where should i put one or more new vents?

[dawnjoennikki98]

Here is my Duck house. It has that one window on front facing east. the only ventilation is at the peaks of the roof on the north and south sides. Very small vents covered with hardware cloth. Where should I add more ventilation? And what type of tools saw would i need to cut rectangle vents out of the wood? i would cover with hardware cloth 1/2 inch. should the cloth go on the inside or outside? or both? thanks!!

Dawn

 

[BrianM]

I would start with a ridge vent the entire length of the roof.

 

[patandchickens]

Where do you live? (From the pics I'm going to crazily guess somewhere in the Northeast maybe, with winter temps not usually below the teens or single digits... but I am probably 100% wrong of course LOL)

Also, how much wind is the shed exposed to from the front?

Ducks can take pretty much any sort of temperature, you're just trying to keep them out of predators' tummies and maybe somewhat wind-protected during the worst storms. And they are terribly messy

So honestly I'd suggest doing something much more radical than you would for chickens... maybe leave the little window open all year, and convert the top half of the door to all-mesh. That *might* be enough for ducks. If that seems likely to allow too much wind and weather to blow in, you could make the top half of the opposite wall all-mesh (in between the wall studs anyhow). I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have some means of temporarily covering those vents in a bad storm but on the whole, remember they're DUCKS

(FOr chickens, I'd say instead that you might want to convert the entirety of the two triangular top portions of the gable ends into vents, and possibly also add some high vents on at least one of the walls. But chickens are less messy and more weather-sensitive than ducks)

To cut holes in the wood, the simplest/safest solution would be to use a drill with large-diameter bit to make a starter hole in one or all of the corners of the desired shape, then use a power jigsaw (or sawzall, if you've made the starter holes big enough) to 'connect the dots' and remove the section of wood. Be attentive not to saw through studs or other wall structure

There are other ways of doing ti too, like with a circular saw or even a router, but I would recommend the starter-hole-and-jigsaw approach as safer.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[dawnjoennikki98]

Thank you Brian and Pat! You are correct I am in NJ!

...Thanks for the tips on cutting out the vents and where to place them. I feel like most wind comes from the north. So making half the door wire, or putting long roof vents along East and west side would both work.. thanks so much! i'll let you know what I decide!

they do make a mess, you ain't kiddin! but I don't feed or water inside their coop, It's just for sleepy time.

Dawn

 

[PuckPuckPuck]

What about using this as ventilation? I never hear people talk about it and the are great to use.

 

[patandchickens]

Vents like that really offer only very small actual vent area, though.

They make sense for an attic, b/c it is hard to ventilate an attic any other way as you are exceedingly limited in your ability to cut holes in the side of it, especially in a large attic (large volume, but little or no vertical wall space).

In chicken coops though it is almost always SO easy (trivial, really) to make vents thru the walls, including BIG vents, that the thru-the-roof attic vents just don't usually make sense, and it would take a *lot* of them to do the job of just one 2x2 window or 1x4 wall-top vent.

Pat

 

[kgriffith]

I plan on using the roof vents on my coop. I was going to install a soffitt vent but they will actually provide more square footage venting wise for my setup and they are the highest point on the structure allowing the moist air to escape. I plan to install them as well as sheet metal on the interior that will sit in a track so that I can have the ability to close them off if need be. I am a roofer so it should not be a problem to install

 

[dawnjoennikki98]

Thanks everyone. Now I have another question. I want to put vents ( long openings with hardware cloth, possibly the top of the door also) If i use a drill to make corner holes, then cut from hole to hole in a rectangle, I won't have a piece of wall to hinge and fit snug when i need to close them up, right, because of the holes i make first? Could i somehow use the same wall/door pieces and modify it to fit snug? As you can see, I am not handy in this area lol. thanks!
Dawn

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Use the piece you cut out, but add battens (1x2, or whatever similar) around the edge, that lap off beyond the edge of your cutoff wall piece.

You will need to do that *anyhow* since otherwise there will be a sawblade-wide gap around the edge and besides the cutoff wall piece will be inclined to twist and warp. So these battens (attached to the hinged cutoff piece, so that when you close the flap the battens lie flat against the surrounding wall) will not only prevent gappiness and twisting, they will also conveniently cover your starter holes

Alternatively if you want to make a flap that fits *against* the surrounding wall rather than into the hole you cut, you can just do it with whatever lumber or thick-plywood scraps you may have around. (Thin plywood will warp and twist too much)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[ndemerly]

if you choose to add more vents on the walls a circular saw and a handsaw or reciprocating saw to finish the cuts would be your best bet.