Oilcloth as a floor covering

[K0k0shka]

Has anybody used oilcloth as a floor covering, to protect a wooden floor? I've read about people using linoleum/vinyl. Oilcloth seems to be cheaper - $6.50 per yard, 47 inches wide, on Amazon with free delivery. It serves the same purpose... and would be easy and not too expensive to replace if needed... But a search on BYC turns up nothing. Is there a reason why nobody is using it? Anything I need to know?

 

[blackdog043]

I don't think oil cloth would hold up real good. It's not very thick, if the chickens scratch in the bedding they may rip it. Also how are you planning on removing the bedding, when it needs to be changed? You will have to be careful, so you don't rip it. Your cost savings may not be worth it, in the long run. I would use paint or vinyl, before using oil cloth. You might spend more money, but it will be money well spent, IMO.

I used Black Jack 57 on my coop floor. I use a hard rake to stir my bedding when needed and a snow shovel when I change out my bedding. No harm has been done to the Black Jack.

 

[aart]

Have read of a few people putting down tarps then dragging the whole thing out to 'clean'.
I like my vinyl flooring, haven't had to move it for 6 years.

 

[aart]

I was going to first paint the floor with a waterproofing stain, and then put the oilcloth on top of that... Or would that be overkill? I want to do deep bedding and keep everything dry, so hopefully that should help, but my climate is very humid in the summer, so I don’t know...

Try it, see if it works out<shrugs>
I would definitely protect to wood first.

 

[aart]

I don't think oil cloth would hold up real good. It's not very thick, if the chickens scratch in the bedding they may rip it.

Might depend on the quality of the oilcloth, just like with vinyl......and also how tightly it is laid and how flat it stays.

Cracking in the cold is a good point... hadn’t thought of that... Might be the ultimate deal breaker for the oilcloth then.

I was thinking of using a plastic snow shovel to do the yearly deep clean. So hopefully it won’t be too rough on the flooring. But I will need to rake and stir it more frequently though, so that’s another good point...

Cheap vinyl can crack too. I used a thick heavy duty foam backed vinyl and I still have to be careful with the vinyl on the poop boards, pounded on it in the cold and cracked a nasty hole the first year..it was near the edge where it curved up the side, so that was an aspect of the fail too.

I use a small(7-8" wide) plastic rake to move bedding around daily, I think they are called 'shrub rakes'. I push the bedding out of the way to clean boards(so as not to stand on it and get shit on my shoes) then spread it back out when done, which keeps it mixed up and distributed. Because I use poop boards, floor bedding is not that deep, 2-6".

Small plastic snow shovel to scoop up bedding annually, perfect width to shovel into old feed bags(which then are added to run over a few weeks). Vinyl on floor is in excellent shape after ~6 years.

ETA: I guess I'm not sure just what oil cloth is.......was thinking a heavy canvas water proofed tarp.

 

[K0k0shka]

Never my thing, but my mom yeah...never made sense to me either.

It's probably in the same line of thought as putting plastic over furniture... Another thing I don't understand but some people used to do. To protect it. Only take out your nice china for special occasions. And you never get to enjoy the things you have, because they're always covered up and hidden away... Life is too short to hide your table

 

[PhilErvin]

My floor is linoleum and I cover it with straw. The linoleum was free so that made it even more betterer.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Has anybody used oilcloth as a floor covering,

I used vinyl flooring and was satisfied with it. I think oilcloth would have a lot of the same properties. Neither floor covering like the cold and crack and become brittle. Vinyl floor covering is a bit more durable.
I personally have switched to the tarp method as mentioned by @aart (still have the vinyl underneath.)

 

[Hokum Coco]

I was thinking of using a plastic snow shovel to do the yearly deep clean.

That is a good idea. I think you would get your monies worth from oil cloth. Waiting for warm weather to clean. My vinyl flooring when it cracked I mended it with Duct Tape and got more mileage from it.
Wishing you "Good Luck" with what ever you decide.

 

[K0k0shka]

@aart yeah, basically oilcloth is a heavy canvas that's waterproofed on one side. It's much heavier and sturdier than a tarp, and pretty stiff - doesn't drape like a tarp, but sticks out stiff. That's why I was thinking it might work for this purpose. The reason why I thought of it at all is because my mom and grandma used it when I was growing up, instead of a regular tablecloth on the table, because it's easier to clean up - just wipes clean, as opposed to having to wash a stained tablecloth in the washer. That's its main purpose, I think. Why they needed to use anything at all, I don't know. In my house now I just have a regular wooden table with nothing else on it. Wipes clean just fine, even with little kids making a mess... and it looks nicer, too. But I guess that was a thing back then.

I'll need to think about this some more. Maybe I'll use blackjack 57... I just wanted to shave off unnecessary expenses, since I'm already buying most of the materials new. I already have a roll of oilcloth for another project, and I'll probably have enough leftover to cover the coop floor as well, so I might just give it a shot, and if it rips too much, I'll take it out and paint blackjack next year when I do my first full clean-out. I'll only be doing the big clean in warm weather, to avoid cracking anything, and I'll use plastic tools to scoop and rake the litter. Now that I think about this some more, I actually want to use kid size tools. They're smaller and easier to work with in the confined space of the coop, and they're usually plastic. My kids have some reeeeeally convenient-looking little snow shovels and leaf rakes... I won't steal them (probably) but I bet the kids will get a kick out of having the chickens "use" kid tools just like theirs

P.S. I'm designing everything so I won't have to scoop and lift when deep cleaning time comes around. I'll have a floor-level opening on the back wall, with the compost pile on the other side of it just outside the chicken coop. That way I can open the "poop door", and just push everything out and onto the compost pile. I might be able to do that with a push broom, which would be even gentler on the flooring.