Lining inside walls, alternatives to plywood?

[grullablue]

We are coop building again this weekend, and it brings up a question for down the road. (roof is going on this weekend, almost finished!)

We will be insulating our coop, and I am wondering....are there other alternatives to lining the inside than just plywood? Cheaper alternatives? My husband was thinking plastic, like plexiglass type something-or-other might be nice to clean and cheaper than plywood, but I really think that would be more expensive. Maybe he's right....but my guess is it's more expensive.

Plywood is what the plan originally was, but I'm wondering if anyone used something to line the walls on the inside that might save a little money?

Thanks!
Angie

 

[Chirpy]

We used "hardboard" on the inside walls. It's much cheaper than plywood and has worked perfectly for the first year.

 

[grullablue]

Thank you, what is hardboard? Sorry!

 

[redoak]

OSB (oriented strand board) is cheaper than plywood, was about $5.50 for a 4x8 sheet a few months back. It is rougher then plywood so I painted mine with some leftover paint to help when I clean out the coop.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

I think it's a bit more expensive, but it's used in showers, and in horse wash stalls, its called puck board I believe, and its cleanable, and water safe.

I don't know why people use OSB, other than it being cheaper, but they're going to find it'll suck up water and just...die, the original owners of our house used OSB as the porch floor, and it sucked up the water and is now rotting away... we're tearing up the floor, and tearing apart the panels between the supports for the porch, it used to be covered, and they enclosed it.

Don't use OSB, you'll end up having to replace it in no time, it sucks water like crazy.

 

[Chirpy]

grullablue asks:

Thank you, what is hardboard? Sorry!

It's a dark brown, composite fiber board, approximately 3/16" thick with a smooth face opposite a rough surface. We get ours at Home Depot. It's flexible, yet strong and is commonly used as a surface material often used for peg board.​

 

[skeeter]

Quote:
well hopefully it wont rain much on the inside ,we have osb inside our coop been there 5 years and is dry as a bone

 

[ravenfeathers]

as an alternative to hardboard, you could try the thin plastic panels that they use in the milking parlors of dairy barns. you might have to special order it, but it's incredibly tough, completely washable, and will never need to be replaced. it's designed to take a lot of poop and abuse. i've got absolutely no idea of the price of the stuff, though.

 

[Nugget]

We used wood paneling. You can often find it pretty cheap

 

[spottedtail]

ravenfeathers...that stuff is usually called PolyMax.
It's a high-density polyethylene. Good stuff, but expensive.

It can be ordered from FarmTek in 4' x 8' sheets.
1/16" = 21.95
1/8" = 35.95

We used 1/4" plywood with several coats of a polyurethane finish. It's both good looking and durable. Not the cheapest, but a good long-term investment. In my opinion it's the best compromise of cost, quality and looks.
The wood paneling idea in the previous post is also good.

Run away from OSB! Yikes!!

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