Siding material, ventilation, and other coop questions.

[black_cat]

4x4s are never straight because of the grain of the wood, and because of uneven/inconsistent drying after they are pressure treated. If you get a board wet on one side, then watch it warp as it dries??? Yeah, that's a 4x4 in a nut shell. and because of the way they are selected from raw logs, sometimes they will twist, too, so the 4x4 looks like a corkscrew as you view it down the length. and because there is so much "meat" to it, its very hard to straighten out - essentially impossible with 2x4 framing.

I'm not saying this to dissuade you - I used 4x4 corners myself in some of my stuff - for some of the same reasons. Just want you to know what to look for, so you don't go to put your siding on, or nail some 2x4 framing up, and find the 4x4 twisting away from you.

View attachment 2300455T

Thank you! That was very helpful as now I know what to look for and won't get anything tooooo messed up, hopefully. If there are easier options when I need to have 'legs' on something, I'd love to hear them, but that goes for any aspect of building things.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Roof framing depends on roofing material choice. You can (if available) use pre-engineered trusses and plywood decking as most houses are down now. You can run a ridge pole and hang rafters off of it (as homes USED to be done), which is how I built my barn. Then you can either deck it with plywood and roof it, or you can attach purlins, and attach metal or polycarbonate roofing to those. Purlins are basically thin strips of wood perpendicular to, and on top off, the rafters/trusses.

Less wood, less weight, less cost, faster assembly, better airflow. On the other hand, not so well attached to the structure (high winds), less support (important if you plan on walking on it, or have heavy snow load concerns), and can be a bit harder to seal up with screen/etc to discourage flying bugs and the like from entering the structure.

I did ridge pole, rafter, purlins. Many constructions - like metal roofs - allow you to space the purlins up to 2' apart, so you don't need many. But if you can't see what you are doing, its really easy to miss with the screw from above. I "cheated" and used 1 1/4 x 6 PT deck boards for my purlins. Pressure treated, nice and wide, able to support my weight between rafters, and not much more expensive than the 1x4s which are normally used.

(again, pic stolen from the internet)

/edit back tomorrow - other time commitments - will check for further questions then.

 

[3KillerBs]

I'm out of my technical depth in roof framing, but I want to express my happiness in seeing you take so much trouble to get this right and do the job well instead of just cobbling something together than suffering through the problems that come with not having thought your plans through.

 

[black_cat]

I'm out of my technical depth in roof framing, but I want to express my happiness in seeing you take so much trouble to get this right and do the job well instead of just cobbling something together than suffering through the problems that come with not having thought your plans through.

Thank you! I want to make the best possible home for my hens, and with that comes planning! It also proooooooobably helps that I like to plan everything approximately 1,214 years before it happens (I've already planned out my entire life, and my entire farm that I want to own/run)

 

[Sarkchick]

I used exterior 3/4 in plywood painted with porch n deck paint. Has lasted 9 years so far.
My dad built a pontoon barge (floor) 12x24 with the same plywood and paint. Stayed in the water at least 20+ years.

 

[aart]

For good winter overhang and eave/soffit venting you'll want rafters to sit on top of an extend beyond wall.

 

[black_cat]

I realized an issue when I was checking over how I was planning to frame up the walls: Do I have 6 feet between the two ending 4x4s, or including the two ending 4x4s?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yes, if your house is 6' deep, you will want the front wall 1' 6" / 18" / 1.5' taller than the back to ensure a 3/12 roof pitch. If you decide to put 6' between your 4x4 posts, then use a front wall 1' 8" / 20" taller than the back.

Most likely, you will have 6' including the ending 4x4s, to make more efficient use of your cladding material on the walls (plywood sheeting) - there's no reason you couldn't do it with 6' between, meaning your outer dimensions would be closer to 6' 8" (6' gap plus 3.5"x2 for the 4x4s plus 1/2" x2 for the plywood) then use the scrap cuts on the wall plywood do do the upper part of the front wall. The downside is that, with a longer building, you will have less roof overhang from standard sized materials, unless you go longer, do more cutting on the roof, and have more scrap when the job is done (much of which can be repurposed, 'tis true).

and as @aart said, having rafters extend beyond the the walls is probably fastest and easiest, and they make readily available, relatively inexpensive metal hangers for just that purpose. Given the small sizes and weights involved, 2x4 rafters on 2' centers should be perfectly adequate.

 

[black_cat]

Here are the plans, minus the framing:
The scale of these is one square on graph paper is equal to one square foot in real life.
Please ignore some wavy/weird lines, I don't always have steady hands.

View 1:
This is the right side of the coop, if I say that the front is where the pop door goes to the run. This is the side with the tall side of the roof, the access into the run, and the main access into the coop. Each of these doors has two latches, on the top and the bottom. Should I add another in the middle? On the run, the coop, or both? I may or may not put a window in the door. There is also run space under the nesting boxes. I want to have the slanted roof on the nesting box, so at the entrance from the coop they are 18'' and at the back they are 12''. I was thinking that a 6'' overhang instead of a 12'' one would be ok on those, please correct me if I'm wrong. There is 6 square feet of ventilation on this side, along the top of the coop below the roof.
View 2:
This is the back of the coop. It has the external nesting boxes. I tried to show the roof on them but struggled a bit. There are 6 nesting boxes, which should be more than enough for 8 hens. The lid opens upward on the nesting boxes and has latches on either side. Should I add one in the middle too? There is approximately 3 square feet of ventilation on this side, along the top. This is the top contender of where to add a window. Do you think I should add one?

View 3: This is the left side of the coop. There is no access into the run but there is a secondary access door into the coop. This is because I would like to brood in coop, and the best spot for that is on the opposite side from the door. It will be easier to access the in coop brooder from an outside door than from in the coop. This is the lower side of the coop, where all the rain will run off. That's because that way it won't all go in to the run, and it will run downhill and away form the coop. There is no ventilation on this side unless I add a window. Like the other doors, this will have two latches.
View 4: This is the 'front' of the coop. In real life, this would be blocked by the front of the run, but I omitted that as well as the ramp so we could actually see it. This is where the chickens access the run, where there is a pop door. I will either have an automatic door or a door that hinges upward and hooks. I don't know how long or at what angle to make the ramp, but I have 6x6 run in front of that. What ramp length and angle do I want? I saw the idea on here to make a pop door two chickens wide so that they wouldn't fight to get out. Is this true? Is 2'x2' good for that? Should it be smaller?
View 5:
This is how I was thinking? I would frame the base, the part that's on the ground. These would all be covered by mulchy run litter material that I just get from the woodsy bit we have. That frame does not take the run door into account but it does have cross pieces between the 4x4s on either side, and then another cross piece in the tall run. How should I be framing this? Does this look good? What can I change?

View 6: (the 6 is a bit cut off)
this is a bird's eye view of the coop if I were to take away all of the roof and roof supports. Line one (in the corner bit with the arrow) marks the edge of the poop boards. These poop boards attach to the wall. They have 1 foot between them and the wall and 1 foot extending out toward the center of the coop, making 1 foot of poop board on either side of the roost.
Line 2:
The roosts. I'd like to have them running along the length of the coop on either side, making 12 feet of roost space for 8 birds.
Line 3: Shows the nesting box dividers. Nothing fancy, every one foot, making 6 nesting boxes for 8 birds. Is it ok that to access the nesting boxes they have to go under the poop board?
Line 4: This thick line just shows where the pop door is, if I were to view the wall from the side and not from above.
Line 5: same as above, but with the main access door.
Line 6: the ramp up to the poop boards. As of right now, the poop boards are 2 feet off the ground. How long/what angle should the ramp be?
I somehow forgot to add the secondary access door, but it mirrors the primary access door just across the coop. I want to brood in coop and get chicks in the spring. For a brooder I was planning on taking the two feet under the poop board that runs along the wall with the secondary access door. I want to use hardware cloth to wall of that two feet all the way down, as well as the 2 nesting boxes on that end.
View 7:
A height view of the back wall of the coop, to get an idea of heights.
1. the nesting boxes. They are 18'' high at the entrance, with either a 4 inch or 6 inch lip, depending on what is easier to build. Thoughts on that?
2. The height of the poop board. I had planned it to be 6'' above the nesting boxes to give adequate space below to access nesting boxes (2 feet) I want the poop board to have a lip as well. I'd like to put sweet pzd in it as I've seen people do, apparently it isn't dusty and has no odors, which sounds great. How high should I make the lip on the poop board?
3. The height of the roost. I had put it a full 6'' above the poop board. Should it be lower? Higher? Thoughts?
4. The height of the ventilation. There are at least 3 feet between the roosts and ventilation, hopefully enough to keep all chickens safe from drafts. That would change if I put a window on that wall. How high would I want the window? Would I want to close it at night?

 

[black_cat]

Yes, if your house is 6' deep, you will want the front wall 1' 6" / 18" / 1.5' taller than the back to ensure a 3/12 roof pitch. If you decide to put 6' between your 4x4 posts, then use a front wall 1' 8" / 20" taller than the back.

Most likely, you will have 6' including the ending 4x4s, to make more efficient use of your cladding material on the walls (plywood sheeting) - there's no reason you couldn't do it with 6' between, meaning your outer dimensions would be closer to 6' 8" (6' gap plus 3.5"x2 for the 4x4s plus 1/2" x2 for the plywood) then use the scrap cuts on the wall plywood do do the upper part of the front wall. The downside is that, with a longer building, you will have less roof overhang from standard sized materials, unless you go longer, do more cutting on the roof, and have more scrap when the job is done (much of which can be repurposed, 'tis true).

and as @aart said, having rafters extend beyond the the walls is probably fastest and easiest, and they make readily available, relatively inexpensive metal hangers for just that purpose. Given the small sizes and weights involved, 2x4 rafters on 2' centers should be perfectly adequate.

If I end up using roofing material that is not shingles, would it be ok to just have the roof have a 2/12 pitch? What do you mean by cladding? Sorry, I've never built things and just have trouble with the building terms. I like the idea of having the rafters extend beyond the walls. By 2x4 rafters on 2' centers, do you mean one rafter every 2 feet? How long would roofing material have to be? If it was flat it would only have to be 8' long, for the 1' overhang on either side, but I know that you lose some in the slope of the roof.