Protecting a wood floor?

[kwhites634]

The vinyl coated hardware cloth seems odd, and secured on the inside. It would do its job better, were it on the outside. It does look nice.

A hungry coon could rip the wire right off if it were secured on the outside

 

[kwhites634]

Do the floor yourself. You can go to Home Depot and buy one or two rolls of linoleum flooring and if you’re not picky about what it looks like, you can probably find them for about 20 bucks a roll. I found a really big roll for 20 bucks because I wanted flooring to put under my poop boards and on top of the areas where I have their food and water up on a low table so I wouldn’t have a moisture problem. I now have enough flooring to replace the areas every year, for the next five years, maybe more! LOL! I went to a flooring store and bought linoleum previously to put on the floor of the coop and that piece cost me $50, so I wish I would’ve looked at Home Depot or the hardware store before.

Give Ollie's a looksee. I got a roll there.

 

[aart]

Personally, I would not put vinyl flooring in a coop, especially a small one, because of offgassing.

Eh....maybe Good ventilation is a must anyway.

Linoleum is a completely different product, but much more expensive than vinyl and not sold typically sold at the big box home improvement stores.

Most folks do not know this and insist on calling it all linoleum. SMH.

A hungry coon could rip the wire right off if it were secured on the outside

Not if it were attached well.

 

[kwhites634]

Eh....maybe Good ventilation is a must anyway.

Most folks do not know this and insist on calling it all linoleum. SMH.

Not if it were attached well.

Maybe, maybe not; I'll stick with inside & not worry about it.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

We have always used paint in our coops, but if linoleum is an option, go for it!

 

[rlhagan56]

We have used linoleum, glued down, but with our last two large coops we also used Home Depot Porch paint, works great. I've never heard of Blackjack 57 but I'm going to check into it!

 

[Ghosty]

A hungry coon could rip the wire right off if it were secured on the outside

The purpose is to keep predators out, not keep your birds in. A good reason why just staples don't cut it. I would think a well secured fence on the outside resists any movement. A fence secured on the inside is more easily pushed against, and that force is being exerted on your fasteners. Can you exert more force in a push or a pull? A linebacker would say push. Maybe no big deal if you have trim over your staples or use screws and washers, but I can't tell what holds the top of that vinyl HC on. I would put a piece of trim over it, or some washers and screws.

 

[kwhites634]

The purpose is to keep predators out, not keep your birds in. A good reason why just staples don't cut it. I would think a well secured fence on the outside resists any movement. A fence secured on the inside is more easily pushed against, and that force is being exerted on your fasteners. Can you exert more force in a push or a pull? A linebacker would say push. Maybe no big deal if you have trim over your staples or use screws and washers, but I can't tell what holds the top of that vinyl HC on. I would put a piece of trim over it, or some washers and screws.View attachment 1745340

Everyone has their own methods, and the reasons behind them; boils down to whatever works for the individual.

 

[TwoShepherds]

I considered epoxy, but was concerned it would crack when the flooring flexed. We used the Black Jack stuff in two coops, going up the wall 1 ft and have been happy with it. It is hard to mix - a drill driven paddle mixer was essential for us. It can take a while to dry fully, but after a few days it was usable. Applied two coats. Lots of people are happy with linoleum (vinyl flooring). Vinyl flooring did not work for me. It curled up so needs to be tacked down better than I did. I had bought cheap vinyl flooring, and it started coming apart within a few months. Maybe the people who like it bought better flooring than I did...

Beautiful coop. Looks like you painted the interior also. Very nice! Thanks for the tip about mixing. I'll have to look into that.

 

[TwoShepherds]

Thank you all for the feedback! Some really interesting points have been brought up. I hadn't thought about the merits of putting hardware cloth on the inside versus the outside of the windows. I looked through the pictures and can't tell if it's secured by staples or something more formidable. I haven't ordered it yet, so that's a good question to ask them. I can reinforce it, if necessary. I also wish that it was set a little higher off the ground (it's 8 inches), would be nice if there was room for the chickens to run underneath for shade or protection from the rain. I also hadn't thought about fumes coming from vinyl vs linoleum. That's good to know. I'll look into that also.

Here's the link if anyone is interested.

https://www.mypetchicken.com/catalo...x12-Chicken-Coop-up-to-40-chickens-p1785.aspx

It's $2700 (gulp) without any options. Delivery to our area is free but there's a $200 fee for yard placement w/forklift or skid loader (which we'd need b/c of the fence). I wouldn't choose any of the other options or add-ons. My husband is starting to get cold feet, but I've spent hours online and can't seem to find anything better (other than the local guy whose trailer probably can't get in our fence, darn). There are shed places in Nashville and Atlanta that have 8 x 10 coops, but they either won't deliver 2 hours away or charge outrageous prices for delivery ($1000, yikes!!!). I haven't spent as much time pricing sheds, but the 8 x 10's I've seen seem to be in the 2k range when installation/delivery is included, and then I'd have to spend time/money converting them to coops (and acquiring proper tools, jig saw, ect).

I'm embarrassed by how much it costs, I'm usually quite frugal, but what do you all think...does it seem like it would keep chickens happy and safe with some simple modifications? Does the price seem reasonable? I could probably just get a smaller size, but it would be kind of nice to have some room to grow....