Red Barn / Chicken Coop Project Update

So these last few days have been Red Barn days...  I spent all weekend and after work tonight working out there.  So just to recap the project was to build new chicken coop and tear down old one that took up the whole middle area of the barn.

Saturday my parents came over and Dad & I worked in the barn from 10:30am till after 6pm.  My main worry was the framing for the entry door.   I recycled the old solid wood door that used to be at the back porch.  Worked perfectly!  As with everything at this place - nothing is square or plumb so we had to make adjustments and MAJOR shims to get the door frame plumb compared to the board already there (like 3-4" shim at the base!).

Door Frame done & door functional! 

Then we worked on putting the bottom plate for the outside wall, this was also interesting and the boards were so out of whack - but my dad is a genius and he suggested using the circular saw and cutting down a little in the area that was high - then using chisels to notch the area out.  Made a huge difference for how the base plate laid.  He thinks some of those old floor boards were cherry - all I know when I was doing the chiseling - it was some hard wood!

Dad doing some chiseling

After the base was in we attached the studs which was easy as there used to be studs that someone cut out (from the corn crib that was there)  so we just attached the studs to the side of the old studs at the top attached to side of attic - not like we have to be 16" on center for a chicken coop.  =)  We put a few roof supports on - thought originally was gonna do chicken wire on top.   Then we started to build up the outside wall as you can see in this photo there are gaps in the siding so not so protective from the elements. 

Framing done and half of the outside wall filled with recycled boards.

Once we got all the outside walls lined with boards it was time to add the chicken wire.  We overlapped a few inches and then later I would add zip-ties every few inches along the seam so nothing could get in.  We also added a board over the bottom chicken wire so predators couldn't work the wire up at the bottom and get in. 

This is what the new coop looked like when my parents left on Saturday.

So Sunday I got up and got right to work after the sun came out...  8:30am.  I knew I had to rip down the old coop 1st as I needed the extra 2x4s from the upper wall addons as well as the OSB board.  Over night I decided to make the ceiling solid and not chicken wire.  So planned on recycling all the old stuff from the other coop to build the roof on the new one.  The new roof isn't pretty by any means - using scraps there are a lot of seams but it works...

Removed the door and the front top section - at this point there was no looking back and
had to finish new coop that night for chickens to have somewhere to sleep and be protected.

One wall gone, top of the one down and the wall is actually leaning in -
was stuck by an eye bolt sticking out of the front wall board. 

The new roof.

The only issue with the roof is that there was a gap between the barn attic and the roof that something could sneak in.  So we used some of the old chicken wire that was the roof of the old coop and I got up in the attic and stapled the wire to the roof and to the attic so entry point was lost.  Then we found another place under the attic where there was a small gap - so we gathered up all the scrap 2x4s we had around here and it was like the puzzle game on Survivor as we had already put all the saws away so Mo would hand me some pieces to see how it fit then she would keep working to get pieces that together matched the space perfectly - she did a great job!  I also used some of the spray expanding foam stuff to fill any gaps that might be big enough for something to try to enter.  The girls slept in their new house for the 1st time that night.  I didn't get back in the house till 11pm!  

So Monday comes and I was actually happy I couldn't go work on the barn and had to work so my lower back had a little time off!!!  I went out around 5:30pm tonight (Monday) with my Jeep and tow strap in hand... with notion on pulling out the corner posts.  Now reminder that the wood used for these stalls was Amish rough cut oak lumber - HEAVY!  The corner posts were 4x6 8 or 10' posts that were cemented in the ground.

1st post down - easy as pie!  =)

2nd post still easy to pull out but made a bit more mess
when the cement popped out.  That was one of the hens making
sure there wasn't any bugs that popped up from the hole. 

The 3rd and last pole I pulled with the Jeep was not so easy,
the cement stayed hooked on this one, so pulled it all the way out of the barn as
later this week I'll have to take the sledge hammer to it to pop off the cement.

The posts that I removed will all be reused out in the pasture where there were some kind of crappy posts used and the goats last fall broke a few - so these will be the replacement - they won't  be breaking these oak posts I know that!!!  Saves me from having to buy new posts for that project too.

So after I got the posts out I got to work on the final part that had to come out - the back wall.  That went pretty fast, as I was getting a nice flow going after doing so many of these these last few days.  I still have 1 more post I need to get out since I took the back wall out - I have it pulled to a 45 degree angle but just couldn't lift it up out of the ground - might have to bring out the Jeep again later this week!  I started to move things around a bit, got the shelf my parents gave me a month or so ago in its new place - put it on a rubber mat so the metal feet aren't on the wet ground.  the floor is very uneven so I have to figure a good way to even it out - might even try to scrape it with the snow plow to see what happens.  I'm just happy to have an open barn that you can see right thru!  Sooo much more space to do things and store all the yard equipment.

My view all the way thru the barn!  Could not see the other door when old coop was there.

We had to move all the dry firewood to this area - we used old stall doors
as pallets to sit the wood on, lots of future camp fires!  Also scrap lumber as well as
the rest of the old coop roof chicken wire that I need to roll up yet.

All my gardening stuff that needs to find new home.  This little area has a back wall still because the guys that came to straighten the barn last summer used the back of this wall to attach a base that goes to the barn wall - so eventually gonna use this wall for something like a gardening table (since I had to remove my old one at the start of this project).  The pile of wood on the right side of the photo is old bad lumber scraps that will be burned - have to move it but my back was too sore to do tonight.

Have a lot of clean up yet to do - once all those tomato cages get moved outside
that will open that space up a bit.

This was the lumber I took out tonight that will be used for the sides to my garden beds.  Garden was waaaay too muddy to try to carry out there tonight.   Thick 2x6 oak boards. I had taken the boards from the the sides of the old coop out to the garden already on Sun - so this is just part of the boards I removed.

So now what everyone has been biting their nails to see since I originally posted I was gonna do this project...  ha ha.   The (semi) finished new chicken coop!!! 

We stuck up some extra blue board we had around here to keep too much cold wind from getting in till the weather warms up for good.

Mo added the blue board inside to block the light from their nesting boxes since they like it darker for that.
I'll eventually build something with wood.

The other things left to do to the coop is:

• Put on some of this roofing tarp stuff I have on the top of their roof in case the wind blows snow up under the main roof (there is gaps) so the OSB doesn't get wet.
• Add inner door jambs with 1x2's just fill in any gaps.
• Add the hardware cloth we bought to the open inside wall as its more protective than just the chicken wire.  
• Add latch on inside of door so if we are in there working, the chickens can't get out.
• Not really coop related but clean out the barn attic - nasty varmint poo up there and  junk from the previous owner. 

Its Freezing Outside... so its a Basement Project Day.

A month or so ago I lifted up the edge of the vinyl flooring I put down in the back room of the basement where we put the dogs when we have to be gone for a while.  It wasn't pretty...  Rest of the flooring I put in down there were the snap together plastic tiles that are marketed for garages.  They work great in that they sit up off the floor so there is air circulation under them, and some of them are actually vented - in areas where I have water supply in case of spillage.  But I didn't want to use those back there for the dogs cause there are cracks... so if by chance they had an accident and didn't do it on the potty pads we put down for them...  pee seeps into the cement and dries up - nasty!  So my thought was a solid piece of vinyl - worked great, except didnt think about the floor being damp in the humid months under there... so guess what I found when I lifted it up last month.....mold.   Yet another new project was added on my list!  So I hit the drawing board (aka Google) to find solutions to my problem.  Still needed to use the vinyl - but I needed it to breath under the flooring.

Half of the floor flipped back and cleaned off.

First thing was I had to remove everything from the one side of the room to start.  I pulled back and flipped it over the other half of the room.  With my spray bottle of bleach water and roll of paper towels I was ready for combat!  I sprayed everything down good - let it stand for 10mins and wiped all the nastiness off.  Now some of it wasn't mold but effervescence as I did seal it with a Radon sealer before I did the flooring so the sealant pushes up lime and stuff as it reacts in the cement.  I repeated this 3 times waiting each time after spraying to let the bleach react and kill any mold spores.

What the part I haven't got to looks like...  blah!  The white is just mineral deposits tho - nothing bad,
but the darker stuff is mold. 

I also sprayed down the cement good with bleach as well, I'm letting that just soak in, once I have the flooring all cleaned and dried I will roll it up then move it out of there.  Once that is done I can rinse the floor with clean water (luckily there is a floor drain in the room) and will repeat with more bleach water and scrub it and rinse and let dry for a few days with fans blowing over it.  I used a tidy-cat bucket to throw away the dirty wet paper towels since it has a snappy lid to keep it sealed. 

My Supplies - this is that other flooring used in the other part of the basement.

 I found a company in Canada called SuperSeal who make a whole bunch of dimpled materials - some that you may have seen on TV if you are like me and watch HGTV/DIY channels - larger version of this is used on the outside of basement walls to waterproof and create channels for the water to run down thru.   They sent me samples and when I was ready to buy I went back on their website (www.superseal.ca) and they advertised that they now sell some of their products at Menards - PERFECT!  So I went and purchased a roll couple weeks ago and today just seemed like a great day to start on the project.

Tried to get photo so be able to see the dimples on both
sides of it allowing the cement and the vinyl floor to breath.

Once I get the floor all dried out I will lay out this subflooring down and then put the vinyl flooring back on top of it.  I'll keep an eye on it but I think this should allow enough ventilation of the cement to keep this from happening again.  This product will also probably make the floor a little softer to walk on as well and maybe keep the floor warmer for the dogs since it has the air space as insulation from the cold cement floor.  

I couldn't end this post without a gardening update....  Many of my peppers are getting their 1st set of real leaves.  Peppers do grow slowly so happy they get an early start in the basement.  Have a few varieties tho that have yet to germinate - one being the new variety I was most excited to try - not sure what the dealio is - will have to try to start some more and see if I have better luck this time.