Sunday, April 28, 2013

Leak Repair

In my previous post, I mentioned there was a leak in the roof of our hen house.  It was not apparent until I cleaned in there and found a wet spot on the floor under the leaves we had used for bedding.  


Tom is really busy now that the summer market season has begun.  So, I took it upon myself to fix this leak.  I mean how hard could it be!

First, I had to find the leak.  That turned out to be easy since I could see daylight shining through a small hole where the metal roofing was nailed to a board supporting the roof.


Then, I had to find the caulking gun and a tube of caulk that was appropriate for outdoor use and could be used on metal.  We must have a dozen half-used tubes of various kinds of caulk.  This one looked like it would work.


Next step was to drag a ladder into the coop so I could get up there to fix the leak.


(Notice the heat lamp Tom hung over the roost bar.  We turned it on last winter on nights when it got really cold to keep the chickens warm.)

Trying to get the tip of the caulk tube into the space between the board and the metal was more difficult than it looked.  I ended up squeezing a WHOLE BUNCH of caulk into the space hoping that it was enough to seal the hole and stop the leak.  Here's what it looked like after I was finished.  The caulk was a brown color.  So, all that brown smeared stuff is the caulk.



It's not pretty, but at least you can't see daylight now.  I guess time will tell if I stopped the leak.  At any rate, our chickens must have appreciated my efforts the keep their home in good repair because they rewarded me with 2 fresh beautiful eggs!



1 comment:

  1. Well, you did good. I like your initiative and I am sure Tom appreciates it. However, you really should have put the caulk on the outside on top of the leak. The caulk can be pushed away by the wind and/or the heat generated by the sun, causing the leak to reappear. But, I like your style.

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