We worked very hard this weekend building our chicken coop!  I spent a lot of time designing this coop and wanted it to be perfect.  I did a lot of research and drew up my plans for a coop that could be used as a garden shed if we/future owners didn’t have chickens.

We did a lot of work and have a bit more to do, so I am going to break this into 4 blog posts.  We have not put siding or roofing on or built the run, so those posts will come later.  This is how it stands today:Chicken Coop Started

In the last post about our chicken coop, I wrote a little bit about our major considerations.  With that in mind, let’s get started!

Before we could start building the structure, we had to remove a tree.  Tree Removal

With that out of the way, we built our foundation on top of our gravel.  We built it 16″ on center with treated 2x6s.  Coop Foundation

 

We laid down 3/4″ OSB for the sub-floor.  We would have used 1/2″ but Menards was all out, and we had to take what we could get.  Luckily, the price was good and the structure will be even more sturdy.  Coop Subfloor

After a lot of research online, I discovered that the vinyl should be put on before the walls are put up.  We got a glueless vinyl so all we had to do was lay it down!  Then we were able to start building the framing.Coop VinylCoop Framing

I also did a bit of research to see how to make trusses (because I had no idea where to start).  I found this YouTube video that I used in my design: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfs4rxBeyK0

After some intense geometry, we got 10 identical trusses.

Coop Trusses

 

Now that the framing is all done, we can start putting up the OSB walls.  Check back for Part 2!

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