your coop is H2O proof

[frog522]

What tips do you guys/gals have for keeping water from running/leaking into your coop?

I'm nearly done with getting my wood coop up and keep wondering what things I can still do to keep water from entering the coop on a rainy day. I'm seriously considering hosing down my coop when I'm done building/painting it to see if any water gets inside. I really don't want to find out during a storm that my coop is leaky!

 

[FaereChicken]

Our coop has a roof made of Ondura. It's a metal roof imitation from Lowe's, made of, I dunno, stuff. It wasn't expensive and it works very well.

 

[patandchickens]

Entering from where?

Correctly installed roofing, with a reasonable overhang, will not leak.

Correctly installed siding will not leak.

Correctly installed windows/doors will not leak, or not meaningfully.

And your guarantee against water coming in at floor level (for a coop built on the ground, rather than with a raised wooden floor) is to have built it on a local high point of ground, with fill added if there is any question about it remaining 100% abovewater even in floody times.

Not sure whether that answers your question? But good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[elmo]

I goofed and didn't build an overhang on one side of my small winter coop, so I had to fiddle with a lot of silicone caulking to try to address the problem. Design it right first, because fiddling with it afterwards is really no fun.

 

[Tala]

I have an open-air coop. It leaks. It also dries fast. The birds are healthy.

With an enclosed coop leaks would be an issue though, causing mold and smells, not to mention rotting the wood. Just build your coop with a proper roof and overhang, and the rest should be fine. Be sure to put in plenty of ventilation that won't allow leaks to come in. To check, just go out after a rainstorm and look for wet wood or bedding to track down any leaks.

 

[woodmort]

Now it is--started to leak last winter after 24 years so just had it reroofed with metal. Cost me three times what I put in as materials when I first built the coop--but then I did the work this time I hired it done.

 

[Baymule]

frog 522, I just built my 1st coop and it has a dirt floor, mostly hardwire cloth with strategically placed OSB and plywood to block the sun and rain. I don't have an over hang cause I had no idea of how to figure roof pitch and rafter length, so it ran a little bit short. I had used tin. My grandpa taught me to drop a nail in holes and put tar pitch over it to seal the holes. They don't leak. I was concerned about the dirt floor turning to mud, our backyard is on a slight slope. I banked a dirt berm on the side of the coop to block the flow of water, now it runs to the ends and not into the coop. A hard blowing wind will blow rain in, but not too bad. I live in hurricane country and we have had a few tropical storms. My chickens are still dry. I smiled at you saying you wanted to hose your coop down. I didn't have to-an obliging storm dumped a lot of rain and I stood out in the rain looking in at my dry chickens. HOO-RAY!!!! Good luck with your coop, I'm sure it will be just fine.

 

[wanderseek]

We used roll roofing for our coop. It is an old converted 8 x 10 shed and the roofing shingles were in a sad shape. Roll roofing is fool proof. You just cut a piece to the right length, roll up the piece you cut, put it up on the roof and nail it down, unrolling as you go. Of course, if there is a peaked roof like ours, the center roll (covering the peak) should overlap the lower pieces. It took about an hour for us to get ours done, and it is completely leak-free.

 

[wanderseek]

By the way, any hardware store employee will know what you're talking about if you just ask for "roll roofing."

 

[Qi Chicken]

DON"T USE slider windows. We did and all the rain comes in. We will have to replace them this fall with full pane windows that can be propped open for air.