Another day working on the new chicken coop.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not spending all day on this (it’s Thursday; aren’t I supposed to be working?!). I spend a bit of time in the morning doing Dejal support, then I spend a few hours working on the coop, with a break for lunch, then some consulting work in the evening. Definitely slower than if I were devoting all of my time to one or the other, but keeping everything moving forward. Being self-employed definitely has pros and cons, but being able to arrange my time as I wish is certainly a big plus.

Safety first:

Cutting OSB gussets for the rafters:

Scraps of wood nailed to the floor to ensure the rafters are all the same angles; there are also lines drawn on the floor to help align things:

Construction adhesive on a gusset:

The gusset nailed to the rafters:

Completed rafters:

Next up: the front wall!

After a long weekend away, and the first mow of the year, today I set up a canopy over the chicken coop floor, so I can work on it even if it is raining (as is forecast for the next week).

Today I cut the seven rafters for the roof trusses. The coop will have an interesting “saltbox”-style roof, spanning between a 6′ wall on the back to a 8′ wall on the front, with a 10′ peak.

It may seem counterintuitive to make the trusses as the next step after the floor, but it makes sense; easier to work on them on the floor than later when the walls are in place, and I can use the floor as a template for the sizing.

You may notice that three of the left-hand (back) rafters have extra bird-mouth notches in them; those three will go on the two end walls and the center wall, for a little extra support:

The rafters will be connected together with OSB gussets… some other day.

Today I built the floor of the new chicken coop.

Here I’m marking where the joists are to be attached on the two long rim joists:

Measuring corner-to-corner to check that it’s square:

The rim joists laid out:

All the joists in place:

A joist hanger:

Me carrying one of the plywood floor panels with the handy Gorilla Gripper:

Construction adhesive:

Floor in place and nailed down:

Covered against the anticipated rain:

This morning I started work on the new chicken coop, by figuring out exactly where to position it, and placing and leveling the concrete pier footings. They aren’t quite perfect yet, but pretty close.