Updated! Pics! Thank you! Someone that has a clue please help

[HennyJenny]

SO - I'm crazy enough to think I can build an 8 x 12 coop by myself. The kind of help I get is my husband walking by shaking his head - or my Dad dropping by to "critique". SOOO it took me roughly 4 days to level my site, place my blocks, square things up and frame my floor -no small feat. But I finished it - and I'm pleased. One day - when I must have had more sleep - I framed out the back wall - without having a temper tantrum but it took me the better part of 4 hours. (I kid you not). So tonight when I get home - I think I'll frame out another wall. I ended up having a total tantrum because how in the world is a five foot four person supposed to put together a six foot wall section? I can't hold it together enough to hammer it - or create enough resistance to use the drill without stripping every **** screw!! I obviously did one wall - but should that really have taken four hours? I think not! I have 30+ chicks in my house that NEEED to get out. I need to get this done. Please - does anyone with some experience have any tips for how one - relatively inexperienced person can frame up a wall without killing themselves or taking all day?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Maybe you could ask "Dogfish", he's a construction wizard and built his coop in the dark some nights!

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I do know that you can build the walls laying down.. then put them up when they're all together. good luck, I am sorry you are having such an annoying time! I can't build anything...

 

[teach1rusl]

Yeah...I agree with chickensducks...frame the wall laying on the ground, and then nail it onto your floor panel and existing framed wall. Keep up the good work. It may take longer, and it's a heck of a lot harder building things yourself, but I'm sure it will turn out great!

 

[Marie1234]

Is there a reason you HAVE to do this yourself? Were it me I'd head down to my local watering hole/bar/pizza place and order a pitcher of something and start telling random anyone that I am looking for someone to help me out for a few hours for not too much money.
You can frame out all the walls on the ground but there are always going to be some tasks that are done best by two. That's why construction workers work in groups.
Good luck to you.

 

[Joz]

yeah... build your wall on the ground (bottom plate, studs and top plate), and then lift the whole thing into place. Tack a lightweight piece across the whole wall on a diagonal (screw it into each stud, but don't make it super tight; you'll be removing this piece once the wall is in place) to keep the whole thing from racking when you try to move it.

And find a friend to help. Moving stuff like that around is rather unwieldy, and goes much better with at least two people. I have a friend who's a sexy hunk of man-candy that I call when I can't get my boyfriend to help with construction projects. He teaches me how to do stuff (like build stud walls), and brings all the tools I'll need, and helps me finish my little projects. And then drinks beer with my boyfriend afterward.

 

[Heinz1]

Nail or screw a couple blocks on the floor to work aginest or the bottom of the wall you all ready built if it is standing.

 

[HennyJenny]

Thanks you guys! I am doing it myself because the only person in my family with a harder head than my husband is me.

I should've bought a building. I am trying to build them on the ground. I think I'm just doing it wrong or it wouldn't be so difficult. Thanks for the encouragement!

Jenny

ETA: Heinz1 - that is a great idea! I will try that tomorrow night!

 

[BarkerChickens]

I agree with the others. Build the walls flat and then bring it up. By placing a 2x4 on the bottom, you just have to nail or screw it to he bottom. Once the walls, are up, nail or screw then together. As for doing it yourself, have you though about investing it a nail gun, so that you can go quick and not have to worry about the pressure like a drill? Even if you added screws after, the nail gun will keep it in place.

 

[gryeyes]

I'm a mid-fifties, former couch potato with NO construction know-how, and I have now built two coops. The first one was obviously built by someone like me.

I bought a coop kit and put it together after I built my A-frame coop. With the knowledge I gathered from those two projects, I actually felt good enough to build another, bigger, better coop.

Just finished it. Still need to paint the exterior, but the coop is now occupied. 4 x 8 footprint, front wall 4 ft tall, back wall 6 ft tall. Side tops obviously slant from back to front.

I am 5'4" tall. "Bulky" build. Getting the two back wall panels up and attached to the side walls was a BEAR. Actually, a much stronger word, starting with the same letter. I took LOTS of breaks. Swearing, sweating, smoking. Staring at the wood and tools and nails. The panels almost fell over onto me more than once.

Wait, let me mention this coop is up on concrete blocks, so those 2 six foot back wall panels are actually taller than six feet. Which I realized when the branches of the tree I built it under - after carefully measuring from the ground up to the branches - were exactly six feet off the ground. And I'd measured all over the place to find the PERFECT spot for the coop.

More bad words. Had to break out the heavy duty lopping pruners. And then it eventually came time for me to put the roof panels on. I finally realized I couldn't do it alone.

A very nice man at work came over and assisted me with that task. He also pruned a few more branches.

Other than that, I built that whole thing myself. It has taken SEVERAL weekends.

But you know, that nice man was very impressed with my work. Very, very impressed. Plus he thinks my chickens are beautiful.

Sorry, not a framing expert by any means, but I wanted to share my experience as it sounds awfully similar. I think, when I attack the idea of building another coop some year, and it will obviously have to be even bigger and far better, I'm not going to try to put up six foot walls by myself again.

But I bet you CAN do it. I did.