Started the new coop today (Nov 06 photos - more progress)

[greginshasta]

I hired a guy who saw my Craigslist ad seeking a shed, and he offered to help build one. So building it we are.

I managed to get a trailer load of used (yet straight) lumber from a garage sale for $20, 3 new white vinyl windows for less than $100 (mis-orders at the local glass shop), and found a beautiful exterior door at the local dump.

The structure will be a 10x12 gable roofed shed with a 13' peak. Should be fairly dramatic. Thinking very seriously about duplicating this roofline and have a fairly good idea about how we might take a 2"x12" and cutting the sway into the top with a jig saw. If anyone knows for certain what the technique used to do this, please reply.

I'm frustrated about one piece of this. Living in this small community, it's not unusual to go to the lumber yard or hardware store and not find what you could easily obtain in larger areas. I want to put a gable-end louvered attic vent like the one that appears in horsewishr's blue and white coop in this post . All I found were the ratty metal vents and not one of the nicer wood-framed units.

The coop will have operable windows on all 4 sides. Does anyone have an opinion as to whether it would be best to hold off until we can get an attic vent, or given the number of windows can we bypass installing that ventilation aid? Any better ideas?

Thanks, and photos soon. I took some today but WAY too tired to mess with them now.
Greg


Update. WIth a night of sleep I realized I could poke around the web, find the vent I will need, and get the measurements so we can continue framing. We'll use this vent which will match the white vinly windows.

Anyone know how the sway roof was done?

 

[Dawn419]

Hi Greg,

DH said to cut the swag in the beam first then cut the rafters to fit it. Hope this was some help!

Dawn

 

[greginshasta]

Quote:
Ya, that's what we were thinking. We are planning a 2x12. That seem right?

 

[Dawn419]

Yeppers on the 2 x 12.

DH keeps threatening to join the forum so he doesn't have to "talk thru me".

Dawn

 

[greginshasta]

We have all 4 walls up and I'm headed for the lumber yard. We're going for the sway roof, but it will probably be next weekend. Today we're going to get the run roofed because a series of storms are moving in.

More later.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I'm not so sure that's a 2x12 in the photos. Looks like it could be a sheet of plywood. Once everything is nailed together there's not a lot of load on the ridge board itself, it just helps to position everything.

 

[seminolewind]

we built a bridge using the same idea. We got a 2 x 12, drew the curve we wanted, and DH cut it out. Looks great.

 

[greginshasta]

Well kids, it's been a couple long 12-hour days and at the moment it is raining. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I tend to get carried away with projects, and this one will be no exception. Why, oh why, do I do this to myself?

We decided to hire this fellow Andy who is a very skilled young fellow and lives an hour away. He arrived at 8AM Saturday and spent the weekend with us.

Saturday we completed framing the foundation yesterday morning, installed the floor and built the front and rear wall. We tried to pur concrete but it became too late and cold, so that got put off until today.

This morning, we moved the pen into it's permanent location adjacent to the house, allowing me to begin installing the 4x4 posts that would carry the roof. Andy proceeded to build the side walls. He also set the sonotube forms and poured concrete piers.

Later in the day we were able to frame the rafters that will hold the Ondura roof panels that we purchased at Lowes. As of tonight, we installed those panels but we lengthened the planned roof and ran out of material. The entire run has a tarp over it to keep the girls dry.

Next weekend we will finalize the roof over the run, and get started with the roof of the house and the siding.

We did go ahead and purchase a 14' 2x12 so that we can form the roof as discussed above. Also influencing the design is horsewishr's beautiful blue and white gable-style house . With the ridge running from front to rear, and a 10' depth, it will be interesting to see how the sway ridge works out. We'll probably use a green-tone comp shingle instead of the beautiful wood shingles that Nugget used .

As of this evening, here is the results. More photos here .

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Greg, that's fantastic. I love the pictures... so glad you are being diligent about taking them throughout the process.

So, this guy is an hour from you? Maybe he's that much closer to me so I can hire him!

Keep the pictures and details coming!

 

[greginshasta]

He lives in Redding. His day job is fence construction, but he is very clearly skilled and works like crazy. The dude does not slow down.

The rafters for the run are done with bird's mouths so that they drop into the upper framing of the run. I'll install some cross-bracing so the birds have something to fly up to.

The plan, BTW, is that 1/2 of the house will be coop and the other half will be storage. It is located 10-15' from our greenhouse so it will sort of double as a potting shed.

I'm thinking about placing a false ceiling into the coop area (perhaps at the 6' elevation) so that the space above that could be storage. There would still be illumination from the widows that are in there, and I have to make certain there is ventilation, but what else do I need to think about? Is 6' inside the coop area sufficient?