Locating blueprints for Woods' semi-monitor 10 x 16 house

Pics
Date sort Score sort
@KettermanHillCoop - I too struggled with the digital versions of the books. Bought the digital content for like $2.00, downloaded free PDF files, etc. finally got way too confused and aggravated so decided to actually buy a hard copy of the 1924 version (the green cover).

I can totally say it was worth it - if nothing else for my sanity. The hard copy seems much clearer and easy to understand and the illustrations and diagrams are more detailed.
 
I don't know if this will help or hurt, but I too had to do some head scratching when designing my 8 x 12 Woods. I documented it here........important details starting around post #3. Later posts showing construction photos........

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/woods-colony-house-portable.1104954/

There is a simpler and less expensive method of framing these in if you want to explore it. Woods referenced it in the book as his "knockdown" house. I know of at least two chicken houses, one hog house and one smoke house built using this simpler technique, which also allows for the use of sliding windows. All are somewhere around 60 to 80 years old and still standing. Worth considering.
 
Before I forget, kudos to BYC member Robert P, the modern era publisher of Wood's book. He is the one who made all this possible.
 
Medda said:
@KettermanHillCoop - I too struggled with the digital versions of the books. Bought the digital content for like $2.00, downloaded free PDF files, etc. finally got way too confused and aggravated so decided to actually buy a hard copy of the 1924 version (the green cover).

I can totally say it was worth it - if nothing else for my sanity. The hard copy seems much clearer and easy to understand and the illustrations and diagrams are more detailed.
Click to expand...
I first downloaded the pdf...but realized I needed the book. I bought the green book through the same means I buy other books these days...through my phone book store. It cost about $10 (9 and change). There are 12 chapters...with the Conclusion on page 189.

Figure #56 (6x10) page 130 is what I'm most interested in. I already have a 10'W x 10'L x 6'H chain link run with a roof in place. The 6' x 10' coop would match up to that existing structure quite nicely. I'm not a carpenter so a good portion of the terminology is lost on me. I need "to see" stuff in order to understand it. Having the measurements right on the diagrams would help me tremendously. I'd then take what I'm "seeing" and doodle on graph paper over and over again until I understood it all.

The coop I have now, I looked at a picture I found online...I doodled a bit and built it...changing stuff as I went along. I didn't have any measurements...just a picture of the finished coop. Measurements weren't critical then... However...the Wood's design...the measurements are critical in accomplishing the ventilation concept.
 
I find the architecture of the Woods very attractive, it has a timeless appeal. The ventilation aspects make it also very functional, it's not just a pretty face.

I don't however think that the ventilation concepts are terribly fragile. He harnessed important physics concepts with his design, but these same concepts still work well, even with some variation. In Woods own book, he illustrates many other chicken house designs that effectively use these principles, they just aren't, in my opinion, as pretty.

The key elements in the winter are an open south face, with the other three directions sealed off, along with a floor plan along the lines of, as outlined in his book of 10 feet wide and 20 feet deep.

That's not written in stone, but the point is, deep enough to provide still air in the back of the house, and well beyond a blowing rains ability to enter, he figures rain can normally blow in about 3 feet.

He felt good up to a 20 foot by 20 foot footprint, but it's mentioned that normally they would partition that space into two 10 foot wide areas to within a few feet of the open south face, so a person or chicken could freely move between the two sides within the building.

He's advocating a roughly two to one depth to width ratio, whether it's 10x20, 8x16, 6x12. The longer depth provides what he described as a still cushion of air at the rear of the building, where the roosting bars must be located. The narrow width prevents the wind from getting a foothold into the rear of the the building, which would disturb that still cushion of air.

In the summer his goal is to create a current of air that circulates, cools, and ventilates the building. The half monitor is very pretty and allows the warm moist air to rise out of the elevated windows, with the additional help of open windows on the east and west sides of the house.

Any structure can be built to take advantage of these principles, if they comply with the principles, whether it's a hoop tractor like mine, or a modified Home Depot skid shed, or a thrown together dog panel coop. Depending on how it's scaled, there is a minimum depth to move beyond blowing rain, and deep enough to create the cushion of air at the back of the structure.

I love how elegantly this design harnesses the forces of nature to give us a very simple, but incredibly effective way to provide excellent shelter for our birds, no matter how small someone's budget is.

Narrow and deep, always open south face, three sides sealed in winter, and in spring, summer, and fall, the ability to create more openings on other sides to provide cross ventilation.

The true problem is people are simply unaware of these simple principles, they aren't taught at all in regular education.

If enough people ever had this education, the cute, slapped together, prefab coop industry would collapse.

Terrible designs that suffocate and poison their chicken prisoners with ammonia choked air, if the owner isn't completely diligent with poop removal, and let's face it, people get busy and forget, or since it's the most unpleasant job of raising chickens, they put it off.

Meanwhile, the chickens suffer mightily because the system is too fragile and dependent on perfect human behavior. According to the news, we have a shortage of perfect human behavior everywhere, not just in raising chickens. A much better solution is one that's robust, and much less labor intensive, that works with nature, letting her do most of the work instead of us.

It's so funny, you can build a free coop out discarded pallets, that complies with Woods principles, that's a terrific place for chickens to live, far healthier and comfortable, than an incredibly expensive cute little death trap for chickens, that ignores Woods principles.

My tractor is butt ugly, but it very effectively uses Woods principles. It's about 8 feet wide, 16 feet deep, always open south face, sealed in winter on three sides, yet open on all sides during the other three seasons.

I love providing the chickens a new fresh grass floor every week!

I wish I had been a good enough carpenter to build my tractor as a Woods house, it could easily be done, but I'm OK with the butt ugly Flying Fortress, since I get all Woods ventilation benefits, plus fresh grass, plus no poop management.
20180201_073443.jpg

Come on, you gotta give it to me, that's one ugly chicken tractor!

It would fit right in with any quonset hut ladden Marine Corp air base in the South Pacific, in World War two, that the Sea Bees slapped together in 2 days!
 
Last edited:
cholland said:
I struggled with the e-version for a while too. Then I printed those few pages I needed and sat down with pencil and paper. The measurements are all there. Just not easy to follow.

Seems most recent builds are modified from original design to use modern lumber and accommodate whatever windows are used. Following Woods exact design would waste a lot of material if you plan to use plywood in 4x8 deminsions. His framing is also really light even for shed standards.

The main thing is to decide what size you want the main shed. That will determine the main monitor height. If building an 8x12, then the rear is 8x8. The monitor would be 8' high. If building an 8x16 then the rear is 8x10. The monitor should be 10' high, or close to. The depth of the rear shed is more important than the width for determining the monitor height.

If building it wider. Go in 4' increments. 12, 16, 20. It makes the use of materials more efficient and keeps the framing simple. Of course as you go wider, you would divide the sheds, the monitor height does not continue to rise indefinitely.

The front roof pitch is 3/12 and the rear pitch is 5/12. Which makes the front wall about 4 1/2' tall and the rear wall about 5'. Ther is more math to that, but it really depends on the individual plan.

I've drawn the rough plan for an 8x12 and 8x16 with Sketchup. It's just the rough framing and siding. About 90 percent complete, it doesn't have windows, just a door cut out, etc. But complete enough for taking plan measurements.
Click to expand...
Now I'm a little confused. In the green book shown on pg1of the thread. I show the measurements on a 10x16. Top of wall is 8'2" and he talks about using 2x3 so roofed it would be less that 8.5' . ???? If not 8'2" to plywood.
15181342133062001027977.jpg


So how do you get monitors 10' tall on a 8x16?
Scott
 
@squadleader - I think you are correct in the measurements don't have to be exact. It's really about the concept and the colony house does a good job with providing an air cushion in winter and flexible ventilation for different temperatures.
And yeah the Flying Fortress is cool. I don't use my hoop coop for the flock anymore but it's great for raising chicks or isolating a bird or two.

@ScottandSam - they are several versions, in the book. Looks like the picture you attached is for the knockdown 10x16. And yes it does have the monitor at 8'. The full 10x16 and the 20x20 have the monitor at 10'. I think you could do either as long as the window space providing ventilation is adequate. I found as the rear shed gets deeper and the rear wall stays the same height, in order to retain the same roof pitch, the monitor beam gets taller.

@KettermanHillCoop - I'm planning to build in the next two months. I'm still tweaking my drawing a bit and haven't settled on windows. I was going to share the build and final plan when I got there but it seems there is increased interest in this design lately. I'll make some adjustments and snap some elevations with measurements in the next few days to post. I'm just messing with an 8x12 for now.
 

Similar threads

DIYGuy24
    • Love
    • Like
My chicken journey and coop transformation on a budget
Replies
7
Views
2K
Vexys
Vexys
MT45
    • Like
    • Wow
    • Love
Red Heaven Chicken Spa & Resort
2 3
Replies
29
Views
6K
paintedChix
paintedChix
Coopin Is a Habit
    • Like
Woods Open Air Coop Scaled Down (Can I do a 4 x 10?)
10 11 12
Replies
118
Views
15K
Ted Brown
Ted Brown
M
Need help with chicken run/coop
Replies
1
Views
579
mowin
mowin
N
    • Like
Inspiration & House Floor strength question ?
Replies
1
Views
1K
Debbie292d
Debbie292d

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom