Any ideas for inexpensive shelter?

[prairiecomforts]

Let me start by saying that I don't have much construction experience, I have just basic tools and my main helper is a 12 year old. So - here's the deal, I am moving in about 6 weeks to a place that doesn't have enough barn space for my sheep and goats so I will need to put up some kind of simple shelter before winter. (Please don't suggest that I just sell the animals - I really feel like I need to hang on to them because the income I get off them is really the only income I will have.) Anyway - there is a stack of scrap lumber that I can use at the new place and I have acess to all of the free pallets I want. Does anyone have any ideas for a shelter I could build using these things? Any help or suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

[PyroDon]

maybe a yurt

[kasilofhome]

Feed bag earth barn

[joe]

The shelter is for the animals, correct? See this:
http://www.sheltersofamerica.com/products.php?id=9
You could use the wood for the floor.

[tillandsia]

Here is a recent thread with some good ideas:
http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthr...e+construction
Although I haven't tried either method, I thought posts 11 and 13 had good ideas to make framing easier.

Try searching the forums for more construction ideas.

[farmergirl]

The first couple buildings/ shelters I built were simple rectangular structures with 3 sides. You can use pallets or plywood sheeting for the sides. One problem with the pallets is that they won't completely block rain and wind. I would set posts in the corners and a few nailers for your roof line, angling to provide a steep enough pitch to keep weather out. Because I used plywood for the sides, I put a nailer at ground level and another about 44 inches off the ground. The hardest part of building little livestock shelters is setting the dang posts!

[huisjen]

Make a ground frame out of 2x4 and 2x6. Brace the corners some. This is just a simple frame 8' wide and a bit more than that long. Bend two stock pannels over the top and use heavy fence staples to hold them to the frame. It helps to have a line halfway down the side of the bottom frame as a reference for where to attach the pannel. It also helps to have several people, all of whom are paying attention. Then prop up some plywood on the ends and scribe the shape of the curve to it, then cut it to the curve. Attach blocks to the edges of the plywood, slip it back just inside the curve of the stock pannels, and then use fence staples to attach the stock pannels to the blocks. Frame a door into the plywood on one end. Use a couple joist hangers and run a 2x4 from end to end to support the ridge. Cover the whole thing with old carpet, which will wick water away to keep it dry inside and will stand up better than a tarp.

2 2x6
4 2x4
3 sheets plywood
2 stock pannels
fasteners

The whole thing should cost less than $150 in materials, and much less if you can scrounge the ply and lumber.

If that's too small, build another one. I find I can just barely drag these things by hand, but most people would need to team up to move it. It's small enough to get down the road on a full sized pick-up if need be.

PM me if you want more construction details.

Dan

[PyroDon]

I curently have about 400 insulated steel entery doors 36x80"
My chicken house is made of these as is stall for our mini and a couple of small sheds. a local door company had a dumpster full . I asked if I could have them they said No . so I gave the trash truck driver $20 to dump it at my place
Old doors make for a quick building hopefully a nice greenhous as well I have a dozen old slide glass doors for that project.

[MELOC]

Originally Posted by PyroDon

I curently have about 400 insulated steel entery doors 36x80"
My chicken house is made of these as is stall for our mini and a couple of small sheds. a local door company had a dumpster full . I asked if I could have them they said No . so I gave the trash truck driver $20 to dump it at my place
Old doors make for a quick building hopefully a nice greenhous as well I have a dozen old slide glass doors for that project.

lol, God bless america.

[prairiecomforts]

Thanks for the suggestions. And yes - the shelter is for the animals - the new place has an old farm house on it - something I will probably have to work on little by little. But it is the the livestock shelter I am a little worried about. The barn that is there is really old and is kind of leaning and missing a few windows and such. I posted ealier asking for ideas on how to do windows and I went today and got some plexiglass to fix them. For the shelter - do you think it would be okay to use pallets for the walls and back. I know I could get some really big ones. it doesn't have to be pretty, just enough so they have some place to get out of the window and snow in the winter. I am open to any other ideas! Thanks!

[Looking4ewes]

I've seen a simple shelter that may work. It is a U-shaped shelter made with the wavy metal sheets (sorry, don't know what they are called), anchored by two t-posts on each side. One open end is blocked with plywood, but I suppose that any scape wood that is cut and framed will work.

[MarleneS]

I think it was "Backwoods" that had an article on a shelter made from cow panels, T-fence post, and tarps. I don't think you can get any simpler then that. I remember there being snow in the picture. If you needed more protection from the cold I suppose you could use old hay bales?

Good luck to you,
Marlene

[huisjen]

Prairiecomforts, where are you? What snow and wind loads are you dealing with? How cold will the winter get? How large is your flock?

Another thought I had was to build a straw bale yurt. Draw your circle and stack the bales. Include a 2x frame to hold the door open. Use compression bands to hold the whole thing in tight, like a traditional yurt. Either build a conical roof with poles like a tipi (with a compression rope or cable around their butts to hold them in), or build one side up higher than the other and put a flat but sloped (shed) roof on it. If your snow loads are light or you have cheap heavy long poles available (raw 6" tree trunks) you could even do it as a flat roof like those in the desert southwest. Throw the poles on top, then some straw, then a tarp, then something to keep the tarp in place, like a little soil or (ugly but effective) some old tires.

Don't use hay or they'll eat it. It might help to give the inside a quick mud plaster up past goat nose height even with just straw.

You can use the straw for mulch later. You'd probably need to rebuild it and replace the bottom course of bales each year. Put it on a level, well drained spot.

Dan

[Maura]

Make a square out of 2 x 4's, supporting the corners. Nail a cattle panel, short side to one edge, then pull the cattle panel to form an arch and nail the opposite edge on the opposite side of your wood square. This is the base for our two shelters. We used two cattle panels and covered each unit with a cheap tarp. Over the tarp I strapped five pieces of rope, tied one end of the ropes to the panel at the bottom, then used bungee cords at the other end and just looped the metal end at the bottom of the panel. If you don't tie town the tarp this way it will be destroyed in a hard wind. Our shelters lasted all winter and have lasted so far this summer. We have sheep and donkeys. The sheep don't really need shelter, just a windbreak, but donkeys need shelter in the winter.

[Gailann Schrader]

Hoop houses out of cattle panels covered with tarps and/or old vinyl billboards.

Mine has lasted several years already.

works great for goats and is inexpensive.

Good luck!

[wy_white_wolf]

Say you have access to pallets

http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletFence/

They have a linke to a woodshed that could be converted to a small barn and has other small buildings on down the page.

[Hammer4]

I don't know where you are moving to, but mostly you want a windbreak style shelter....something open on the south, usually running east and west, enclosed on the west, north and east.

It doesn't have to be much, as someone else mentioned you can make them out of pallets stacked on end nailed to some 2x4 to hold them rigid, then fasten those panels together with some additonal boards for bracing...

It depends on your climate of course, our cattle and horses are out year round and do fine, even when the temp gets down near zero. As long as they have plenty of hay to eat and water that isn't frozen I am sure they will be fine, they have evolved to live outside after all.

I try and put our horses in when the wind is blowing and it's sleeting or snowing, the horses get bored and want to go outside...I quit trying to shut them up in bad weather after a try or two, they are fine as long as they are healthy enough to grow a good winter coat. I have seen the horses with an inch of snow and ice on their backs, never seen them look cold or shiver.

[Gideon]

If your pallets are equal sized and designed it will be fairly easy to place 4X4 posts(treated) so you can nail the pallets to them. Two high should work fine. I would purchase some plywood to tack over the pallets for complete wind/sleet protection. Place 4X4 posts across the top and run 2X4s across them to nail plywood to. Cover with sheet rubber for complete water proofing or tarp securely for one or two years each. Like above, open one end or part of one end to the south and they should be right at home in any weather. I would raise the floor with extra soil to keep it dry in muddy conditions. A little piped in music and running water and you will have contented animals-lol

[fantasymaker]

Not sure how many oats we are talking about so yu may have to scale this up a bit but it seemed to work well with my sheep herd . First start in a protected well drained spot (build it up if you have too) use the largest pallets you can(within reason) lay them sideways on edge.Are they taller than the goats backs? If yes continue .what you want to do is line them up in a E pattern 2at the back and one along each leg of the E that will make them self supporting you can enlongate it to have 3 4 5and so on stalls on a side. then face it with an equal number a couple feet away. throw a pallet over each stall and a tarp (or plastic) over it all.Ya might wanna throw enoug staw on top of it to get a good roof line. there ya go dont worry they wont use it a lot but they will when they need it and they will tend to bunch up several to a stall when its cold .after the tarps on you can burm up dirt aginst it .
It sure used up a lot of my baling wire!

[prairiecomforts]

Gideon - How far in the ground would I have to set the posts?