Please advise on roofing -- shingle nails poking inside henhouse??

[lceh]

My dad is very sweetly building a variation on this chicken tractor for my birthday:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CHICKEN-TRACTOR...9|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

We're made some changes, but it's still the same basic A-frame layout. Here's my problem. I bought some great scalloped-style shingle panels at my local Habitat Store, planning to use either those or simple asphalt shingles on the roof. My dad points out that using one of those materials will mean lots of nails, which potentially means chickens poking their eyes out, etc. on the points sticking into the house. He wants to use a simple sheet of T-111 (painted) and leave it at that. I have some aesthetic issues with that, since we live in the city and this tractor may be in our front yard at least part of the time. How do you all deal with the nails-sticking-out issue? Do you crawl inside the house and bend them all down? Is there another way to install the shingles? Or another roofing material that avoids this problem but still looks nice? Since it's an A-frame design, the roof comes all the way down to the ground, so whatever we use is going to be the main thing you see when you look at the side of the coop.....

Thanks!

 

[Eric in NC]

You could cut out foam board insulation and stick it to the inside so the nails were burried in the foam.

 

[patandchickens]

If you use foamboard you will have to put plywood over THAT, otherwise the chickens will eat the foam.

Best idea IMO is just not to use shingles, sorry. ESPECIALLY in an A-frame tractor where the hens have such minimal really-useful indoor space to begin with (putting in a double ceiling to cover the nails will further reduce their useable floor space...)

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Hackles]

You can bend the nails in with a hammer, so there are no points, or you can cut them flush with the inside with a wire cutter,or a pair of pliers that have cutting edges.

 

[mazdacrzy]

I am building a chicken coop also. I used the shortest length roofing nails I could find with 7/16(I think) osb and the nails don't go all the way through.

 

[Eoanthropus Dawsoni]

The nails are not a problem for the birds. However they probably will snag your clothes and if you stick your head in there you should use a lot of caution. If you can deal with that, don't worry about the nails.

 

[#1California Chick]

Quote:
I don't agree with this post --sorry Eoanthropus!!! -- If there is anything that hens can impale themselves on, they will!!!


Eoanthropus --

 

[Carolina Chicken Man]

I don't think the nails will be a problem either. I have a couple of tractors and have never had a problem.
But, if you're worried, bend them over. Shouldn't be that many.

 

[patandchickens]

I tried clinching nails over (same situation - sticking out from shingling) on 1/2" plywood. They made an awful mess, crushed the wood fibers all to heck, still the point stuck out a little bit (couldn't get it 'dead' into the wood like you can with nails sticking out from a 2x4 or whatever).

If you're going to try it I recommend caution and delicacy.

Cutting them all off flush with boltcutters or whatever is a good suggestion if you are up for the work.

Still be easier to just not shingle

Pat

 

[lceh]

Hmm, I hear you -- sounds like bending over all those nails would be a pain, especially laying on my back with my head stuck in a very small henhouse.....

My husband suggests using construction adhesive for the plastic scalloped shingle strips. Sounds good, but if one of them gets cracked or something and needs to be replaced we'll never get it off! I think maybe we need to find a way to nail the strips into the framing timbers on the ends, and use a staple gun or something less "invasive" to anchor the center of the strip (these things are about 36" long). After all, this is a pretty small roof we're talking about. I just can't bring myself to use painted plywood -- yet. I like the idea of shorter roofing nails and thicker (1/2") plywood, but since I intend to move this tractor around I think it might make things too heavy.....

Any other ideas?