Please help me design my run!

[DobieLover]

I bought it at home depot, so I'm assuming pretty new.

Today's pressure treated wood is perfectly safe to use for your run. Any wood exposed to the elements should be pressure treated. I built my run out of pressure treated.

 

[britinpa]

My husband finished ours this year. We used treated lumber and 1/2 inch hardware cloth.
The roofing is tin roof sheets - you might be able to pick up some secondhand (check out Marketplace). We partially covered our run - I wish we had done it a little wider (maybe next year), will have to see how it works out this winter. We put some shade cloth on one side to block out the midday sun's rays. We are planning on putting corrugated plastic sheets or tarp on the left side to protect that side from the winter weather.

 

[aart]

My husband finished ours this year.

That's a great run!
I'd add another big post right there to hold up the snow load.

 

[britinpa]

That's a great run!
I'd add another big post right there to hold up the snow load.
View attachment 2339961

My husband was just nodding his head with a smile when I read him your comment. He was wanting to do that from the beginning, but I told him not to put in another post. I will have him put one in before winter

 

[britinpa]

QUOTE
Also, I would prefer not to use concrete to hold the posts in place, is this possible?

We didn't use concrete for our main posts - my husband just used a post hole digger and dug 2 ft holes and just filled and compacted the dirt back in.

 

[britinpa]

This chicken run build they didn't even put the posts into the ground.

 

[aart]

My husband was just nodding his head with a smile when I read him your comment. He was wanting to do that from the beginning, but I told him not to put in another post. I will have him put one in before winter

That's a long span, not sure what dimensions the main beam is or how long that span is,
but it's already sagging a bit.
Curious too about dimensions of cross 'rafters', they look like 2x4's on the flat instead of on edge?
Might want to have some other 'props' ready too.
I had to jam 8' 2x2's under portions of my run roof when heavy overnight snow was forecast.
Learned the hard way when it damn near collapsed the first year that even 2x4 mesh doesn't all the snow thru when it's icy first and/or wet snow starts to cling.

 

[britinpa]

That's a long span, not sure what dimensions the main beam is or how long that span is,
but it's already sagging a bit.
Curious too about dimensions of cross 'rafters', they look like 2x4's on the flat instead of on edge?
Might want to have some other 'props' ready too.
I had to jam 8' 2x2's under portions of my run roof when heavy overnight snow was forecast.
Learned the hard way when it damn near collapsed the first year that even 2x4 mesh doesn't all the snow thru when it's icy first and/or wet snow starts to cling.

I was discussing with my husband yesterday whether all the snow would go through the mesh. There is one beam in the middle (that you can't see in the pictures) under the first rafter below the tin roof (the gate hides it in this pic). The cross 2 x 4 rafters are sitting on the edge (2 inch side)

 

[aart]

The cross 2 x 4 rafters are sitting on the edge (2 inch side)

Ah OK, things get fuzzy when I zoom in....that big beam must be a 2x10?

I was discussing with my husband yesterday whether all the snow would go through the mesh.

1/2"HC will probably catch most of it, unless it is a very fine and dry snow. Time will tell tho.