Once the frame was built and the back wall added, the next step was to add the floor to the coop. I used a piece of plywood. In the corners, I cut out indents for the frame. The idea was that the floor would have no edges, this will allow me to sweep everything in the coop out with nothing to get in the way. Easy to clean was my main goal in designing the coop.
I measured three times to make sure that the floor was going to fit before I cut anything, because I had JUST enough plywood to make the roof and floor and no room for errors.
And it FIT! The first try too! (Staring Insley as chicken.)
Once the floor was in, it was time to move onto the roof.
In retrospect, I wish I had taken more pictures of this process. But it’s mostly a large piece of plywood with three inch sections of it hacked off so I could use them as edges. I used a lot of wood glue and brackets to square it up.
But it is not a perfect square. Here is my secret drainage. On the edge
that will create the bottom of the slope, there is a one inch gap across the bottom.
I wrapped the entire thing in a piece of pond liner. This plastic is durable, waterproof, and easy to cut. I used a tube of liquid nail as a type of glue, spread it even with a 3in1 tool, and smoothed the pond liner overtop. You can see in the bottom of the picture that I wrapped the gap piece all the way around.
Now, that gap is meant to let water out, but I don’t want all of the dirt I’m going to fill this roof with to escape. So, I used a spare bit of window screen to close the gap up. It’s pasted down with some liquid nail but it won’t matter once it is full of dirt.
The roof completed, I had to enlist the help of my husband to lift it on top of the coop.
And there you have it! A coop with a roof, a floor, and one wall!