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Secondhand wendy house conversion FINISHED internally

keletkezes

Wise Old Thumper
First, I need to make some silly statements because I was all overexcited :D

TWO STOREY PLAYHOUSES?! What is this nonsense?!!! Sudden urge to fill the garden with rabbits in effectively their own home! Mental. Just have to remember I've got a garage that I can use for the same job one day in the (far?) future. It's also very tempting to get a high level one with a slide... Just not sure how the buns would get back up, tee hee! >D

I'm doing some browsing around for new ones and used ones, so I've got some general points and questions re: bunny-fying them!

1.) I imagine most wood-protection paint these days is fine with a few exceptions, but I'm asking on pre-owned stuff what's been used.

2.) Most smaller ones don't seem to come with floors! What's best? Plain and flat if I can get it?

3.) Looks like boarding out is pretty necessary if you want it to last any length of time: what sort of boarding should I use? Does this mean I'll need a workmate and (jig)saw? (Quite excited about the prospect of tools)

4.) Insulation recommendations? It'll only be a 4'x5'x5' one at max., so nothing too onerous.

I'm going to cost up how much it is to do all these alterations and how much that compares with buying a top-of-the-range hutch. If it's not much different, I'll save myself some time and agony!
 
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:lol::lol::lol:

Cuprinol garden shades gives you a good range of colours and is pet safe once dry. Most people paint the outside only so it's not usually an issue if they come second hand.

Floor is up to you, you can pave under it or build a wood floor - look at shed floor DIY guides - something but smaller. Basically you'd build a frame to lift it off ground then cover than with a sheet of ply to give you a flat surface which you could then lino or similar.

Boarding depends on make, tongue and groove might give you a nice flat interior in which case you could just add corner protectors to the frame to stop chewing. If you do board something like 6mm ply would be fine. The idea is you create a flat surface so they can't get their teeth around to chew.

You could use a jig saw but you could probably do it with a normal saw too :lol: Jig saw would be handy if you want to put a cat flap in. Measuring up and getting the DIY shop to cut it into pieces that fit in your car helps too.

Polystrene sheet is about the easiest insulation.

Tam
 
Polystyrene, yes!

I've found a good few secondhand playhouses in places I can take a day to drive to and from, just need to see what'll fit in the Corsa! Trying to find something cheap and pick-up-able, now also looking at shiplap tool sheds in the same sort of size. My saw skills are pretty dire, but the other half's pretty good, might get him to cut straight lines :D I'm OK with knives though so polyboard will be OK. Workmate is pretty necessary as otherwise he'll just use the wheelie bins again, but I can borrow one of those.

Hopefully after my Dad does the run I can use any leftover mesh to 'glaze' the windows. And we've tons of wood offcuts and unbuilt shelves we can use to add variety too. Not sure how we'll make any holes we need, but we've a drill and some determination so I'm sure we'll manage!
 
If you work out the main pieces you need a lot of DIY shops offer free cuts of cuts for 50p when you buy would. That way you can get them to do the main big pieces with their giant saws to get straight edges and then just take any notches you need out.
 
I'll ask around here: we've a wood merchants who were very good a few years ago, but I don't know if they'll be comparable to the big chains. Got plenty of choice in South Nottingham though! I've allocated £50 to insulating/bunny-fying.

I've found a good-condition playhouse secondhand for under £100 that I might be able to get picked up. Having said that, it might be too big for where it wants to go. Otherwise, all the secondhand stuff is ~£100 and after I've added on pickup costs, I might as well get a new one delivered for free!

If this ever happens, I promise pictures >D
 
UPDATE: gone with 1.6 high (at apex), 1.5 wide and 1.35 deep shiplap secondhand wendy house! Hopefully be delivered to my friend's house where I can pick it up when it's convenient (and I have a van...). Looks like it's been stored for a while so'll need a bit of a brush but as I'll insulate it anyway shouldn't matter much the the buns! Dead excited...
 
It's arrived! Mum and Dad managed to fit it in the van while they were delivering my excess furniture. It's not in the best condition ever, but it's worth what I paid. Will hopefully be able to poke around with it tomorrow and Friday, and get it up and running before the run arrives sometime next month. Pictures will be forthcoming!
 
Brilliant. I love seeing housing pics. Are you going to paint it with lovely cuprinol garden shades? Sooooo many great colours to choose from (I am getting excited on your behalf now).
 
Yay that sounds amazing! :) I'd love to have a playhouse but I think my 2 year old daughter will want to play in it so i'll have to get her one first. Soon as she grows out of it tho..... ;-)
Please post pics when you can. I will too, just trying to finish their enclosure now. Is it bad that I want them to have shutters, bunkbeds and (rabbit) potpourii? ;-) xx
 
Is it bad that I want them to have shutters, bunkbeds and (rabbit) potpourii? ;-) xx
You've looked at the thread with the pics, too, then?! Love the sea-themed one >D We live next to a canal so a canal boat themed one wouldn't go amiss! Loads of the playhouses on eBay etc. are ex-kids ones, though maybe better looked after but shorter lived than rabbits ;P Mine's covered in chalk!

As for painting the outside, it'll be something very pale, like Pale Jasmine. Much as I love dark greens and blues, it'll be in the sun for at least some of the day so I need to reflect some light off. Might get some testers and paint a bright dragon design or something though! I really want to paint a massive dragon on the side of our house but that might be a bit of a challenge...

I've been thinking about the inside too: might do a model railway baseboard-esque shelf number round the 'middle' with some mezzanines above and below. Still thinking about what sort of hideyhole I can do though: might just do a box with a removable lid. And litter tray placement: do I recess it and hope they go where I want them to, or wait until they've decided where they want to go and just put it there? So many possibilities!
 
I have, am probably spending a bit too much time looking at them, hehe.
Ideas sound great! I bet after all this they will be like toddlers and prefer to play in the cardboard boxes! ;-) xx
 
Decided I might as well keep this thread for updating :)

No pics yet, sorry: will try next time, PROMISE!

We've given the thing a good test and done the following:

1.) Removed the unsalvageable runner from the base and cut a not-quite-the-same-height piece from our small wood store.

2.) On the 'front' piece, which has a door on the right side and a window on the left, we removed the bottom broken panel of the shiplap and the next one up. Then we cut the good panel in half and reinforced around the 'hole', to make a half-width bunny-sized entrance.

3.) Spent £150 in B&Q on materials, and didn't even get any plywood! And none of it was just because it is a second hand, except maybe the preserver, and I probably would've still got that anyway. Got a pack of polystyrene insulation (8 1" panels) for £13, decent roofing felt for £30, clear preserver was £45 for 5L, which will do the whole thing twice AND the bits of the run that haven't been done, Cuprinol Shades White Daisy 2.5l at £22 although I might need a second tin (and it doesn't come in the big size), and a decent work bench for £50. Expensive pre-weekend!

Plywood purchasing will commence sometime after Thursday evening, as deliveries to my local B&Q are Wednesday overnight. I would have gone somewhere else but I know B&Q will cut it for me, whereas I'm unsure Wickes do that! Also my local Wickes isn't as friendly on Friday it seems: I couldn't find any staff to help me!

On the cardboard box front, I also brought one home from work yesterday which will make a nice small jump-in box. To go with the 32L litter tray and wicker wastepaper bin I bought from Wilko...!

Next job is to reattach the panels and attach the new runner, possibly with a 'filler' to make it the same height. There are plenty of possible next steps after that: sanding the whole thing down, erecting it, meshing the windows, insulating and boarding it... I personally think that it'll be best to insulate it and then erect it, and that sanding and painting will be easiest once at least partially erected. As I'm small, moving about inside isn't too hard, but if the other half needs to help, he won't fit!

The connection to the run might be a problem. We'll need to put some sort of tube in (I'm looking at these ones as I saw them when I was walking past the tramworks the other day) but I'm not sure how to secure it. Mesh is easiest to cut to size, but also easier to bend, break etc., but getting the right size hole to secure a round pipe in wood is going to be very challenging. Even if I use a Runaround door, I still need to make the right-sized hole. Any thoughts?
 
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Hello!

Oooh well done so far, it sounds amazing, cannot wait to see pictures! :-D

I'm no help on the pipe front yet. I have brought a welfare pipe and wood and mesh connectors but they'll come later when we create the access to the supervised grass run. But i'm still not sure how 'safe' it will all be and very worried about that from reading other experiences. I am thinking of doing a bunny panic room somewhere hehe ;-) I saw on another thread someone had got hold of an industrial metal pipe which I thought was brilliant as that could never be broken.

So excited to see the playhouse!
 
Pipe update!

Nottingham's tramworks have reached the ducting stage so there's tons of coiled and straight twin- and single-walled ducting around. I asked some of the workers yesterday if they had any offcuts they could give me and came home with about 10' of single-walled 6" coil-type! It was quite heavy, and twice as big as me, but I managed to get it home OK! No-one questioned me either, as it was 11:30am! I will need to pick more up now I've had time to lay it out, if nothing else to connect the other things to each other, but that's next week's job!
 
Pictures! Not extensive ;P

This is the modification we made to the bottom bit under the window. The section closest to the door will be re-panelled, the farther section will have the pipe shoved through (somehow).

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The dark bit is part of the floor panel.

This is the pipe I scrounged! It's mahoosive! We had a go with it between the two lower doors of the hutch the other day, to see if Lopsy would take any notice. He did, and was straight in! He was VERY disappointed when we took it away, even though we assured him he could have it back! He grumped for ages ;P

[imghttps://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/1011591_10101316773928288_6193727367990047453_n.jpg?oh=3757fa874de23b631e905af572b8df37&oe=55AC8BCC&__gda__=1436778055_e4151d725477ea8ec41dda7868b60c99[/img]
Yes, I did carry it all the way home on my shoulder! Slightly challenging, mostly because I'm short ;P
 
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So, Sunday was such a nice day (relative to the rest, anyway!) I forewent Sunday Wargames at RPGSoc and cracked on with the wendy house. Things didn't 100% go to plan but it's a learning curve and no irreversible mistakes were made!

So, I got my 1" thick polystyrene sheets and cut then to the width of the frames for the panels: the smaller ones are 112cm square, the larger 152cm wide. Here are the small sides with no panels, one panel and the large side with two panels in for illustration: the polystyrene will go all over, even into the little triangle bits (although I'll probably leave the vented one entirely free).

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Here's how I cut the polystyrene: I made it 'fit' so no glue involved! As I'll be boarding it out, it just needs to fit and then stay while it gets boarded. It was also a bit flukey: cutting the smaller panel automatically made the bigger panel! Of course, I could have just fitted the whole panel in to the space but it would have had gaps at the side and, you know how it is, if a job's worth doing...!

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I then realised that the holes for fixing the wendy house together are all in the recesses! Fixing the sides is through the sides of the small panels, and for attaching to the base through the bottom of all of them. Bum! I carried on making the polystyrene fit until I got bored (or, rather, it got complicated with offcuts and stuff) and then turned to the 'holes' we'd made some weeks ago. I fitted the shiplap panels back on, although the nails didn't go fully 'home' due to resonance (the damn thing being too bouncy!) so I'll need a hand (well, foot) for the last few taps.

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You can see I've fitted some insulation in bits I don't have to use later: here's an example of how the 6mm plywood will fit over:

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I also weatherproofed the whole baseboard with two coats of preserver back and front, and tried to hand-saw some plywood: this was a big failure (2" in 30mins, woo!). So, all in all, a productive day, even if I didn't finish what I'd set out to do because I didn't realise how things fitted together! When I get time to do the rest, as it's pretty much all got to be done in one go, no idea! But I might look into hiring/borrowing/buying a cheap jigsaw for ease and time.

So, the work-list now looks like:

  1. Finish sizing up polystyrene
  2. Remove 'glass' from windows and mesh. Work out a way of shuttering from elements (the existing plastic is too brittle)
  3. Board out what I can, including the pipe hole and check boarding sizes for ease of fitting elsewhere
  4. Build the thing (minus roof and door if weather OK)
  5. Insulate and board out
  6. Sand and weatherproof
  7. Wait for weatherproofing to be dry enough to accept paint (1-5 days, apparently!). If convenient, shelf out etc. the inside and re-install door
  8. Paint, two coats probably (which reminds me, I need some black: our house is white with black highlights, why not theirs?!)
  9. Add roof if not already done so, and re-felt
  10. Fit pipe and attach to run
  11. Add bunnies (we'll be having a go at bonding Lopsy in his new place, as it should pass housing checks! Current one definitely won't)

I reckon that's two weekends-worth: when we next get two consecutively dry weekends, who knows! I know I don't want to put it up and leave it unweatherproofed as it's already quite old, but the next two dry weekend days I'll try and force Matt to stay home to help. Or get someone else in! Unfortunately, we're off to Russia this weekend and likely very busy with all sorts of things next weekend (it's my birthday), so we're looking at November after that! And I've committed to something on the 1st which puts that weekend out although I can do list items 1-3 on the Sunday (indoors if necessary!), so 8-9 and 15-16 better be dry!
 
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"and tried to hand-saw some plywood: this was a big failure (2" in 30mins, woo!). "

This! It took me aaages to handsaw some plywood to try and make little draught excluders :lol:

You've done so well, it's going to be fantastic!
 
This! It took me aaages to handsaw some plywood to try and make little draught excluders :lol:
Good, it's not just my terrible technique! I'm AWFUL at sawing anything thicker than a centimetre! As someone who makes lots of plastic and metal models, I've got a lot of practice sawing small stuff, but I've always been awful at sawing normal things.

Jigsaw it is then! As it's my birthday soon, I suppose I could wing one off my birthday money...! Will go and look when I get back from St. Petersburg.
 
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