Should I wait for the rain to stop before building coop?

[chickcritty]

I'm excited to start building my new coop but it has been raining almost every day and I don't think it's going to stop anytime soon. I'm wondering if it is ok to build in the rain or is the lumber going to get messed up by remaining wet. If that's the case I guess I'll have to wait until the spring

Waaaa!

 

[patandchickens]

If you would be using power tools outdoors, absolutely do wait for the rain to stop. If you would be using only hand tools or would be working totally indoors, you *could* do it now but wet wood is a pain in the neck to cut and requires a bit more experience when screwing etc. (Edited to clarify -- if the wood is basically dry, just got rained on a little bit, there is no problem at all with building in the rain as long as there are not power tools and shock hazard involved). If the wood is really wet, could you store the lumber somewhere indoors, or under (ventilated) cover, to let it dry out a bit?

It is ok for the lumber to be stored out in the rain if necessary as long as it is properly stacked/stickered, meaning on a DEAD FLAT surface (or with the supports shimmed to be dead flat) with no excessively-long unsupported portions of boards that'd make them warp. A certain amount of some kinds of warp/twist/etc can be taken out with fasteners as you do construction but a certain amount cannot and it is really better to invest a bit of energy in trying to avoid it in the first place

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Opa]

As a builder I can tell you if we waited for the weather we'd never get anything built. Go ahead and build, it will dry out.

 

[3goodeggs]

It rained for three weeks running while we were building ours, and we had chickens in the living room. It was a sanity necessity to finish it up in the rain...but it was summer. I'm not sure if parts wouldn't have busted off if it had been cold. Human parts that is. It took a long time for the paint to dry though.

 

[Tala]

I put up a lot of my coop in drizzley rain.
Not that I was out there when it poured, but....

Record rainfall and all........If I had waited for a non-rainy day and a day off of work to coincide -- I might still be building the coop!!

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

I started my hoop coop back at the 1st of October. I finally got the RIR pullets in it today. It literally poured rain every other day for two months. Then we had cold and windy temps. It was a slow go, but I got it done a little at the time. I still have a few odds and ends to do but nothing major. I will update the thread with pics tomorrow that I started back in October.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Heck yes, get out there in the rain and get busy. Never mind sending pictures of the coop's progress; just send us pictures of you soaked. We need a laugh this time of year.

 

[The Sheriff]

Quote:
I am sensing sarcasm.

 

[chickcritty]

Thanks for the replies! I think we're just gonna wait until it dries up a bit. We don't really have the room in our garage to use the power tools and nowhere outside that's covered, so sorry - there's not gonna be any rain-soaked pictures for your amusement