Paint before assembly?

[julz802]

(im sorry if this has already been discussed... it didn’t come up in my search)
I’m buying an unassembled coop... I know it’s so unoriginal and lame, but I’m so tired to looking at coops and trying to make decisions. It seems to me like painting all the pieces before assembling them would be easier. But maybe there’s a good reason not to that I have thought of?

 

[Rose Quartz]

(im sorry if this has already been discussed... it didn’t come up in my search)
I’m buying an unassembled coop... I know it’s so unoriginal and lame, but I’m so tired to looking at coops and trying to make decisions. It seems to me like painting all the pieces before assembling them would be easier. But maybe there’s a good reason not to that I have thought of?

I think it's one of those it's up to the person kind of things.

You would probably use less paint if you wait until it's all put together cause you'll only be painting the exposed surfaces.

 

[Silkie Sue]

I’m in the same boat, I was thinking of painting it with thinned out tremclad , here’s also a tip I did this to one last year, mount it on 2 x 4 with rope on either end, keeps it off the ground and you can move it

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I’d paint it after... my wife would paint it before

If you do it after you can caulk the seams first then paint the caulk... if that’s applicable?

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I would paint it with some type of outdoor paint sealer thingy...... because I hear those pre-made coops will distort after it gets soaked with water, making opening and closing of latches hard.

 

[julz802]

I would paint it with some type of outdoor paint sealer thingy...... because I hear those pre-made coops will distort after it gets soaked with water, making opening and closing of latches hard.

Thanks! You’re right. The one I have is a premade deal that was given to me with my first two hens. I’m not sure where they bought it, but it seemed very used and I haven’t been impressed with it, especially to it holding up in the rain. We plan to redo the run as well and finally get a roof (oh, how happy I’ll be to have a roof on the run!) and I want the roof to cover the coop as well for added rain protection

 

[CapricornFarm]

I always paint as i build. Then all surfaces are sealed and less likely to grow mold.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In my opinion there is a lot of personal preference in this. You can come up with reasons to do it or not do it either way. Some things I'd consider.

Are there markings that you will need to help you put it together? You don't want to paint over those. If holes are pre-drilled you don't want to fill those so you can't find them. Don't mess up any construction aids.

Are you going to use glue when you put it together? You don't want to paint surfaces that will be glued.

Are you going to paint it inside and out or just outside? If you are painting both I'd paint it before assembly. If outside only, after.

If you paint it before, you will probably want to do touch-up after.

 

[New2Chicks97]

I decided to paint after assembly because ours had so many pieces and they had all sorts of predrilles holes and were labeled. I didn’t want to cover up anything we needed. I am a messy painter

 

[purslanegarden]

I’m in the same boat, I was thinking of painting it with thinned out tremclad , here’s also a tip I did this to one last year, mount it on 2 x 4 with rope on either end, keeps it off the ground and you can move it

How do you move it even if it was mounted on 2x4? I know these coops use light wood (eg they are not using heavy 2x4s) but even as light as it can be for shipping or storage, if it begins to get so large, it would still be heavy at some point.