Reinforcing my coop exterior walls, what to use? Advice please!

[dawj]

You ought to wrap poultry wire around the outside of the shed for now if you think there are soft spots in it. Most creatures don't like the taste of metal. Just my thoughts.....better to be safe than out a few chickens. Just in case it takes a week or two to repair shed.

 

[Noymira]

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Oh for sure use plain (non-p/t) exterior-grade plywood. (Do make sure it is EXTERIOR). P/t is totally unnecessary for siding. If you like the look of the grooved T-111, you can always paint lines onto your plain plywood...

Or, if you want a temporary fix, and there will be no mammalian livestock in this enclosure, you could just screw some of that spare roof tin you mentioned over the deteriorated spots, and save up for actual T-111 if you really have your heart set on it. (Personally I like plain plywood better, it is a bit more durable, but <shrug> nothing *wrong* with T-111)

If you were going to just patch it for now and wait a year or two to do a tearoff and replacement, it would not be a terrible idea to splash some paint on the OSB. Doing it now won't do AS much good as it'd have done to paint it when first built, but if it may be A While before the walls are replaced, paint can still extend the life of the OSB even now. Any kind of discarded mistint is fine. If you can find some free leftover primer, you can use that instead or mix it with leftover/mistint paint, it will adhere somewhat better and give as good protection.

Those garage door pieces look quite useful but probably not for this project, save 'em for where you can really do them credit

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

Thanks Pat! No other mammals out there, it will just be our 10 chickens. I really don't care for the T111 enough to pay more for that, so I'll plan on saving up for the exterior grade plywood. Our neighbor is about to spend quite a bit replacing some faulty T111 siding on their house, so I wouldn't be so keen on running out to buy a bunch of that (although I may grab any useful scraps they don't want when they tear theirs off).

My dad just picked up some more roofing yesterday from someone he knew at the dump who was about to toss it in the construction dumpster. I think we will plan on adding the metal roofing to the lower sides and I'll pick up a good exterior primer/sealer to give the OSB a bit more protection until we can replace it next year.

 

[Noymira]

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Thanks for the advice. Luckily we don't have any chickens in their right now, our two hens are in a smaller tractor in our driveway and our chicks aren't here until next week, so we still have a month or two before we need to have this done. I'm hoping to have everyone in this coop (with the young ones segregated) by the 4th of July. If I can get the two laying hens in there earlier that would be great, but if not they are quite happy in their tractor.

 

[latebloomer]

what about using the garage door panels as giant clapboards?

 

[latebloomer]

do you have a re-store in chittenden county?

they may have something plywood, it would most likely be pieces, not whole sheets.

there's one in barre, they have paint as well.

 

[Noymira]

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I had wondered about that as well, they are pretty solid. I was really hoping to use those inside as paneling, I have enough to cover two of the interior walls and am probably going to use the glass pieces as removable windows over hardware cloth covered vents for winter, and for the extra light high on the walls in the coop.

I'm going to get my dad to take a closer look with me this weekend, with the materials we have on hand and decide on a plan of attack. If we have enough metal roofing I think we may go that route.

 

[latebloomer]

the weather is finally cooperating with us; i'm going to be starting my coop over the weekend and hopefully completing the hoop style run this afternoon

have you looked through the free listings on craiglist?

 

[Noymira]

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They did turn Recycle North in Burlington into a re-store. I've been dying to get in there and look around, since they have a whole separate store for just building materials. This should give me the kick in the pants to go check...

 

[Noymira]

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I stalk craigslist every day.

My husband has told me I'm obsessed! People around here are competitive for free stuff!

 

[TouchO'Lass]

I agree that painting will help prolong the life of the OSB that hasn't softened, but whatever you decide to cover that area with, I would probably cut off the mushy OSB and be sure to paint the edges to help stop moisture from 'wicking' up. Where I live now, OSB is $7 a sheet, ext ply is around $15. The siding we put on our house is $30! so I'll be using OSB for my coop and just painting the heck out of it until I win the lottery.

Check out the "Oops" section in your building supply for paint. Since color doesn't matter, you can often get really good deals on mis-mixed colors. I just got a gallon of Behr Premium Plus (primer and paint) for $5.

Of course, DH asked where THAT color was going. Told him in my best Justin Wilson cajun accent, "Dem chickenss don't know what color dat is, no!"