Summer housing consideration - would love your thoughts.

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

And so today we started Kanga's hutch.

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

The roof is on but not felted, so we have bunged a tarpaulin over for tonight. Need to make a screwed chicken wire skirt for the bottom of the shed.

 

[joey&boo]

Good work....you'll need some nice foam insulation sheets soon?

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

Shed finished, J+B would they be any use in a shed do you think? I was going to buy kingspan as it seems to have a good rating but other videos I have watched have thinner silver , behind the radiator type stuff

 

[Shimmer]

I've used sheets of expanded polystyrene from Wickes. Easy to cut and fit between the battens, then cover with some thin external quality (so it doesn't go black in the damp) ply. Get some bigger sheets delivered that mean the least cutting to fit the shed. You can also paint inside when it's done. Any leftover household paint would do to protect the ply and make it easy to wipe down.

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

I've used sheets of expanded polystyrene from Wickes. Easy to cut and fit between the battens, then cover with some thin external quality (so it doesn't go black in the damp) ply. Get some bigger sheets delivered that mean the least cutting to fit the shed. You can also paint inside when it's done. Any leftover household paint would do to protect the ply and make it easy to wipe down.

Shimmer that is a cracking idea. Thank you.

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

Sorry, not ready to post yet.

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

So the shed interior is still to be done but I have started project "clear buttercup and ivy" however I have found some chimney pots, I was wondering if I could lay them down and cover them with earth as a set of tunnels - they would be cool in summer too I think. Can anyone think of why not please?
I have got 3

 

[Shimmer]

If the rabbits can easily get through the chimney pots, I would be using them. I've used v large clay plant pots before - quite often broken in half to give 2 arched shelters.

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

So the shed is built and painted, the gutterings are on.

Still to do are the insulation which is ordered and on its way, the run is ordered and on its way, the runaround tube is ordered and on its way.

Now I am thinking condensation - has anyone used spacers between the outer shed wall, the insulation and the cladding ply please?

I am also looking at having a small vent in the apex of the roof - just to move air - One side of the shed where the vent will go is only 12 inches from the house wall - so wont be draughty the other side is open to the elements - hence me thinking to be high up in the roof.

If anyone has used these I would really appreciate your thoughts please and thank you,

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

If the rabbits can easily get through the chimney pots, I would be using them. I've used v large clay plant pots before - quite often broken in half to give 2 arched shelters.

Sorry Shimmer I didnt reply (but thought I had) a small adult could fit through these pots so yes to a rabbit getting through.

 

[Shimmer]

Ventilation -
- If there's a window, you can cover the hole with weldmesh and leave the window permanently open.
- You can make an internal mesh door and just close the main one open during the night or in really bad weather - or turn it into a stable door with a mesh top part.
- My small sheds came with a small round vent section at the top corner of one wall - it's like a 2-3" round plastic plug with slats or 'louvres' on the outside. You could have the same effect by using a hole cutter drill and stuffing the hole with a ball of chicken wire (eg to stop birds, rats & mice getting in).

 

[HouseOfRabbit]

Probably a very daft suggestion but would an auto window opener usually used for greenhouses perhaps be of use? Would obviously need to make the opening rabbit safe but could possibly counter the draft issue and give an option for very hot weather.

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

The windows are not opening windows, infact are the crappiest plastic in the world. We have changed to a thicker polycarbonate which will not open or shut.
I like the idea of louvres in the apex - I am going to put one in the least draughty apex first and see what that gives us.
I also like the idea of the stable or mesh door. This one needs some thinking about - thank you both for your excellent ideas.

 

[Shimmer]

You could put mesh over the window gap and screw the plastic over the top for the worst of winter, etc. If you the plastic in a wooden frame (bit like a picture frame), you could hinge it at the side or top and use simple catches to hold it open or closed when needed.

Hutches would normally have most of the front meshed and people use covers over the mesh, so there's usually a lot of ventilation (and draughts).

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

@Shimmer I like this idea but have siliconed the windows in, maybe using the same principle as a hutch and needing mesh I should remove the silicon. I am scared of draughts - I dont know that either bunny has ever lived outside. The shed is protected on two sides by the house but is north facing and at the top of a long draughty slope. I am not worried about the shed overheating in fact the opposite, it will never ever get sun on it. It will have the outside thin (b+q) boarding, then a spacer, then a 25mm dense polystyrene, then a spacer, then ply wood that is nearly an inch thick - free from OH's works and was a packing crate for heavy aerospace bits. The door will be meshed and open in summer - I want a double mesh door and the aforementioned vents. I am worried about them being cold - am I being fussy?

 

[joey&boo]

Can't help with any of your questions but I admire how well your cracking on with the shed project

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

Can't help with any of your questions but I admire how well your cracking on with the shed project

Thank you kind bunny peeps!

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

The insulation started yesterday, I did buy some but not enough, when at the tip with a car load of brambles there was a chap throwing big sheets away - I came home from the tip with more stuff than I went with!!!

Two sides done and OH has gone back to work for a rest