OK to have a slanted roof on a 12'x12' coop?

[littlefork]

Help, we are in the final stages of planning our walk in coop, and almost ready to start building, but we are stuck on the roof design.

We were originally planning on a peaked roof (not sure what the technical term is, sorry), but lately I've been thinking that a slanted roof (low on one side and high on the other) might be better, and perhaps easier to build. The slant would be - West (Lower side) East (Higher side). Our winds and weather generally come in from the West. The entrance door is on the East side so the snow will slide in the other direction. DH is concerned that a slanted roof might not be the right choice on a building that size. The run will be on the south side.

I'd like to make the low side 6 feet and the high side 8 feet. Is that enough of pitch or should it be more, or less? Also how much overhang should we plan for on the sides? We live in VA and we don't usually have a lot of snow (if you don't count last year!). We also discussed setting up gutters and a rain barrel on the lower side to collect water for the garden.

We are planning on using Ondura roofing which is available at Lowes. They are corrugated sheets and recommend a 3" in 12" slope or greater.

Any help would really be appreciated. My son finishes up his summer classes next week and he will be able to give us a hand for a couple of weeks so I need to be ready to start to build soon.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

I have built 2 different 6ft x 8ft coops. I put "slanted" roofs as you described on both. On the first I allowed it to drop 1ft. 8ft on the high side, 7ft on the low side. That was TOO much pitch!! On the second one I dropped it 6" in 8ft. MUCH better....

You are going another 4ft longer than I did, but, I would think a 1ft drop over 12 ft should be more than adequate. Perhaps 8ft on one end and 7ft on the opposite.

BTW - I used painted metal from my roofing. Found a local manufacturer and bought "seconds" from them. MUCH cheaper than the "big box" stores and they cut mine to the lengths I wanted

Good luck!

 

[atimme]

That should be plenty of pitch, and if you don't get a lot of snow you should be just fine! I like the rain barrel idea!

 

[Catstar68]

My new coop is designed with a sloped roof like you describe. I designed my coop after old coop on an elderly couple's old farmstead.
8' by 12'. 8' tall at the high end, 6 feet at the lower. The high wall in front, 12' long has a 2' by 8' window (thank you HabitatforHumanity!!!). We put a tin roof on it. There is a 1' overhang all around. The slope looks fine, esp. for the zone 7 area here - not much snow. Big vents under the eaves.
If you go with this kind of roof then you would only have to but a gutter on the back to collect the rain. It will have Hardiplank siding once we get it done - free stuff is great.
I have an old 10 pane tempered glass door for the side entrance.
If they recommend 3" in 12" the your front wall at 8' will give you a back wall at 5' if you have a 12' long roof. It's a chicken coop.

A drop of 2 feet over 12 feet is still okay. That gives you 2" drop every 12". As long as the snow load is minimal, this should be fine. As long as your rafters are about 16" apart and the 1"by3" pine boards should be no more than 24" apart. The Ondura roofing has detailed installation instructions that seem easy - I looked into it but decided to go with the heavy gauge galvanized roofing instead. More rustic

 

[33yardbirds]

Mines 8' frnt 6' back on a 10' run the pitch worked out to 2 1/2" drop to the foot. I did center a beam, two 2x4s with plywood sandwhiched between them inside the coop. You didn't say where you were from. We got blasted this winter and the load was no problem.

 

[Stylishone]

Ok so if I'm doing a slant roof with 7ft being high end and 6ft being my low what degree would be my cut?