Rot prevention?

[docdubz]

I'm torn on this and am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I'm going to start building my coop today after asking questions and reading a lot of threads here I came to the decision that an open air bare soil design would be best. But doing it this way I can't for the life of me figure out how to go about building it so that it can last a while. Im concerned with the untreated plywood and 2x4's contacting the ground. The only way I can think of to prevent rot/termites is to have it not be bare soil and instead have a plywood floor raised up and supported by pressure treated stilts.

Am I over thinking this?

 

[Ryguy3684]

Do you need to use untreated 2x4s and plywood, or just make it with pressure treated wood? Do you have a picture, or sketch of what your end goal is?

 

[David61]

If you are worried about why not just use treated wood. You can buy paintable ground contact treatment for wood. You can use concrete pads or pour concrete to get the wood up off the ground and run wire fencing down passed the wood into the ground and out 18-24" to make an apron. Paint of any kind will help with rot. Treated for bugs.
The bottom line is using treated wood is the most cost effective way for those that are worried. That's why it is used by so many.

 

[Acre4Me]

untreated wood will rot much quicker than treated. We chose to raise our walk-in coop on stilts and it is approx 2.5' above the ground. The chickens love the shade underneath. We love the fact that the coop stays dry because a driving rain won't cause any pooling of water, even temporarily. However, if you put it on the ground, you will need to do something to the wood or buy treated wood.

Good Luck.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any wood in direct contact with ground should be pressure treated. IMO "best" would be some sort of concrete or concrete block base, with PT wood, and then everything else over that.

 

[docdubz]

Oh ok. The only reason I was avoiding pressure treated is I had read people saying it was bad for the chickens

 

[David61]

Oh ok. The only reason I was avoiding pressure treated is I had read people saying it was bad for the chickens

 

[rosemarythyme]

Oh ok. The only reason I was avoiding pressure treated is I had read people saying it was bad for the chickens

Old pressure treated wood has chemicals that are harmful, newer stuff does not. If you still would rather minimize the usage of it, just use it in areas with direct ground contact, i.e. my coop sits on skids that are PT wood, but none of the rest of the structure is PT.

 

[Ryguy3684]

X2 on newer pressure treated wood being okay. The chemicals in the old stuff were even bad to cut on indoor saws at my shop. I wouldn't worry about using it, especially where wood is touching the ground. I used it for my run, and coop base. The roosting bars and inside structure, I just used regular old 2x4's.