Painting interior of coop

[Cchurchill91]

Wondering if others paint the interior of their coop. Our family recently moved to a property with a large wooden coop. It’s basically a small house (full size doors, windows, room to walk around). However, it’s very old, dirty and smelly (the barn beside it was built in the early 1900’s so we believe the coop is around the same age). We were planning to take down the interior wood, put in some insulation, put the wood back on and paint it as well as the floor to seal it. We read about KILZ sealer and primer being good for getting rid of odours. Does anyone have any experience/suggestions with this? I’m also wondering if there’s a better material to use. Or scrap the whole idea and keep the wood bare by cleaning it somehow? We are new to chickens! Thanks for your help.

 

[DobieLover]

Wondering if others paint the interior of their coop. Our family recently moved to a property with a large wooden coop. It’s basically a small house (full size doors, windows, room to walk around). However, it’s very old, dirty and smelly (the barn beside it was built in the early 1900’s so we believe the coop is around the same age). We were planning to take down the interior wood, put in some insulation, put the wood back on and paint it as well as the floor to seal it. We read about KILZ sealer and primer being good for getting rid of odours. Does anyone have any experience/suggestions with this? I’m also wondering if there’s a better material to use. Or scrap the whole idea and keep the wood bare by cleaning it somehow? We are new to chickens! Thanks for your help.

I would start with a good cleaning with scrub brushes and detergent with Borax or TSP then rinse and dry it.
I used Kilz Max to prime my coop. It was left over from a previous house flip. I didn't but it specifically for the coop. It did a great job. I then painted the coop with a coat of white exterior grade paint and used 2 coats of Porch and Floor paint on the floor and poop board surfaces.
After nearly a year in service everything is holding up great.
What interior wood are you taking about?
Can you post pictures?
Where are you located in general? It's likely insulation wouldn't be needed and may be a mice attractant instead. If there are areas of wood you can't easily access and clean, those make great hiding places for mites.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

We read about KILZ sealer and primer being good for getting rid of odours.

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Listen, I cannot tell you how impressed I am by this zinsser product for sealing odors...
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Zinsser...te-Interior-Primer-and-Sealer-00900/202524185
They also offer it one gallon, depending on your project size. We bought our house 5+ years ago and the pet smell on the carpet floor was horrid. Removed the carpet, sealed the floor with recommended product before laying vinyl plank... not a single smell has has leaked through. By itself it chips off easy... but covered is fantastic and worth every penny! I LOVE a painted coop interior with high gloss exterior grade paint.. it keeps it much brighter and cleaner. My plain wood ones almost seem to be moldy-ish on bare wood... even where I built them newly.

I have also used KILLZ product just fine... I don't like the smell, but got no issues otherwise.

I personally would NOT insulate.. but rather.. make sure ventilation is proper... chickens are well insulated by their feathers, once mature. Other reasons stated by Dobie are super valid... in addition to the cost. It really isn't needed.

Good luck on your adventure!

 

[Cchurchill91]

I would start with a good cleaning with scrub brushes and detergent with Borax or TSP then rinse and dry it.
I used Kilz Max to prime my coop. It was left over from a previous house flip. I didn't but it specifically for the coop. It did a great job. I then painted the coop with a coat of white exterior grade paint and used 2 coats of Porch and Floor paint on the floor and poop board surfaces.
After nearly a year in service everything is holding up great.
What interior wood are you taking about?
Can you post pictures?
Where are you located in general? It's likely insulation wouldn't be needed and may be a mice attractant instead. If there are areas of wood you can't easily access and clean, those make great hiding places for mites.

Thanks for the tips. Good to hear the paint has held up and cleans nicely. I’m in Niagara region, southern Ontario, Canada. We are by the water and winters are cold and snowy. I was wondering if insulation was necessary as I only picked up Buff Orpington chicks after reading that they’re very cold hearty chickens. We’d be using dense foam insulation boards that we ended up with for free if we used it but it would be nice if we could just save the work and just clean/paint. I attached some pictures of the inside of the coop. Still needs lots of work before our chickens can be moved in but we’re really excited about it. We just cleared out all the garbage from the previous owners who were using it for storage.

 

[DobieLover]

Thanks for the tips. Good to hear the paint has held up and cleans nicely. I’m in Niagara region, southern Ontario, Canada. We are by the water and winters are cold and snowy. I was wondering if insulation was necessary as I only picked up Buff Orpington chicks after reading that they’re very cold hearty chickens. We’d be using dense foam insulation boards that we ended up with for free if we used it but it would be nice if we could just save the work and just clean/paint. I attached some pictures of the inside of the coop. Still needs lots of work before our chickens can be moved in but we’re really excited about it. We just cleared out all the garbage from the previous owners who were using it for storage.

You need to get all that plastic out of there.
I would secure 1/2" hardware cloth to the outside of all your windows so they are secure when you open them. You look to be lacking in ventilation, which is the single biggest necessity for successful winter chicken keeping. You need lots of ventilation up high, over their heads to move out the damp, ammonia laden stale air and some ventilation down low to bring in the fresh air.
I see the former owners used foam-n-fill around the windows. That will reduce the amount of ventilation that could have come in through those areas. Just exterior trim between the sheathing and the window would have been ideal to allow fresh air in there without creating a draft on the birds.
Can you also share pictures of the outside? What is above the ceiling in the coop?

 

[Cchurchill91]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Listen, I cannot tell you how impressed I am by this zinsser product for sealing odors...
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Zinsser...te-Interior-Primer-and-Sealer-00900/202524185
They also offer it one gallon, depending on your project size. We bought our house 5+ years ago and the pet smell on the carpet floor was horrid. Removed the carpet, sealed the floor with recommended product before laying vinyl plank... not a single smell has has leaked through. By itself it chips off easy... but covered is fantastic and worth every penny! I LOVE a painted coop interior with high gloss exterior grade paint.. it keeps it much brighter and cleaner. My plain wood ones almost seem to be moldy-ish on bare wood... even where I built them newly.

I have also used KILLZ product just fine... I don't like the smell, but got no issues otherwise.

I personally would NOT insulate.. but rather.. make sure ventilation is proper... chickens are well insulated by their feathers, once mature. Other reasons stated by Dobie are super valid... in addition to the cost. It really isn't needed.

Good luck on your adventure!

Thank you for the paint recommendation! Always love to hear what others have used and had success with. I really like the idea of using high gloss exterior paint too as I was wondering what to use over the primer. It’s nice to hear from both of you that insulation most likely isn't needed because it was going to be a bit of a big job to get done in time for our chickens to move in. Thanks again.

 

[21hens-incharge]

What is the floor?

I agree a really good cleaning, no insulation, fix the ventilation and hardware cloth on the windows.

Which direction do those windows face?

 

[DobieLover]

Listen, I cannot tell you how impressed I am by this zinsser product for sealing odors...

Zinsser BIN is the total BOMB when it comes to sealing knots in wood to prevent bleed through in the top coat as well as sealing odors. It is a shellac, not aqueous based, so it needs to be very thoroughly mixed to get all the organics well blended prior to application and you will need very good ventilation to cover a large area.

The Kilz MAX (it has to read "MAX") is an aqueous based primer and goes on like paint. I used it to spray paint over the rafters and underside of roof decking on a fire damaged house I flipped. You couldn't walk into the house without smelling the stench from the fire. After I removed the majority of the char with a sand blaster, I sprayed the entire area with Kilz Max. Odor GONE! I had purchased way more than I needed for the flip so I had an unopened 5 gallon jug that I used to prime my coop after scrubbing it clean. It's good stuff too!

 

[Cchurchill91]

You need to get all that plastic out of there.
I would secure 1/2" hardware cloth to the outside of all your windows so they are secure when you open them. You look to be lacking in ventilation, which is the single biggest necessity for successful winter chicken keeping. You need lots of ventilation up high, over their heads to move out the damp, ammonia laden stale air and some ventilation down low to bring in the fresh air.
I see the former owners used foam-n-fill around the windows. That will reduce the amount of ventilation that could have come in through those areas. Just exterior trim between the sheathing and the window would have been ideal to allow fresh air in there without creating a draft on the birds.
Can you also share pictures of the outside? What is above the ceiling in the coop?

We were wondering if we should just take that whole middle barrier with the plastic down completely. Should it stay up at all? Ventilation is something I don’t know much about. There is a vent to the outside in the attic and a hole in the ceiling to get up there but right now it seems like it would be too big of a draft with it left completely open as is. As for the floor there looks to be no ventilation. What would you suggest? Thanks for your help! Excuse all the stuff outside, we’re still cleaning up everything that was left in there.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I did not paint the interior of my coop and have no troubles but providing a smoother surface could help with cleaning