[papercreters] Papercrete chicken house stream of conciousness

This is long and not entirely related to papercrete.  I plan best when I can explain it to someone, sometimes in nauseating detail . . . <wince>

 

I'm clearing the spot for my chicken house.  I had originally intended to set it on a permanent foundation, but am thinking it would be good for it to be moveable.  I know I won't want it in the same place once I have my house on the hill, so I may as well plan ahead for that eventuality.  Because we live in the middle of forest, we count on our dogs guarding them day or night, and I don't want the chicken house permanently stuck in a spot that may prove hard to guard.

 

Toward that plan, I am devising a base that will support the walls AND allow the house to be moved around on skids.  The chicken house footprint will be 6'x8'.  I'm thinking the house doesn't need to be really tall, but I DO want to be able to test my proposed construction techniques before I move on to the pumphouse.  The construction technique can't be absolutely identical given the difference in size and wall thickness.  The house will have 10" or 12" thick walls, but I want 6" or thinner walls for the chicken house.  It doesn't need insulation, just sufficient structural strength to support the roof.  I'll stucco the inside and outside.

 

It's amazing the amount of detail that must be considered for something as small as a chicken house.  And when it's not sitting on a foundation, it gets more complicated.

 

The last chicken house I built is nicely moveable, but small . . . a bit too small for the number of chickens we seem to consistently end the summer with.  I covered the base with linoleum before adding the walls, which allowed me to easily rake/shovel the floor clean periodically.  I think I'd like to do the same this time, but would like something a little tougher than sheet linoleum.  I have to be too careful not to pierce the overlay.  If any of you have ideas, I'd love to hear what you think.  Maybe a ferrocement floor overlayed with a removable vinyl liner . . . snag the corners and drag it out the door and dump it in the wheel barrow . . .  Something will come to mind.  I shouldn't have the mixer done until the middle of Feb, so I'm not pushed for a solution right this minute.  I'll get the base made with the channels on top onto which I'll pour the walls

 

The last chicken house had a slanted deflector shelf under the roosts to keep the poop off the nesting boxes below.  It was slanted toward the front, depositing the poop onto the floor.  This time I'd like to have it sloped to the back so the poop can roll through slots in the wall to a collector outside.  That will make keep the inside cleaner, make cleanup easier and harvesting of the compost faster.

 

I also want to put in a skylight or two . . . two small ones that can be incorporated right into the pour for the roof.  My original house had corrugated plastic roofing to let light in, but it doesn't hold up well and I want something more maintenance free.  I'll have to custom build the skylights out of scrap glass and/or baking dishes.  I can get scraps of torch to cover the papercrete roof and finish it off so it looks good, keeps the weather out and lasts a long time.  The roofing options are many . . . one of the neighbor clan is a roofer, so I'll put heads together with him for a good long lasting solution that won't be expensive or require maintenance.  I may even be able to get the required remnants of torch at no charge.  That would rock.

 

Mixing the right sized batches of papercrete is going to be an issue.  I want enough material to fill the forms to the top and not a lot left over.  By the time I get done with the project I'll have it about right . . . that seems to be the way things work when you're creating a "one of".

 

I'd better get back to work.

 

ElfN

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