# Building the Goat House! UPDATE: Typar is up!



## lupinfarm (Aug 28, 2009)

Well, September will be upon us next week and although Luna desperately needs a run-in shelter this winter, at the same time, she is a little less "needy" than the goats are! ... Luna can stand to go a few weeks without a shelter in below zero weather, she was out all winter in a blanket and nothing more and didn't even care about the cold (she had a huge wooly mammoth hair coat LOL). I started work on our new goat house today. It is situated just across our driveway at the top of the piece of land I plan on fencing in for them this fall/winter/spring. The house will be 6x6 and will have a shed roof with a 6 ish ft head height at the front (I'm 5'10", I didn't want it to be too high since it is on the north side of our house). It'll have a dutch door stable door for their access, will be insulated with hard foam insulation because I'm not framing it out like a traditional house (I'm framing it like a pole barn, with horizontel 2x6's because its for 2 goats, not humans lol or horses). 

So I've started it, today we're putting in the blocks for the base, because... the house is nothing without the blocks, I've been levelling them off, I've got one done now.. level and all. We were lucky that the front end is level as is, the back was level in relation to itself, but not in relation to the front, and I was pleased to discover that it was only 2 3/4 " off level, so I fixed that by digging down. Under the house will be mowed short, landscape fabric'd and then pea gravelled and blocked off from the goats. I'm considering putting a small pen out the back of the house for their use during the night, but I haven't decided on that yet!

Photos! .. I'll update with more photos as I go. 







The right block is in, and is perfectly level! I'm off to do the left block now! Then the poles can go in, and the floor 

Also, Note, because I know some will notice this... it is on blocks because we don't have enough soil to effectively sink posts for the house, otherwise I would. I can tell you, it'd be a darn sight easier than putting blocks in, but alas, what can ya do?

I got the basic frame on today and the posts in for the floor. I have yet to put the joists in because I ran out of P/T lumber (oops!). I had 4 P/T 2x6x8ft hanging about and decided to use them. 






We are going with a shed roof, 7ft at the front and 6ft at the back (the front faces the driveway, will have 1 window and a dutch door hopefully, side will have a small door for the goats to go through (a pop door!!)). 

I'm doing the Joists tomorrow.


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## ohiofarmgirl (Aug 29, 2009)

looks great - and i have to say.. you totally solved a problem i was having with your pics! THANK YOU!!!

i need to section out the duck house and this is just the ticket...


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## ksalvagno (Aug 29, 2009)

Looks like a great start! You better get moving if your girl is pregnant!


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## lupinfarm (Aug 29, 2009)

hah! yeah... Today I'm going to start putting the floor in. I have the 2x6's cut they just have to be lag bolted onto the 4x4s for the basic frame. I decided to lower the floor down to about 6 inches off the ground for my convenience, and we're going to use planks (2x6 pressure treated) to floor it with vinyl flooring over that.


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## lupinfarm (Aug 29, 2009)

ohiofarmgirl said:
			
		

> looks great - and i have to say.. you totally solved a problem i was having with your pics! THANK YOU!!!
> 
> i need to section out the duck house and this is just the ticket...


Lol, what problem was that?


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## lupinfarm (Sep 29, 2009)

I finished the framing today... It's been raining so much here that I haven't been able to do much but today I finished the framing! ... We've also bought our sheets of roofing steel, and I am going to start putting the trusses/rafters in now. 






I think we are going to side the house in steel because it will be the easiest and cheapest option at $28.99 for a 3x8' sheet.


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## lupinfarm (Sep 29, 2009)

Okay, it's like pouring out but I got 4 of the trusses/rafters done today! I need to buy a 2x6x8 to finish the roof structure, but I can do that tomorrow after orientation.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 29, 2009)

I see you are moving right along. Great job!


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## lupinfarm (Sep 30, 2009)

Haha I should hope so... It's freezing out at night now, and the poor girls I've surrounded them in tarps on their run! I'm buying the siding today and I bought the roofing yesterday.


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## ksalvagno (Sep 30, 2009)

Yes, the nights are getting colder here too. My girls in the barn are doing fine but I will probably have to get some straw to put down for winter. I've never had to worry about the alpacas with their nice warm coats but the goats are a different story.


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## lupinfarm (Oct 2, 2009)

The goat house has been typarred and taped. Actually, since this photo was taken I have put up 2 sheets of siding LOL so it's not really current but we will finish the siding today and I'll put up another photo with the siding up. The siding was $19 for a 4x8 sheet, its a composite fibreboard called "Barnside" and its done in a cedar plant pattern (we've put it horizontally, and its meant to go vertically but it kind of looks like a log cabin the way we've done it). It has to be painted, but I'm okay with that. 







These darn goats are going to live in luxury... The house is actually going to be insulated with R22 ComfortBatt insulation (by Roxal) and I'lll be putting up vaporbarrier plus 1/4" plywooding the inside walls, and they'll have a vinyl floor.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 2, 2009)

You are moving pretty quickly there. Nice looking goat house. Those goats better appreciate the work you did.


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## backyardchickenfarmer (Apr 7, 2010)

any updates?


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## cmjust0 (Apr 7, 2010)

lupinfarm said:
			
		

> I'lll be putting up vaporbarrier...and they'll have a vinyl floor.


Goats + water + vinyl floor = Bambi, on the frozen pond?

I'm sure there will be bedding, and I'm sure it'll be perfectly fine...but here's a suggestion just in case it's not.

Take a cattle panel, cut it to fit the inside, and just lay it down on the floor.  You don't have to tack it down or attach it in any way...just lay it down.  That way, if a foot slips, it only gets to travel a few inches before hitting one of the stays/wires/rods of the panel.

My old cattle trailer has a 16' cattle panel tacked to the floor just for that purpose.  Cattle + water/poo + slick boards + travel = broken legs.  The cattle panel helps keep them from slipsliding around.

Just a thought.


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## lupinfarm (Apr 7, 2010)

The goats were fine on the vinyl floor. It was a bit slippy for a couple days just with the bedding. I used pellets under shavings so any pee was soaked up by the pellets.. ie not slippery. 

They now live in a building with a cement floor.


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## cmjust0 (Apr 8, 2010)

Ya know, something seemed odd about this thread!   

I was like...but...didn't she just...?

Now I see the date..  DOH!


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## lupinfarm (Apr 8, 2010)

hahaha..

yeah my chickens live in the little 6x6 shed. the flooring worked perfect over the winter though and the goats had built up about 1ft of hay on the floor LOL. ONE FOOT, between TWO goats. Geez.


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## Dreaming Of Goats (Jul 20, 2010)

Any finished pictures?


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## lupinfarm (Jul 20, 2010)

These are the finished pictures. I replaced the roof recently, and its no longer used as a little goatie shed.


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## Dreaming Of Goats (Jul 20, 2010)

Why not?


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## lupinfarm (Jul 20, 2010)

Well we sold most of our chickens and kept our 5 Easter Eggers that were living in a 13ftx17ft building. Way too big for them and horrible to clean chicken poop off the 90 year old concrete floor. We moved the goats into there in the spring and it gave us more room for a yard for them and since the chickens free range they don't really need a yard so it made sense that they move into the little goatie shed


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