Touching up paintwork on our wooden coop

[d000hg]

We have a coop in reasonable nick but the paint is peeling and it clearly needs some love to prevent winter damage.

I am not sure how much work/preparation is needed here to put new paint on. It's an awkward shape with grooves between planks etc. We don't have much time or good weather so I am kind of figuring anything is better than nothing, even if I have to redo it in spring properly. So remove any loose paint and just apply some outdoor paint (like you'd use on outdoor furniture).

Any tips/advice?

[4Shoes]

By groves - do you mean shiplap - planned wood with tongue and groove - smooth or rough cut lapped planks.

You'll find that some of the wood treatments need rough cot to stick.


1st thing to do is consider the chickens. They need a dry draft free house. Strip off any rotten wood, check the roof any external nest boxes etc, the pop hole and door. Strip off and loose pain and the couple coats will see you through. A good drying day should see you get the couple coats.


If not already on bricks, lift it off the ground to prevent the floor rotting and give them additional shelter over winter. All best

[nickdub]

I think unless you have a way of re-homing your chickens temporarily or getting the whole coop + chickens undercover to give it chance to get dry then you have limited options.

So assuming the coop is out in the elements with chickens using it, I'd say get some ranch type paint - (the water based orange/brown stuff they sell for fences) - and slap a coat of that on to as much of the outside wooden surface as possible, that'll be better than nothing. I woulddn't bother with much prep work apart from a bit of a wire-brushing to remove loose paint.

Depending on the age of the coop and the type of wood its made from (cheap softwood is most likely) you're probably best to bank on getting another one to replace the current habitation in the next few years - time to start collecting scrap timber ?