out I will be putting the roof on. It has nail holes in it but I found some Roofing caulk/sealant to get that taken care of...

My question is about the human door. I was thinking of making the door just slightly larger than the opening so that it would be what I would guess is an "overlay" door. The reason for this is I am sure my door opening is not perfectly square and trying to cut a door that fits perfectly inside the opening so that it's flush is way beyond my building skills lol. So, I am stumped at the type of hinge I need and how to mound the hinge on an overlay door. I had planned on using 1/2 plywood (with some decorative trim pieces so it looks a little better). So that would mean that the hinge would need to accommodate a 1/2 space from the door to the wall. I hope I am making sense... If anyone has any advice and pictures will help too, I would be so grateful!!!

 

[MigraineMan]

Here's how I built my clean-out door. The plywood on the door is in-plane with the wall sheathing. The trim piece on the door along the hinge end is flush with the door edge. The other three trim pieces hang over the edge of the door by 1/2 width. That allows for overlap on three edges and hides the gaps. A matching trim board on the wall brings the hinge plane up to that of the trim on the door. If you want to seal the gaps, put some weatherstrip on the door jamb on the hinge edge, and along the face of the door trim for the other three edges.

 

[lewlew]

Here's how I built my clean-out door. The plywood on the door is in-plane with the wall sheathing. The trim piece on the door along the hinge end is flush with the door edge. The other three trim pieces hang over the edge of the door by 1/2 width. That allows for overlap on three edges and hides the gaps. A matching trim board on the wall brings the hinge plane up to that of the trim on the door. If you want to seal the gaps, put some weatherstrip on the door jamb on the hinge edge, and along the face of the door trim for the other three edges. View attachment 631678
View attachment 631721

Thank you! I think I understand it now

 

[MigraineMan]

There are many ways to build a door. I chose this method because it puts the stop and sealing surfaces where they won't get clogged up when I scrape out the coop. It's not an ideal configuration if you expect to have rain running down the wall, as the top trim will tend to vector rain inside the coop. We have enough roof overhang that this shouldn't be an issue for us.

 

[lewlew]

There are many ways to build a door. I chose this method because it puts the stop and sealing surfaces where they won't get clogged up when I scrape out the coop. It's not an ideal configuration if you expect to have rain running down the wall, as the top trim will tend to vector rain inside the coop. We have enough roof overhang that this shouldn't be an issue for us.

I should have about a 2 foot overhang on the roof above the door so I don't thing rain will be getting there (I hope not) lol

 

[lewlew]

I really have to get this coop finished! I am hoping for lots of sun today to dry out from 4 straight days of rain... The babies are seriously trying to get out of the brooder! I have it covered so they can't get out but I swear, they try and try and try! They keep trying to fly up to the edge to get out! If it's dry enough today when I get off work I might take them outside and put them in a dog crate that I put some hardware cloth around just to give them some play time.