space under rafters...how to cover them?

[hokankai]

So we're mounting the roof on our coop and I just realized there will be spaces between the roof and the frame when we're done. How do you cover them up?! It's kind of hard to explain, but it's where the 2x4s of the roof are resting on the edges of the frame, so in between the 2x4s. Haha anyway, help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tofer76]

i am coming up on to this area in my build and i think i am going to cover the area from the wall frame to the end of the over hang with hardware cloth or chicken wire i think

 

[Jessie_Jazz]

I have deliberately designed my coop to have about an inch gap under the roof for ventilation. I will mesh it to keep foxes out but thats it.

 

[Arcnadius]

Quote:
I take it you're not installing a ceiling but are looking for a way to keep your birds off the frame? You could affix hardware mesh to the trusses (or the 2X4s if you don't have trusses). That would probably be the easiest without a ceiling. Be sure you have soffits or something on the outside to keep critters from climbing up and in.

 

[hokankai]

Be sure you have soffits or something on the outside to keep critters from climbing up and in.

Yeah! That's the problem, what do you use as soffits??​

 

[Chicken Chat]

You can either leave the eave vents open to allow for ventilation, covered with hardware cloth and use 1x3 or 1x4's (depending on your situation) to nail along your rafter tails just under the roof sheathing. If you don't want to keep the eaves open for ventilation, you can cut a board to fit under the rafters, flush with the wall sheathing and just nail it to the underside of your rafters ( you may have to nail a piece of scrap board on your wall sheathing in order to have something to nail your soffit to) and close that vent off. Depends on what you want to do with your coop.

 

[Arcnadius]

Quote:
Yeah! That's the problem, what do you use as soffits??

I was just going to use soffits like we have on our house eaves. They have small ventilation slits and holes that allow air in, but nothing bigger than maybe an ant. Any lumber yard should have samples of them for you to look at. We have a number of local siding companies that I'm going to call to see if I can grab about 24 linear feet of project tear out soffits. I don't know much about construction, but I think you can get soffits that go flat on the roof trusses -or- bridge the distance from the drip edge to your outside wall.

You could use just about anything flat to do the job, too.

 

[oldchickenlady]

Here is how I did mine. Leaves space for air circulation, but is secure. I tried to staple it, but at that height, 3/8" roofing turned out to be easier.

 

[Royd]

Old houses were built this way. Soffits were only used on more expensive houses, for the architectural look....Use what I would call a vent board. cut a 2x4 the length of the distance, between the rafters, or joists...If your carpentry is precise, they should all be the same. I measure each gap, regardless.

Then, using a hole saw or a paddle bit, about 1 1/2" in dia. bore 3 holes in each board. Cover with your desired screen, preferrably on the inside.
Nail board into place. Hopefully, before the roof is in place.

You may have to rip these boards down, slightly, if you have cut a bird's mouth into the rafter, which is proper. I rip them down, with the angle of the roof, so that I have full bearing, across the board. Hope you understand.

 

[AlienChick]

Thank you, OldChidkenLady.
I gotta say photos are definitely helpful for us construction-challenged folk!