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- #271
Okey dokey - but remember that I'm venturing off topic here - oh, wait - I'm the queen of going off topic!
Motel Chix in the summer....we put the lattice in front because we live in town and our set-up is visible from the street. We didn't want it to be an eyesore - especially since I was on the town council at the time.
Putting the lattice over the top. Since it's really flexible, it just formed itself to the arch naturally. We anchored the corners and a few points down with zip-ties - smooth side up and the tie part facing down inside..
We rolled the ends of the plastic around metal lathe strips we bought at Lowes. It has predrilled holes all along the length of it. Then we reinforced the spots on the plastic sheeting with pieces of Gorilla tape on both sides where we'd poke the zip ties through. The ties went through the Gorilla tape reinforced holes and into the metal lathe, then were closed. Then we rolled the rest of the edges of the plastic several turns just like you do a window shade and clipped the ends of the metal lathe to the cattle panels. In this upper picture you can see the metal lathe though the plastic. We only rolled it over on itself twice at the door frame because we weren't sure we were going to leave it. We ran screws with large, flat washers to secure it to the door frame, right through the plastic, the metal lathe, the plastic again and then into the wood. We did end up leaving it, and it never tore.
Finishing touch - Ken put the lattice fence back in front of the run.
We finished as it clouded up and started spitting snow, just at sunset, so it seems a little dark inside. But it kept the wind and snow out, and held the sun's warmth in. You can see a gap at the top of the south side...we deliberately left that uncovered as well as the same size place on the opposite side. That gave us some much needed ventilation even during the winter.
It withstood winds of 60 -70 mph and the snow load just fine. We'd go inside the run and use the brushy part of a push broom, give the cattle panel underside of the arch a couple of well placed smacks, and the snow slid down the sides and off the top. Easy as could be. For summer we've decided to roll the plastic up window shade fashion on both sides and clamp the metal strips together at the top. Then we'll put our landscape fabric sun shade right over it. Come next winter, just take off the landscape fabric shades and unroll and clip the plastic back into it's winter position.
This help?
@dpenning Boy, I love this new feature that tells you a post has come in while you're typing yours! I've seen these chicks jumping up onto the top, and tussling up there - I really don't think even doubled up that hardware cloth will work. You might try taking some small strips of wood and making a frame, then tacking the layers of hardware cloth between them. Anyone else have any ideas?
Motel Chix in the summer....we put the lattice in front because we live in town and our set-up is visible from the street. We didn't want it to be an eyesore - especially since I was on the town council at the time.
Putting the lattice over the top. Since it's really flexible, it just formed itself to the arch naturally. We anchored the corners and a few points down with zip-ties - smooth side up and the tie part facing down inside..
We rolled the ends of the plastic around metal lathe strips we bought at Lowes. It has predrilled holes all along the length of it. Then we reinforced the spots on the plastic sheeting with pieces of Gorilla tape on both sides where we'd poke the zip ties through. The ties went through the Gorilla tape reinforced holes and into the metal lathe, then were closed. Then we rolled the rest of the edges of the plastic several turns just like you do a window shade and clipped the ends of the metal lathe to the cattle panels. In this upper picture you can see the metal lathe though the plastic. We only rolled it over on itself twice at the door frame because we weren't sure we were going to leave it. We ran screws with large, flat washers to secure it to the door frame, right through the plastic, the metal lathe, the plastic again and then into the wood. We did end up leaving it, and it never tore.
Finishing touch - Ken put the lattice fence back in front of the run.
We finished as it clouded up and started spitting snow, just at sunset, so it seems a little dark inside. But it kept the wind and snow out, and held the sun's warmth in. You can see a gap at the top of the south side...we deliberately left that uncovered as well as the same size place on the opposite side. That gave us some much needed ventilation even during the winter.
It withstood winds of 60 -70 mph and the snow load just fine. We'd go inside the run and use the brushy part of a push broom, give the cattle panel underside of the arch a couple of well placed smacks, and the snow slid down the sides and off the top. Easy as could be. For summer we've decided to roll the plastic up window shade fashion on both sides and clamp the metal strips together at the top. Then we'll put our landscape fabric sun shade right over it. Come next winter, just take off the landscape fabric shades and unroll and clip the plastic back into it's winter position.
This help?
@dpenning Boy, I love this new feature that tells you a post has come in while you're typing yours! I've seen these chicks jumping up onto the top, and tussling up there - I really don't think even doubled up that hardware cloth will work. You might try taking some small strips of wood and making a frame, then tacking the layers of hardware cloth between them. Anyone else have any ideas?
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