Screen door (for humans)...Does it rain in?

[whitenack]

Hey all, am designing a coop and thought about having a screen door as a way for extra light and ventilation. I would have a door behind it that I could close during the winter months. But it hit me...what about rain/storms? How do you keep the rain from pouring in? Other than building a big porch off the front?

 

[aart]

You could build an awning over it.
How big it would need to be would depend on where your weather blows in from.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hey all, am designing a coop and thought about having a screen door as a way for extra light and ventilation. I would have a door behind it that I could close during the winter months. But it hit me...what about rain/storms? How do you keep the rain from pouring in? Other than building a big porch off the front?

How is the roof pitched? This will matter.

The bigger issue for me would be predator proofing.. standard screen doors are inviting everything to chicken dinner in MY location. I would require a screen door built or reinforced with 1/2 inch hardware cloth installed properly. That's what my front wall is built with.

Alternatively.. I do have a storm door to allow light in but doesn't do anything for ventilation (I had it already on hand so used it). I live in the PNW where it rains quite a bit and is super windy. I do NOT have water entry with this design.. I LOVE open front coops.

Best wishes on your coop building adventures!

 

[3KillerBs]

Old screen doors make great coop doors. You can see how I covered mine in hardware cloth for security here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/large-open-air-coop-in-central-nc.1443812/post-24727971 (note, later on I went back and added a second row of staples for extra security).

You see that both styles of door were fully covered in hardware cloth because the panel at the bottom of the one was purely decorative (DH having cleverly remodeled it while doing DIY on a previous home).

We keep the rain *mostly* out with huge roof overhangs.

Because this is an Open Air coop with a Deep Litter bedding system in a hot climate I don't worry about a little rain getting in from time to time. The bedding needs the moisture occasionally, the airflow dries it out again quickly, and the birds have plenty of places where they can go to stay dry.

In a different setting where keeping the coop perfectly dry is necessary, go with an awning if you don't have sufficient roof overhang.

 

[whitenack]

You could build an awning over it.
How big it would need to be would depend on where your weather blows in from.

Thanks.

How is the roof pitched? This will matter.

The bigger issue for me would be predator proofing.. standard screen doors are inviting everything to chicken dinner in MY location. I would require a screen door built or reinforced with 1/2 inch hardware cloth installed properly. That's what my front wall is built with.

Thanks. Our weather comes from the West-Southwest, and I would like to build the coop with a monoslope roof facing the weather, meaning low on the west side and high on the east side. I also plan to have the roof extend beyond the edge of the coop walls some to provide extra sun/weather protection. Our house is to the south of the coop, so I would like to put the door on the south side. This means it will get some of the storms that blow in from the south. If I wanted to make it easy on myself, I would move the door around to the east side, which would only get the very-rare storm from the east. However, I like the idea of being able to see the door from the house, and I also plan on locating the run on the east side, so a man-door there would interfere.

I would be custom-building the door, so I have confidence I could make it preditor-proof.

Maybe designing the door so that it doesn't have the screen all the way to the bottom would work. I guess I could try the full screen and see how much of a problem it is, and then I could always add a panel at the bottom if needed.

 

[3KillerBs]

Maybe designing the door so that it doesn't have the screen all the way to the bottom would work. I guess I could try the full screen and see how much of a problem it is, and then I could always add a panel at the bottom if needed.

You could also make storm shutters of some kind to use when a strong storm is expected.