Chat
12-10-2014, 05:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-10-2014, 06:03 PM by Charlie Horse.)
I expanded my goat housing recently. I went super cheap with no intention of this stuff lasting more than 3 or 4 years. Here's what I did:
Remember cheap, fairly thin wafer wood is 4x8 feet. That means you need to make the design so that no surface is greater than 4 feet. So imagine you're going to put 2 shelters together making an 8 foot wide shelter. Start by imagining a 4x4x8 cube. Now, I always slant the roof toward the front or back a bit. Lets say slant it so that the back of the shelter is 6 inches lower than the front for a little draining in the rain. That will cause the shelter to be something less than 4 feet deep. I also like to have a little overhang on the side that the water will drip off of. I'm sure we could use trigonometry to figure out exactly how deep to make the shelter, but its a lot faster to just take a guess and make the depth something like 3'6". I like to construct the frame from some 4x4s at the corners and middle cut so that the shelter has stubby little legs holding it off the ground. Only a few inches is necessary, and with one side being 6 inches short, an 8 foot post should give enough wood to do this perfectly. Frame the rest out in 2x4 and use metal angle things to attach the 2x4s to the 4x4s using wood screws. Just make sure that the total width is a little shorter than 8 feet so that the sides fit under the roof panel. I put one brace half way across the roof and floor since I use cheap thin wafer wood that needs the extra support when goats get heavy. Cut the doors so that they are off center to each room. This creates a side of the shelter that is a sort of pocket out of the wind.
If you put some shingles on, use thicker wood on top so the nails dont stick down into the shelter. BTW with shingles, make sure you nail the exposed corners down too. Yes, its not as water proof and against the rules of laying shingle, but goats will peel up the shingles and nibble them otherwise. The edges have to have a piece of wood nailed over the shingles so they goats cant get an edge to start peeling them up (I know it will hold some water but tough).
The last thing is to make sure each edge has some wood screwed to it. This is sacrificial and gets gnawed on rather than the wimpy wafer wood. So frame the doors and put wood strips on the corners. Even the roof needs this.
Paint it if you want. In the end it wont last forever. Anything wood will be attacked by animals. I would expect this to cost about 150-170 dollars for 2 goat houses. Tools required: skill saw, screw gun, measuring tape. I like a chop saw for cutting the 2x4s but the skill saw can do that. It takes all day to complete. So of course one of TOU's poly domes is a better choice if you can swing it. Their pee goes into the ground and you can move it around and keep the air fresher. On the other hand, the wood one is cheaper and the goats get to sit on top to sun themselves.
Remember to not put this anywhere near a fence, as they'll learn to jump off of the thing and get over fences. Ask me how I know that.
![[Image: goat_house_01.jpg]](http://herb.linkrealms.com/packgoats/goat_house_01.jpg)
SLUMMIN' BABY, YEAH!
Remember cheap, fairly thin wafer wood is 4x8 feet. That means you need to make the design so that no surface is greater than 4 feet. So imagine you're going to put 2 shelters together making an 8 foot wide shelter. Start by imagining a 4x4x8 cube. Now, I always slant the roof toward the front or back a bit. Lets say slant it so that the back of the shelter is 6 inches lower than the front for a little draining in the rain. That will cause the shelter to be something less than 4 feet deep. I also like to have a little overhang on the side that the water will drip off of. I'm sure we could use trigonometry to figure out exactly how deep to make the shelter, but its a lot faster to just take a guess and make the depth something like 3'6". I like to construct the frame from some 4x4s at the corners and middle cut so that the shelter has stubby little legs holding it off the ground. Only a few inches is necessary, and with one side being 6 inches short, an 8 foot post should give enough wood to do this perfectly. Frame the rest out in 2x4 and use metal angle things to attach the 2x4s to the 4x4s using wood screws. Just make sure that the total width is a little shorter than 8 feet so that the sides fit under the roof panel. I put one brace half way across the roof and floor since I use cheap thin wafer wood that needs the extra support when goats get heavy. Cut the doors so that they are off center to each room. This creates a side of the shelter that is a sort of pocket out of the wind.
If you put some shingles on, use thicker wood on top so the nails dont stick down into the shelter. BTW with shingles, make sure you nail the exposed corners down too. Yes, its not as water proof and against the rules of laying shingle, but goats will peel up the shingles and nibble them otherwise. The edges have to have a piece of wood nailed over the shingles so they goats cant get an edge to start peeling them up (I know it will hold some water but tough).
The last thing is to make sure each edge has some wood screwed to it. This is sacrificial and gets gnawed on rather than the wimpy wafer wood. So frame the doors and put wood strips on the corners. Even the roof needs this.
Paint it if you want. In the end it wont last forever. Anything wood will be attacked by animals. I would expect this to cost about 150-170 dollars for 2 goat houses. Tools required: skill saw, screw gun, measuring tape. I like a chop saw for cutting the 2x4s but the skill saw can do that. It takes all day to complete. So of course one of TOU's poly domes is a better choice if you can swing it. Their pee goes into the ground and you can move it around and keep the air fresher. On the other hand, the wood one is cheaper and the goats get to sit on top to sun themselves.
Remember to not put this anywhere near a fence, as they'll learn to jump off of the thing and get over fences. Ask me how I know that.
SLUMMIN' BABY, YEAH!