!!!Need help, roof is leaking!!!

[Uzuri]

Make good and sure that your roof has enough pitch and that crack may not matter any more. Obviously that's not just a slap it on fix, though XD

That said, I scrounged an old tarp to go over the wood on my roof, and it keeps water out EXCEPT when ice dams form (or when I'm an idiot and forget to put the roof at its highest pitch when we're expecting rain). Not much you can do about them -- they'll send water up under even a good shingle roof.

 

[Chieftain]

What really works well for a roof like that is EPDM roll roofing. It is usually installed as an impermeable membrane for flat roofs. Generally speaking, it is glued down to the roofing deck, and can be covered with tar and gravel, or left uncovered. EPDM is also used as pond liner, although it is not treated like roll roofing may be, primarily with moss and algae killing chemicals.

Depending on the size of your roof, you could strip it down to bare wood to ensure good adhesion, (or replace your plywood as needed). Cut a piece of EPDM to fit over the roof and overlap the sides. Figure out how you want to treat the corners (folding and overlapping as opposed to cutting the membrane). Once you have the piece fit, remove it and apply a coat of roofing adhesive (there are several kinds out there that are appropriate for this use, and you will have to find what's available in your area). Once the adhesive is applied, you roll out the piece of EPDM over it, smooth out any air bubbles and make sure you have 100% adhesion, and carefully tack the sides down with either staples or galvanized roofing nails. You just need to secure the edges, and let the adhesive do the rest. If you are careful, this will be the last roof your coop needs.

I like EPDM because it is a thick, flexible and easy to work with product, and most importantly it is resistant to Ultra Violet light, which is what tends to make many products brittle over the long term. It is widely available from numerous sources and will probably give you as light, durable, good looking and inexpensive of a roof as you will ever need on your coop.

 

[Intheswamp]

Good suggestion, Bob. Besides being definitely waterproof it is one tough membrane! After Hurricane Opal I saw a 70 foot pecan tree that had bullseyed a garden pond. Managed to pull the limbs (after some chainsawing) out of the pond with a skidder expecting to see some big gaping holes in the liner (big limbs had snapped against the bottom of it. Nope, not a leak!! Later when some whitetails decided to use it for a watering hole though, their sharp hooves managed to pierce it. So it's good for hurricanes but be careful about deer.

There again, you might be a able to pick a scrap piece up from a commercial roofer for little or nothing.

Ed

 

[willheveland]

I like painted metal roofing the best. It last forever,is light and snow slides right off. If your coop is small enough you can get by with one sheet. It's about $2.00 a lin ft. and the screws are probably $.20 each Will

 

[95yj]

pond liner, the stuff people use to make koi ponds out of. I'm not entirely sure how well it'll hold out but it seems pretty tough and I'm gonna roof my new coop with a bunch of it tomorrow, so hopefully it works...

 

[Chieftain]

Ed, I remember seeing an episode of "This Old House" years ago, and they were repairing ice dam damage on a roof using a strip of EPDM. During freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw weather, water had backed up under the shingles, frozen and lifted them progressively.

They repaired the roof decking, and glued down a 4' wide strip of EPDM on the lower edge of the decking, then proceeded to install a regular shingle roof back over the top of it. As I recall the trick was getting the air bubbles out of it, but anyone who has hung wallpaper understands how to do that. That strip of EPDM ensured that no more water could stay in there and swell up bigger and bigger, and lift the shingles higher and higher, every time it froze. Smart repair that would last at least as long as the shingles. In 40 years when it was time to re-roof you could probably re-use the old membrane, just plug the old nail holes with something goopy before you laid down the next roof...

willheveland, I like your coop design! I was close to using metal roofing on my coop but I went with the polycarbonate foam because I thought it might be a bit quieter in our rain here. Have you considered replacing that chicken wire with hardware cloth?

I am glad to see your Chicken Supervisor is on duty!

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
Maybe once it gets rusty I may. I know I've been pretty lucky with predators. I live in the woods too. It started as a pattern, I was going to make a bunch of these but as it got closer to finish I wanted to get something in it. It's great for starting pullets in. Every time I build something I think of a better way so never build the same thing twice. My chicken supervisors are getting older and outgrowing the chicken thing, now it's Hollister,Aeropostile and cell phones. Will