wives/fiances/girlfriends: any advice for getting my BF to finish coop

[eggzettera]

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you are soooooo bad

 

[Heather J]

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Oh, I love this! Unfortunately, my dh might just decide that's the easy way to go. lol

My coop still isn't finished, and it's been going far longer than yours. We do have it secure now, so I hauled pallets out to build temporary pens for the chickens (they're silkies and frizzled cochins, so they don't fly three feet high yet). I also built most of the run by myself, but I also have gotten to the point where I need an extra hand--simply because I don't have enough hands to hold two boards seven feet up and still manipulate a nail gun. *sigh*

I'm lucky that my daytime predators are few so even though the run isn't secure yet, it's safe to let them out there during daylight hours. I'd definitely ask him how to do the part that needs to be done next, and then go out and start marking boards, measuring wire, etc, and see if he feels guilty enough to come help. I need to make another trip to the hardware store for more boards to build my pens.

Get him to show you haw to use the circular saw. I know it's scary at first, but it's not hard, and as long as you keep your hands away from the blade, it's really simple and not that big of a deal. YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[LittleHouseDreams]

Boy, I feel for you. My coop also took ages to get finished. We were doing well and then DH hurt his back. I waited and waited and then decided to do what I could by myself. Well having me come in and ask him where this tool was or that tool caused DH to get up and come help. I wasn't trying to get him up I just couldn't find the stuff I needed. Anyway from start to finish it probably took us 8 weeks to finish a coop for only 4 hens! Good luck with your project!

 

[Weasleymum]

I'm going to assume (for my mental health) that most of the "manipulation" type posts were tongue-in-cheek, as well as the "call the x boyfriend" ones. That said, there has been some good advice on here.

First, do whatever you can, yourself. I don't mean "nail the shingles upside down" or "maul his powertools" or "stagger under the weight of the plywood" or whatever other feminine ploy-- I mean actually start working on the coop. Start with whatever aspect doesn't require power tools, or that requires the least-scary one. (Personally I can't STAND the circular saw, especially being left-handed.) This will accomplish two things: your coop will slowly start getting finished, and it might jump-start him into helping you.

Second, assuming that he does take over, continue helping. My DH built most of our chicken coop, but I did whatever I could do, painting and staining, holding this, getting that. Ask what he could use a hand with. Work on it together, so that he sees this as a joint project, not something that he has to do for you.

 

[freemotion]

Even though I wrote "Manipulation 101".....for the record, I built both my coups by myself....dad helped with one of the doors, cutting the hole for the window. Yes, it was tongue-in-cheek.....mostly!

 

[Heather J]

I have to admit, though DH 'owns' most of the tools, I use them, perhaps more than he does. In fact, for Christmas I asked for a pneumatic stapler so I could finish my run--and as soon as I can figure out why it wasn't shooting staples, I'll be using it even though it's not Christmas yet. lol


My Dh is incredibly busy. He works full time as a 911 dispatcher, then runs our computer business on the side. With his heightened sleep needs (weird medical thing), he rarely has time to do what he wants, to relax or hang out with the guys (they'll take twenty minutes to refill their soda mugs or once is a very great while spend a couple of hours playing video games). Though I might get frustrated that nothing's getting accomplished on the coop, I can't blame him as he really has so very little time to work on it, and I always tell him how much I appreciate it when he squeezes in time for the projects I can't do myself (like wiring the coop--electrical is out of my talent sphere). On the other hand, I've done 99% of the painting in our house, laid all of the tile (he cut some for me, but I did all the rest), and so on. What I can do, I do, what I can't I try and be patient until he can lend me a hand.

Building is not his forte, but he does tons of things for me in other areas that I couldn't do for myself (like building my gorgeous web site, or fixing my laptop when it acts up).

 

[Fudgie]

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It might work like my hubby's and you have to have it pressed to the wood before the staple will come out (DH says it is a woman's safety feature, i think it is a DH safety feature to keep us from shooting them with it!) LOL He has a nail gun that also works that way. Try putting it on a piece of wood and shooting it!

 

[Heather J]

I've been using my dad's nail gun for ages, so I did press it against the wood. It even makes that noise like it's shooting a staple, but nothing comes out. *sigh* Now if I can just find the paperwork somewhere. Maybe there are instructions, and if I'm lucky they'll even be in English lol.

 

[Fudgie]

If you cannot find the instructions google this

Instructions for brand Pneumatic staple gun

You should find something there. Might be easier than looking for the instructions

 

[NRacine]

1) Some staple guns won't shoot the staples if the mechanism that holds them in isn't completely closed and locked.
2) Some of them have a dial that you can turn to make the staples go into the wood more or less. You might want to mess with that.
3) Some of them won't shoot unless the pressure in the air compressor is up to a certain PSI. It usually says the minimum pressure somewhere on the gun.
4) Did you check for jams?

Good luck!