need advice on using a covering for plywood floor of coop

[untamableshrew]

Jack, I've seen your posts several times re: the rubber roof coat. I just applied this today (thanks for the suggestion!), and I'm wondering how long you waited before you put your chickens in the coop? On the label, it says something about letting it cure for 15 days before applying something else. I realize I'm not using it for its intended purpose, but I just wanted to make sure it was okay to put the chickens in as soon as it dries. Thanks!

 

[Latestarter]

Full cure time is a function of temperature. I did mine in high 60 low 70 temp and put the birds in 24 hours later.

 

[MelbourneFL]

I used three broken bags of sacrete. One dollar each at Lowe's. I just dumped the dry sacrete in the coop and wet it down.

End result, its a hard durable surface that I can hose down

 

[Dusty Gal]

Well real life just keeps getting in the way of the hubs and I getting our coop built, but we were able to put down the Black Jack Rubr-Coat today. Woot! I had a question about the texture of it though. You guys who have used it and posted pics seem to have gotten nice smooth finishes with it. We applied a full 4.5 gallon bucket to our 8' x 16' floor. We floated it heavily into the cracks between the floor and base plates of the walls, and into the cracks between the sheets of enhanced OSB flooring we used. We used a roller with a very short nap to apply it and now I'm kind of wishing we had used a squeegee to float it out a bit. We have definite roller marks. Will this make it harder to sweep, will the chickens scratch up the higher spots, etc? Also the amount we put down, according to the info on the bucket, could have done maybe 2 floors our size, but I saw here to put it down thick. Thick it is lol. I checked on it before dark and it had been on for about 3 hours and it does seem to be setting up nicely.

One more question. We don't plan to put up interior walls just yet, maybe next spring we will, but I want to use the deep litter method. Is it really necessary to put up 6 to 8 inches of material around the perimeter to keep the bedding away from the walls? The walls will be painted in a bright white exterior paint. I'm hoping I'll be able to keep the coop pretty dry. I won't be adding chicks until the fall. If we really need that barrier then that's cool, we'll do it. We are just spending a lot of money and I hoped to put that expense off until later.

I just have to say, you guys are so good to share your ideas/advice and this site is a pleasure to just sit and read. I haven't been able to get on in a while due to those rl issues mentioned above, and I came on tonight to try and decide if we had messed up our floor. I've ended up being here for HOURS with my iced tea and pie.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey @Dusty Gal Life does have a way of getting in our way sometimes. But, you do what you can do and move on. Grats on getting the Blackjack down. The roller marks will mean virtually nothing once you put down the wood chips and everything else that will become part of your deep litter. The chickens will scratch around and when they get to the bottom, typically move on to a different area where there's stuff to scratch up. I extended my black jack covering a foot or more up the walls, so no worry/danger of moisture doing damage there. As long as you have the wood sealed against moisture intrusion, you should be good to go.

Oh, and if you're doing deep litter vice deep bedding, 6-8" is nothing... Mine was almost 2 feet deep

before I finally cleaned about 1/2 out of the coop (18 month period

) to give room to keep going. Keep on truckin'!

 

[Dusty Gal]

Thanks Latestarter! I should have thought of that and not used the entire bucket on the floor hahaha. I think that product can be picked up by the gallon as well so I'll be taking it up the walls. Nothing like overlooking the obvious.

If you were able to wait 18 months before cleaning out 1/2 of your bedding, it must have been working well for you. How was the odor and moisture at that point? Do you use a variety of materials for your bedding? I'm thinking of using wood pellets, as well as leaves when I rake them up, grass clippings, etc.

 

[SueT]

If the plywood is exterior grade, why put anything over it, other than your litter? Our floor is made of salvaged pine boards, and using wood shavings for litter, the wood looks fine, stays dry and fairly clean (and it has been over a year we put the chickens in.) All the poop sweeps up with the litter.

 

[Dusty Gal]

Hi Sue, our OSB is an exterior grade yes, and I see your point. Still, I've just read of so many problems/regrets due to not using anything to protect the wood and I don't like to have to back track. Maybe a lot of this stuff today is overkill... I've been asking myself if my grandparents and great grandparents went to these measures to have a healthy environment for their chickens and I really doubt it.

 

[Latestarter]

I'm pretty sure your grandparents didn't put their chickens in a coop with a floor... They were probably kept on dirt (which is the best way to do deep litter). Depending on time of year, I have to add moisture as it is so dry it creates even more dust. At other times (deep winter) adding water is not possible... I just add a new layer of wood chips and whatever else I have available. OSB is NOT plywood, and even when designated as "external" does NOT mean it will stand up to prolonged moisture.

 

[doodledo]

I know this is an old thread. But... I got a used shed, white washed the inside and the floor. Will the blackjack stick to the white wash?