Siding material, ventilation, and other coop questions.

[KariHayes]

Thank you for telling me! So far they have some in stock but I will make sure to look at other options in case they run out.

No problem. I also put on a giant window on the front of it for air flow. We have hot, very humid summers and not very cold for long winters here in MS.

 

[bhp]

I have used treated plywood, OSB, and metal. My budget, and what was available at the time, had a impact on my choices. If you use exterior grade lumber, don't paint the inside.

 

[black_cat]

I have used treated plywood, OSB, and metal. My budget, and what was available at the time, had a impact on my choices. If you use exterior grade lumber, don't paint the inside.

I was not planning to paint the inside anyway, so all good!

 

[aart]

There is such a thing as exterior grade plywood

Yes.....large roof overhangs will go far in protecting what ever siding you use.
As well as provide a great place to have eave/soffit venting that's best for your climate.

something that will keep heat in in winter

No.......with proper ventilation a coop will not 'hold heat'.
Siding only needs to block wind.

 

[black_cat]

Yes.....large roof overhangs will go far in protecting what ever siding you use.
As well as provide a great place to have eave/soffit venting that's best for your climate.

No.......with proper ventilation a coop will not 'hold heat'.
Siding only needs to block wind.

Oh, ok! How much overhang is good? 6 inches? a foot? I'm going to have a setup like this:

With a slanted roof and all of the space between the roof structure and the main walls being hardware cloth ventilation, as well as the pop door being open all day. Should I add a window?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You can use Exterior grade (there are two of them - one exterior grade is for brief exposure - like the material pile being outside during construction - the other exterior grade is intended to be exterior facing, its more expensive, and the ONLY kind of plywood you should consider). It will still need to be primed and painted - or painted with a really good exterior paint, likely twice, if you expect it to hold up.

Because its PT (pressure treated), you will need to use special screws and nails. Personally, I recommend screws. More expensive, not as quick to put in, but they hold MUCH better.

For the price, I used Hardieboard, which was essentially the same cost (w/i $1 per 32 sq ft) as plywood at the time, and lasts MUCH longer. Its also not an attractant to things like termites. It will suck up the first coat of paint like a sponge, and the second coat goes on solid - no bubbles, blisters, peeling or "show" as you can get when painting over a knot or a piece of wood with real obvious grain, as the trapped moisture tries to move in and out with the weather.

Those are the plus column.

Lets talk about the minuses.

Its HEAVY. When the wind blows, that's probably a good thing, but if you are all alone, manhandling sheets of the stuff onto saw horses, the frame of your hen house, etc, its a beast. Got to be at least 50% heavier than plywood of similar thickness.

Its HARD. You can pretty well forget throwing a torx bit in the old screw driver, and setting sharp point screws quick as you want into the Hardieboard. I held my board in place with clamps, marked my screw locations, then held a sharp point exterior screw where I wanted it and hit it with a hammer first to set it in place, then came back and finished them all with the screw driver. If you have a torque driver, its not so bad. If you have to pull a screw out for any reason, you will find its once sharp point rounded and dull, like you scraped it on concrete for a bit - because you did.

They claim it cuts like plywood and you need no special tools. While that's true, if you are cutting a lot of it, bite the bullet and buy the special circular saw blades. Otherwise, plan your hen house to minimize cuts, and sacrifice some cheap blades.

Finally, wear a mask. yes, you should wear a mask cutting PT lumber, too - but PT lumber doesn't smell like fireworks when cut and taste like acrid chalk.

If I had to do it all over, I'd do the Hardieboard again. But I'd probably spring for the special circular saw blade.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

On your overhangs, assuming you are using 5v galvanized steel roofing, or similar, plan your roof to minimize cuts. Actually, your sketch looks like a garden shed I built. 8' wide, 10' deep. 8' Tall at the low roof.

That's 2 1/2 sheets at the floor, 2 sheets on the back, 2 sheets on the front, 2 1/2 sheets each side, and the extra half sheet from the floor set my front elevation at 10'.

Then I used 5 sheets of 26" wide, 12' long 5v metal roof panels. That gave me an overhang of about 1' on each side (you lose a bit from the angle of the roof - so I pushed mine "forward" to increase the overhang there, and give just a bare inch or so in the back. Where I added gutters to divert the rain.

/edit and I forgot to count the sheets for the "angle" on your sides. Same mistake I made when I built mine originally. Sorry about that. Filled mine in with scrap lumber. In theory, you can do it with one more sheet, but your cuts have to be perfect. And don't forget your Z Flashing between horizontal joints. You will need 3 pieces. /end edit


This is a job where a lot of planning up front will make life much easier when you build.

 

[black_cat]

On your overhangs, assuming you are using 5v galvanized steel roofing, or similar, plan your roof to minimize cuts. Actually, your sketch looks like a garden shed I built. 8' wide, 10' deep. 8' Tall at the low roof.

That's 2 1/2 sheets at the floor, 2 sheets on the back, 2 sheets on the front, 2 1/2 sheets each side, and the extra half sheet from the floor set my front elevation at 10'.

Then I used 5 sheets of 26" wide, 12' long 5v metal roof panels. That gave me an overhang of about 1' on each side (you lose a bit from the angle of the roof - so I pushed mine "forward" to increase the overhang there, and give just a bare inch or so in the back. Where I added gutters to divert the rain.

This is a job where a lot of planning up front will make life much easier when you build.

I already have full sketches, dimensions, and framing planned out, but they are all written down on paper paper and I am not going and taking pictures of all of my several pages of notes right now. This coop is going to be in a similar style to the Wichita Cabin one, but with some modifications, both on dimensions and setup. I'd like to use either corrugated plastic or something of the sort on the roof, but when I've mentioned this to my parents they say that they like the look of shingles better, so I may end up with that. The henhouse part of the coop will be 6x6x6' on the tall side, and 5' on the short side. There is an attached run of 6x6, connecting to a 7x6 run space under the coop and external nesting box. The henhouse is raised 2 feet off the ground because of the run space under the coop. I was thinking that I would have a 6'' overhang on all sides, but I might take your idea of shifting it so there is more on the sides with the ventilation.

 

[3KillerBs]

It will still need to be primed and painted - or painted with a really good exterior paint, likely twice, if you expect it to hold up.

I have become very fond of barn paint for all exterior sheds, garden beds, etc.

No priming required, adheres to rough wood, and is so tough that we ended up with two garden beds where the boards were nothing but a shell of barn paint after termites and carpenter ants had eaten out the interior of the boards.

 

[black_cat]

I have become very fond of barn paint for all exterior sheds, garden beds, etc.

No priming required, adheres to rough wood, and is so tough that we ended up with two garden beds where the boards were nothing but a shell of barn paint after termites and carpenter ants had eaten out the interior of the boards.

Whoa, that sounds great! I'll have to check it out. Do you have to put anything over it to seal it in?