My Brilliant Idea

In case I haven’t mentioned it, I’m building a chicken coop.  Also, just in case I’ve failed to mention, it is awesome. We are currently at, oh, 95% completion of the frame, including the roof. This thing might have been done by now if I wasn’t building it four times bigger than what we currently need, and with a longer life expectancy than any appliance we own. 

  

I’m gluing every joint on this thing. Have you ever tried gluing your projects together? It’s god-awful messy. Your hands will end up looking  like you’ve spent an entire day molding fresh asphalt. Or maybe you know what you’re doing, or, I don’t know, wear gloves. Either way, I don’t care what you’re building, that glue is gonna make it rigid. I used to think I had to put everything together with screws! All that drilling and countersinking and screwing! So much SCREWING! And when I was done I’d still be left standing there wondering, why the fuck is it wobbling?!?! It’s the glue, son. It’s the glue.

 

I should be done with the gluing tomorrow, and then it’s on to sheathing the roof, and that’s where I go genius-mode. About a month ago I hauled away (okay, my Dad hauled it away, but I loaded it!) a mess of recently removed composite decking, Geodeck, from a job my brother was doing.  At the time the plan was to use it on, well, a deck. Instead, I’m going to be using it for the roof, walls and floor of the coop. I cut some samples to show how the roof will go together.

 

Just a few dado cuts on the ends and I’ve made interlocking roofing tiles. I’m just sayin’… it’s pretty damned cool. No need to do the plywood and shingle thing (two items I happen to be in short supply on), I can have a leak-tight roof all in one step. Because it’s composite it’ll last virtually forever; far longer than we’ll ever need it to, anyway. 

Wait a sec… should I be patenting this?