Feathered Friday: Wallboard and Linoleum Inside the Coop

Last week I shared how we built the pop door for the coop, but that's far from every specialized build needed to make the coop chicken-ready.

My husband, being the ever-so-thoughtful man he is, decided that raw wood on the inside of the coop was not going to work.  It's too absorbent.  Too hard to keep clean.  And raw wood would require a lot more time spent cleaning the coop each time.

So, he simplified things for me by covering the walls with wallboard and the floor with linoleum.  While I had planned on using linoleum to cover the floor and wrap up the walls about a foot or so, wallboard was beyond my expectations.

But wallboard is easy to clean.  Just wipe it down with a damp cloth.  More difficult messes can be scrubbed.  The linoleum he used was the rolled kind which is obviously better than the squares I was planning on.

We started with the back wall because there were no physical obstacles.  Squareness of the building, however, became its own obstacle at the end.  Also, there were issues with the placement of the studs being that they didn't exist at either end of the wall.  It was like they built the front and back walls first, then framed the side walls between them.

Back Wall

Next was the wall with one window.  Here we found it much easier to use full lengths on each side of the window, then slip smaller pieces above and below it.

Side Wall with Window

We moved to the front wall next.  Here we had to contend with the door and another window, and this wall is taller than the other four because of the saltbox styling of the shed.  For the door, we split it in the middle, going for aesthetic symmetry.  We did the same thing for the window as we did for the other, putting up a full piece on each side, then smaller ones top and bottom.  This left us with a  smaller pice to finish off over the door.  (I'm not doing a very good job of describing this, but you can see the seams in the pictures.)

Door (with electrical run)

Front Wall Window

We waited to do the other side wall last since it's got the pop door, and that's where the run will be.  My husband, the man who thinks ahead--and I mean all the the way through, measuring each possible option before settling on a design--wanted to attach the posts for the run to the side of the coop.  This will create stability for the fencing and give us a solid point to start.

He used lag bolts to attach the posts.  Two on each post gave all the stability we need.  Once they were in, we put wallboard on the wall.

Lag Bolts Securing Run Posts to Coop

The finished product is fantastic.  It's crisp and clean, and will be easy to keep that way.  My dear husband even use 1/4-round moldings along the floor-wall joints and where the nest box roof connects to the walls.  (More on the nest boxes and fan shelf later.)

Tell me what you think!

This post is part of the Clever Chicks Blog Hop on The Chicken Chick!