Roof for 20x20 chain link kennel

[yesterDAYNE]

Hello! Going to start out saying me and my mom are completely awful at building and I have issues visualizing things just from text, so any visual examples from either pictures or drawings are a huge help!

We bought 6 10ft chain link kennel panels from a guy off facebook for 275. They are in great condition, and I decided I want to use it for an open air turkey coop. We configured it in 20x20, with the back wall being the garage they currently sleep in. This is just a sleeping pen and a temporary finishing pen for some of my poults.

I want a secure roof. I am not really comfortable using netting, because I dont want raccoons or rodents chewing or slipping in from above. We ordered 2 3x100ft 1/2 hardware cloth rolls to cover the whole sides of the pen. I also plan on adding a skirt around the bottom. Getting an alternate lock for the chain link door too, i hate the latches on those things. The 2 side walls connected to the garage will probably have some sort of "wall" for more weather protection, and the roosts will be situated in the back near the walls so they have enough room to jump down in the morning. They will also still have access to their currently smaller pen in the garage via a door that is already in the wall. I will probably roost the 2 blind girls inside the garage at night since they sleep on ground perches.

We are kind of stumped on a roof. It definitely needs to be slanted somehow, so rain can pour off. I am building inept so any ideas would be helpful. Thought of a triangle pipe or pvc frame with metal roofing, or a wooden? one way elevated roof with metal top. I live in northeast Oklahoma on the Missouri/Kansas/Arkansas border for weather. Thanks for any help!

 

[WIchickMama]

We have a metal roof at a slant with 2x4s as braces works for ours

 

[yesterDAYNE]

We have a metal roof at a slant with 2x4s as braces works for ours

thank you! im not sure how many braces or anything we'd need though haha ^^; do you have any pictures?

also if anyone else could also throw suggestions it'd be really helpful! i need these birds out of my room... me and my mom are about to just give up because we can't figure anything out and we don't know what we're doing, and my dad refuses to help because he thinks putting a roof on it is stupid. we had a temporary tarp over the top so the babies could use it during the day, but yesterday we had bad wind and had to take it down so it wouldn't fly away + it was bending the bars inward really badly. we are really at a loss because it's not on 100% flat ground and we think the end away from the garage might be up higher then the end that is attached to the garage...

 

[WIchickMama]

thank you! im not sure how many braces or anything we'd need though haha ^^; do you have any pictures?

Sure here is the run

 

[aart]

It's going to be difficult to span 20' with rafters for a roof.
You'll need posts to split the that span into smaller stretches.

 

[yesterDAYNE]

It's going to be difficult to span 20' with rafters for a roof.
You'll need posts to split the that span into smaller stretches.

Yeah that's the issue I was having figuring out. Would 2 posts (one in back of pen, one in front) in the center of the pen work as stability? Something like this? (sorry for badly drawn, i did not want to plug my tablet or anything in lol)

With the red being the 2 posts and the line above them being a "middle" bar for the roof to come together on?

 

[aart]

Something like this? (sorry for badly drawn, i did not want to plug my tablet or anything in lol)

Not a bad iso sketch!
Something like that, tho where are you going to get a 20' long stock for the "middle" bar.
Are you looking to put a solid roof over the entire 20x20' enclosure?
@DobieLover is better at explaining this stuff than I am.

 

[yesterDAYNE]

Not a bad iso sketch!
Something like that, tho where are you going to get a 20' long stock for the "middle" bar.
Are you looking to put a solid roof over the entire 20x20' enclosure?
@DobieLover is better at explaining this stuff than I am.

That is a pretty good question, lol. I have no clue. We might have to take some 2×10s instead and attach one on each support and figure out some way to get them to hold pretty well where they connect, or just look around and see what we can snag. I would really prefer a whole solid roof, but as long as at least the roosting area is covered I would be ok with some of the top with just wire, though I do get concerned about snow gathering up on the 1/2 hardware cloth. Snow used to not be a big worry, but after the freak freezes earlier this year I feel like its going to be more of a problem.

 

[3KillerBs]

Do you have any friends or family members who are good handymen? A roof that big isn't a good first project for people with limited building skills. It could be dangerous if it fell on you.

I suggest metal -- which is easier to work with than many people think and sturdier than the corrugated plastic.

It may be prohibitively expensive to hire it done, but you need to get the framing right or it is at risk of peeling off from wind loads or falling down under snow load.

 

[yesterDAYNE]

Do you have any friends or family members who are good handymen? A roof that big isn't a good first project for people with limited building skills. It could be dangerous if it fell on you.

I suggest metal -- which is easier to work with than many people think and sturdier than the corrugated plastic.

It may be prohibitively expensive to hire it done, but you need to get the framing right or it is at risk of peeling off from wind loads or falling down under snow load.

Unfortunately not My dad is the only handy man but he isnt interested in the roof and has no idea how to do it. My mom asked 2 people she knew but 1 is booked and the other one we don't know when he can get out to look at it. Do you have any suggestions of who/what to look for when hiring someone? We've never hired for building before and always have issues finding people, lol