Question About Siding and Plywood (Home Depot, windows, heat, insulating)
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Ok, I'm building a chicken coop in my backyard. Some of the instructions are a little vague and I'm not exactly an experienced carpenter. I have both regular plywood and T-111 siding. I was planning on putting up plywood and then nailing the siding to it. Some of the plans I've seen for sheds and such seem to have people just nailing siding to the outside of the frame and not putting up plywood or anything else on the walls. Is it overkill to use both plywood and siding for something like that? I live in Iowa so it does get cold here, if that makes a difference.
The T-111 is good enough for a shed, and meets the lateral brace requirements. Make sure and use the Z flashing if you have horizontal joints at gable ends.
Are you planning on chickens year 'round? If so, that will likely be too cold for the below zero days. Since most backyard coops are small, I might do a sandwich of cheap thin plywood, insulating foam panels (blue board) and the T-111 over that, making sure there is a closable vent near the top of the coop. That way you can minimize the size of heat lamp and electric costs. Be aware that dogs and racoons and foxes can be determined in trying to break into a coop.
If you are just raising broilers over the summer, cheap is good. Skip everything but basic shelter and predator prevention.
Our coop is just plywood. We put a heat lamp in the "attic" area of the coop to keep them warm in the winter. Our chickens survive (if raccoons do not pull of their heads - nasty critters, 'coons).
A neighbor has an all out coop. It is big, you can walk into it. It has 6" of foam insulation. The doors are sealed. It is better insulated than most houses. He has a ventilation system.
He keeps chickens, ducks, a maccaw or two and some other birds in it. It is overkill, but he is a retired contractor wth too much time on his hands.
A few things we did that i am glad of:
Line the interior with that plastic wall panel stuff they us in commercial bathrooms (like home depot bathrooms). IT is really easy to clean.
Include pulleys to open and close the chicken door from outside the chicken run.
Put the light on a temperature sensing switch.
Put the coop on posts (like stilts). Easier to reach, keeps critters out better and gives the chickens a shady spot in the summer.
Include outside doors at waist level to access the nest boxes so you can collecting the eggs without going inside and without bending and stooping.
Include enough outside doors to access for cleaning.
Put in some windows with hardware cloth for screens and a solid plywood door that can be closed int he winter. This allow good ventilation during the summer. If you seal it up without ventialtion, you will cook your chickens in the summer.
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