Rebuilding A Grotty Chicken Shed

[awemawson]

Time has come to reunite the base and upper works - but how? Well a handy Railway Axle Jack gave me a hand bringing it down in stages. Slightly tricky balancing act but I got away with it 

[awemawson]

OK we got away with that, so now fix the two together. Simple 90 mm Paslode nails, but also i thought it prudent to put some 'builders banding' between to two for a bit of tensile strength.

Then it was just a case of sawing planks to length and nailing them on and going round with the creosote spray both inside and out. That should get rid of any lingering Red Mite

[awemawson]

So was it all worth the effort - well in my opinion no - I still think it should have been burnt - but . . . . . . . 

And of course now there is Chicken Shed #2 waiting in the wings expecting sorting   

This shed I had made possibly 20 years ago to house my first 'male menopause event' the purchase and restoration of a 1952 Sunbeam S8 motor-cycle. Reliving my youth as I had one when I was a late teenager.

I found some pictures of it when we moved house to here back in 2007 - it's certainly deteriorated since then

(It's snuggling between my Thwaites 2 ton dumper truck and a Blacksmiths Power Hammer  )

[awemawson]

So how it it now 11 years on from the move, when it wasn't new then. Answer pretty grotty and rat eaten.

It has two doors and I plan to eliminate the one in the longer side, and re-plank at least three sides. The side away from the sun has survived quite well. The frame isn't in too bad a state, and as long as the nails pull out of the frame without making too much damage it 'should' be relatively straight forward. Famous last words 

[hermetic]

Cracking job on the henhut Andrew, hope you remembered to set the tracking after you fitted the wheels!

[AdeV]

So was it all worth the effort - well in my opinion no - I still think it should have been burnt - but . . . . . . . 

On the upside, with all that creosote on it, it should be far more flammable than it was before 

[tom osselton]

But then you would have to make a cart to sell extra chrisp fried chicken!

[awemawson]

I ordered the cladding for the second shed this morning - it's been 'out of stock for delivery' for the past few days but their web site has now caught up - £247 - ouch 

Coming Monday week - probably just as well that there'll be a hiatus of a week as I pulled a tendon in my shoulder doing the last one - might just have recovered a bit by then 

. . . frightening how timber prices have gone up 

[awemawson]

After the odd distraction of lambs being born I thought that I'd better get on and remove some of the rotten planking and see how bad it really is - it's BAD 

The side with windows that I've started stripping not only gets all the weather, but it turns out that the ground surface has built up above the flagstones so the sole plate under it is utterly rotten - not entirely surprising. Although I intend to overlay the floor with 18mm OSB3 the ends of the planks of the original floor on this side are also rotten - I will cut then away to the next bearer and slip a piece of waterproof ply of the same thickness where the planks were.

I'll replace most of the framing on this side - I could just splice in a foot at the bottom, but it's far easier to replace the entire length. So I steamed up my Dominion Super Elliot combination wood worker and produced some lengths of 50 mm square to match the original.

Lastly I got out the JCB 803 and pulled the earth back to below the level of the flag stones - it's all going to be raked over with my landrake on the JCB eventually and reseeded, but this at least will keep water out of the new work.

I'll have to re-frame this side before I removed any more cladding or it will all collapse 

[DICKEYBIRD]

So I steamed up my Dominion Super Elliot combination wood worker....

Jumpin' Jehoshaphat Andrew, is there no man-cave toy you don't have? 

[NormanV]

Where are your chickens whilst all this rebuilding is going on?
I would like to get some chickens but the nightly visit by the local fox puts me off.

[awemawson]

Milton,

Now ALL today's toys (Digger, Dumper (out of shot), Dominion Woodworker) have been subjects of pretty fundamental rebuilds on Mad Modder and all were bought in a shoddy state so I reckon I EARNED them 

[awemawson]

Where are your chickens whilst all this rebuilding is going on?
I would like to get some chickens but the nightly visit by the local fox puts me off.

Norman, they had been moved into the larger Polytunnel over winter, where there is a small netted outside enclosure at one end, however against advice they were allowed to free range with the Geese now the weather is getting warmer. However on Friday (as I predicted  ) Mr Fox visited and killed all except one young cockerel and one chicken. These two survivors are being boarded with a friend in the village until Stalag Luft Sedlescombe has been completed.

[Will_D]

Ok Andrew, Next project:

A CNC controlled, Digital, 3d printable, Laser guided, Solar powered, Ecco friendly, HSE/RSPCA approved,  Fox detector and Terminator

That should tick all their 'effin boxes and save the Chickens

[SwarfnStuff]

Ouch Andrew,
       I didn't just strain a tendon. Actually snapped three but one was an old injury and not fixable. Six weeks in a sling after the op, now physiotherapy to get movement back before strengthening exercises in another month.
     No playpen time for the duration so I shall just continue reading your and other's posts living vicariously till I can turn handles again.
John B

[Joules]

Why not equipe the hen house with PIR controlled Claymores (what could possibly go wrong)

Nothing like the smell of warm Pâté de fox in a morning.

[awemawson]

Time to sort out those rotten floor planks. Strategy: cut off the ends back to the next bearer, insert a well creosoted plywood section, then when the rest of the shed is finished over-cover all the floor with 18mm OSB3

I had an off-cut of ply that proved to be 1/8" too thick but it got pressed into service (literally with a sledge hammer!)

So, firstly cut a bit of floor to check the board thickness
Then fix a batten to act as a guide for the circular saw
Slice off the rotten bits
Cut plywood to size
Slaver creosote everywhere (including on me !)
Nail down the ply with the Paslode gun.

It ALMOST worked like that 

Firstly the 13A socket in the shed wasn't working - quick bit of diagnosis found the socket itself was too corroded. Replace socket

Then the outer bearer was mainly ok but one end was soft - slice out another one on the Dominion saw bench

Other than that it went OK - the ply was a tight (1/8" interference!) fit but the sledge hammer sorted that!

Now at least there is a firm base to place the rest of the front framework that I'm replacing

[awemawson]

Major amount done today - in fact apart from the door and three planks on the rear, I >think< the demolition is finished 

I need the delivery of the new cladding (Monday) before I can make another door, and I don't want to bash around on the back to remove the lower cladding until the front is clad, as it's all getting a bit wobbly 

So I started rebuilding the front framework, most of the timber for which I had cut the other day. Bit of cogitation over exactly how the glazing fits but I think it's correct (hoping to re-use the original glass)  It all went pretty smoothly.

With the front secured I could then work on replacing both corner posts, which structurally are part of the end panel and door panel - on the end I spliced in a bit of the bottom bearer, but probably should have replaced the full length. I learnt my lesson on the door end and replaced the whole lower member. I put a temporary cross brace on the rear to retain some semblance of rectangularity.

Then the obligatory spray with creosote on the new works which was fine until the wind suddenly gusted and I got a face full - couldn't see a thing as my glasses were covered  Oh well I needed a shower anyway !

[russ57]

Apart from the dimensions, exactly how much of the shed will be original....
Like my grandma's original axe, only 2 new heads and 4 new handles....



Russ

[awemawson]

As Triggers Broom in Only Fools & Horses 

Oh yes - that gallon of paraffin and a match would have been SO much less hassle, but it was decreed otherwise 

The roof, 2/3rds of the floor, and the entire back will be original 

[awemawson]

Today the cladding arrived, and I managed to get the front (window side) and rear clad. The rear needed a bit of size adjustment as it was not square.

Then the new floor went down

[awemawson]

So after an exhausting day the shed is finished except for refitting the glass in the windows - thank goodness 

I started by fitting a panel of oiled hardboard to the small panel next to the door - the objective being to stiffen up this end of the shed. The majority of this end is door so the whole structure tends to rack. But this panel is only 12" wide - just putting the shiplap on it wouldn't be stiff enough. So hardboard followed by shiplap on top. Seems to have worked 

Then I needed to make the door. Frankly I've been putting this off - it's bigger than my woodworking bench so difficult to keep it flat. But it occurred to me - put the old door on the bench and use it as a template - simples 

Having hung the door the sky started to darken, need to get it all creosoted before the rain starts and the new wood get wet. I cut some 3/4" corner trims, gave the end grain of the ship lap a good dose of Creosote, then fitted the trims and sprayed the outside of the shed. It then started raining - never mind I'm now inside spraying that !

I now just need to remount the various electrical fittings and put the glass back in the windows and I can then get on resurrecting the Portakabin 

[awemawson]

So this morning, early doors, I glazed the windows, re-fitted the external dusk to dawn sensor, sorted out the internal fluorescent light, it's switch and a twin 13A outlet, and handed the shed back to the customer  -  ( SWMBO ) - finished at last 

. . . .  and I never want to see another chicken shed in my lifetime 

[Will_D]

Are you sure the eggs won't taste of creosote?

[awemawson]

Probably 

It'll have a fair few weeks of drying time, as the chicken run is still to be ground raked (JCB 803) re-seeded and fenced - they reckon it's safe for stock after 48 hours but you are right - the reek persists longer than that. But commercial sheds are creosoted regularly.