Coop Building - Part 2

Time to raise the roof.  What, what?!

The roof was built to have a one foot overhang around the entire structure - so it is 12'x10'.  It was built with a 2" over 12" rise (or about a 9 degree rise).  In hindsight, this probably should have been a steeper pitch to handle snow and really gusty winds.  I guess we'll find out how it handles the snow load next winter.  For the wind, each rafter had hurricane ties attached to both ends.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...the roof has to be put into place first.

We brought the roof frame out to the coop building from the driveway.  Weather was still mild and sunny.  The plan was to have two people push the roof up.  The other two would grab on and pull into position.  To make sure we were "square", each rafter was marked one foot down the length. 

Lifting the roof into place was surprisingly easy.  Even making sure it was

Jason working on the roof.



in the proper position was not as bad as I thought it could have been.  However, we did find one issue.  When framing the roof, the first studs in were place at 12" on center.  Good in theory, but this didn't take into account that the frame of the building /would have been at 12 7/8" over...so roof isn't squarely on the coop building...it overhangs by half the width of a 2X4 on both side.  This will be handled by adding 7/8" supports sometime later on.  The chickens won't care at this point...assuming the whole thing doesn't collapse on itself.

Lesson learned.  Time to move on to adding the roof sheeting.  This

was also relatively easy.  Just throw up 3 4' x 8' exterior grade roofing sheets along with 3 4' x 2' sheets, square them off and pound them into place. 

Once the sheeting was in place, Penny and Jason had to head home to tend to their dogs.  Couldn't have gotten the roof up without their help.  It was much appreciated.  Beers will be offered at a later date.

This was essentially the end of day one.  All that was left was to put a tarp over the roof.  Tar paper and shingles will be added in about a week (after the rain and snow this week).

Next up is adding the siding and insulation.  More on that tomorrow.  Only a few more days before the chickens get a much bigger better home.