Plywood alternatives

[3KillerBs]

I'll have to look into those. I've got quite a bit of metal cutting in my future and I hate doing it by hand.

Unfortunately, the more ergonomic one takes a kerf. This is a bit klunky, especially in my small hands, but it didn't salt my coop with tiny bits of wire like the more ergonomic one would have.

 

[Silexian]

Asphalt impregnated board has little structural integrity. It is a fiberous board. It is meant to be used for insulating and sound deadening behind siding. House wrap and foam board have largely replaced it.

 

[Solanacae]

There are structures all across the nation well over 100 years old that have used rough sawn lumber as their siding. Most are still standing today. We will be hard pressed to ever get similar service out of plywood. It has its place, but it's not for exterior use. IMHO it has no business in a coop inside or out

Even marine grade pressure treated plywood will not last. 5-10 years exposed to inclement weather. The glue will begin to separate and the layers of wood will blister.

The big turn off for me is the continual 2-5 year maintenance of paint with plywood, osb, or T1-11. That money you might have saved upfront will be lost in paint.

I can get free paint from my local landfill. I might not be able to choose the exact shade and hue I want, but it’s a) a chicken coop, and b) free. My coop is a reinforced shipping crate with osb sides, walls reinforced from lumber salvaged from my husband’s worksite, windows found in the classifieds, a door from my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore, hardware cloth salvaged from the family cabin (they repainted and put up new hardware cloth to keep marmots and porcupines from getting under the deck), and painted with leftover paint from the landfill.

The only things I bought new were 2x4’s for the roof beams, corrugated metal for the roof, underlayment, and fasteners. It still cost a pretty penny to build because 2x4’s were so pricey, but it still was at least half the cost of what it would have been if I’d bought things new.

I realize I’ll have to keep repainting it every few years, but it even if I have to buy a new bucket of exterior paint every few years, it will still be a long time before I’ll have spent as much in paint as I would have to build it from the ‘ideal’ materials in the first place.

 

[Regina Larsen]

So u r saying that isnt a bad price?
It's the t1-11

T111 4x8 here is $38.47
Down from $47 earlier this year

 

[Shezadandy]

Yeah cheapest thing I'm seeing is $10...and out of stock on a lot of those.

Provided you're on a raised foundation (foundation blocks or concrete blocks) so your siding isn't near the ground AND you plan your ROOF correctly- AND don't go cheap on paint (edited to add- though free paint is a great price as mentioned above --- just mentioning that if you buy paint, whether it's the bottom stuff or the best stuff - you "pay" the same amount in labor, i.e. your time) - you can get away with some stuff on the siding.

Plan for a generous roof overhang on the eaves- I aim for around 1 foot off each side, and I have at least 3ft overhang on my "people door" side- and 1.5 foot overhang off the back of the building. This will shade your walls and should keep your siding pretty dry. Use a high quality paint, foundation about 8-12" off the ground and many materials will last longer. (from rain soaked Oregon - my siding is rarely wet. dirty from the poultry exhaust fan, yes. Wet, no.)

 

[Silexian]

This is a box store coop that I rebuilt. I used 3/8 inch OSB primed siding. About $24 a sheet at Lowe’s. The siding fit in the same dado grooves. That the original flimsy slats did. It only took one sheet of siding, two sheets of 1/2 plywood for the roof and four treated 2x4s. Around the bottom. Two 8 ft. and two 10 ft. Working by myself. It took me about 10 hours to disassemble and reassemble it.

 

[Minister Marc C]

At the risk of being scolded for not reading the entire thread, I’ll drop my 2 cents in. When cutting corrugated metal, take a normal circular saw and turn the blade around backwards. Cuts like a dream. You still need to be careful of the edges. On my last coop I used horizontal metal sheets for the siding and covered the raw corners with 1x4. Slap some Thompson’s on the bits that see rain and smile at your masterpiece!

Turning the blade around and mounting it backwards sounds "goofy" but ~ it works.
Just don't forget some EAR-PLUGS ! "Eee-gads" its LOUD !