The Old Folks Home

[vehve]

Oh, and while you might like the noise, I think the bunnies will prefer being noise free. I can listen to the noise inside all I want. But sitting in what is basically an echo chamber with a tin roof on top without anything in between doesn't sound like fun to me. I'm not going to bother building an inner roof for the bunnies, just a framework to support the roof. And the walls will be a single layer of TnG without any insulation or similar constructions.

 

[ozexpat]

On a happier note, the digging portion of my bunny pen project is complete! Tomorrow it's time to go lumber shopping. I'm going to try to squeeze this as cheap as possible. What horrifies me is that I'm still going to have to get some roof materials, some netting, and some paint... those are going to cost an arm and a leg. I'm going to try something new on this one, the roof material is called Onduline. Basically it's wood chips and bitumen pressed to form sort of a corrugated roof thing. You can install it like a tin roof, but it's a bit cheaper, and should be more durable. Plus, it won't heat up as badly since it's thicker, it's self healing, and as an added bonus, rain won't be as noisy on it as on tin.

I looked at Onduline roofing for our house.

It has crappy reviews in the tropics as bitumen leaks from it. I am sure it will be great in your climate though

 

[vehve]

I haven't used Onduline before, but I have a lot of experience with bitumen shingles, I think I've done six builds with them before. I really like bitumen, it's a great material. You get too much sun there, it would stay soft all the time, but here, the sun basically just helps it heal on hot days, it's a great feature. Onduline says that the leaking will stop after 6 months though. I'm just going to risk it, the bunnies can get some bitumen on them. I wonder how it would work in the tropics if you would add a solid layer of something, maybe plywood, underneath the roof.

 

[Beer can]

I put galvanized on my garage. When it sprinkles it sounds like its pouring. When it's raining I can't even hear my radio. It will be insulated some day, but the wife thinks finishing the house remod is more important :-(

 

[Alaskan]

oh blah!

people up here take ten years before they put in the running water....



my kitchen cabinets are loosing their fronts... the kitchen drawers are all busted, and no longer pull in and out properly..

the formica counter top is starting to bubble...

it perfectly matches the wall to wall carpet that started out off white and is now brown

 

[vehve]

When I'm a grown up and have loads of money and I finally get around to building the 400 square meter house on the 100 hectare property, I'm going to go with aluminium roofing. The company that makes it guarantees 40 years without any service.

 

[Alaskan]

what.... you are supposed to do something to the roof???

huh?

 

[vehve]

Al, depends on the roof... a tin roof can last a hundred years, but it will need painting every 20-30 years or so... Bitumen only lasts about 20-30 years, but in many cases you can just put another layer on top of the old one. That's pretty cheap. A tile roof lasts long, but moss build up will make cracks in it, and you'll need to replace broken tiles. And all of the roof types need to be kept clean. Especially tin, otherwise moisture will collect in places where organic matter builds up and it will rust. I don't know about other materials, but I can't think of any others I would even consider. Maybe a green roof, but that's a bit eccentric. They can last for pretty long if they're built right though. Even hundreds of years. Oh, then there's straw, which is cool, but I wouldn't try that.

 

[Alaskan]

I haven't heard of painting metal roofs

There are a decent number of tarp roofs up here ... those do NOT last long

 

[ozexpat]

Al, depends on the roof... a tin roof can last a hundred years, but it will need painting every 20-30 years or so... Bitumen only lasts about 20-30 years, but in many cases you can just put another layer on top of the old one. That's pretty cheap. A tile roof lasts long, but moss build up will make cracks in it, and you'll need to replace broken tiles. And all of the roof types need to be kept clean. Especially tin, otherwise moisture will collect in places where organic matter builds up and it will rust. I don't know about other materials, but I can't think of any others I would even consider. Maybe a green roof, but that's a bit eccentric. They can last for pretty long if they're built right though. Even hundreds of years. Oh, then there's straw, which is cool, but I wouldn't try that.

I haven't used Onduline before, but I have a lot of experience with bitumen shingles, I think I've done six builds with them before. I really like bitumen, it's a great material. You get too much sun there, it would stay soft all the time, but here, the sun basically just helps it heal on hot days, it's a great feature. Onduline says that the leaking will stop after 6 months though. I'm just going to risk it, the bunnies can get some bitumen on them. I wonder how it would work in the tropics if you would add a solid layer of something, maybe plywood, underneath the roof.

Adding plywood on a 3000 sq ft roof is a little costly at 15 bucks a sheet. We would have to increase size of the rafters and double the number of purlons as well.

If I had to do all that, I would raise the slope and just use ashphalt shingles