Questions about posts and SunTuf roofing

[LindaN]

OK! Forget the roof!!!

This is too much for me to figure out on my own and I simply can't bring myself to pay someone $6,000 to build a freaking chicken run! Of course, if I have to use my own time, then $6,000 may be pretty reasonable, but the hens really don't need something very fancy, just stable enough to keep out the "bad guys."

BTW, I was wrong about the estimate from the fencing company. They are talking about more posts than just 4, but not much. It was more like 8 posts because of the gate, etc. Either way, much less than 20!

 

[traceyk73]

While I don't have ANY construction feedback, other than that you do need to put supports every couple of inches, I do have my two cents to add. We used this type of material as the roof for our coop. It works wonderfully. We put the more see-through (clear) color on the one end of the coop and the white, more opaque on the end near the nesting boxes, so it would be a little darker. It worked out perfectly...there is just the right amount of light. Here are a few photos from during construction.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Just a word on SunTuf - it makes the coop hotter than an oven when in direct sun. Our coop was 109 in direct sun when outside the temp was in the 70s.

It is nice, though, not to have to worry about having a light in the winter for the girls. They'll get natural light all winter long.

 

[LindaN]

Tracey -- that looks really nice on your coop! I guess it's better for a smaller area like that than trying to cover a larger one like the run I'm working out.

Jenns Peeps -- the run is almost completely shaded by a mature tree during the summer. Based on the fact that these sheets are often used for greenhouses, I can imagine how much it would heat up the area if in full sun!

Thanks everyone for this discussion. I was looking for people to bounce ideas off of and it worked well. While I'm a bit frustrated that I can't make the run exactly as I'd like, at least I didn't make a very huge and costly mistake!

 

[kinnip]

I think everything has mostly been covered. I just wanted to add, vis a vis the length of the roof, Suntuf comes in sheets that are 12' long, so you may as well go for 10' (treated lumber comes in this length). It'll require very little additional support over the 8' roof and will use up that expensive material! JennsPeeps is right about the temp. Mine is under a large beech tree, but still gets quite warm. Mixing the Suntuf with some corrugated mill finish tin roofing is a good way to deflect some of that heat. The tin isn't any heavier or harder to handle and it's cheaper.

 

[CritterHill]

Here are some pics of my coop where we used the tuftex panel (same idea as the other stuff) on the coop roof and 2x4 welded wire for the roof of the 30x25 run area to raccoon proof it.

I can't give technical advice though. DH did all the work. But thought the pictures may help.

Link to the thread with all the coop construction pics if you want to see the process:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=53446

 

[kinnip]

CritterHill, that rocks!! One thing I wanted to mention: make sure you slant the roof. It won't matter how well built it is if the snow load gets heavy enough, it's down.