Building a Playhouse, need help Quick!

[macros]

Hi, I wanted to get a playhouse for Sherlock, but they’re pretty expensive and I don’t have money on hand.  What I do have are tools and wood, so I’m planning on building it instead. 

I was wondering if there was anything to be careful of when doing this, or any particular way I could do it in order to make it come out better. I also have a design question.  Should I build in tabs on the supporting pieces, in order to hold the top in place, or should I drill pilot holes and secure it with screws? I’ve thought about some of the benefits of both, and if I were to go with tabs, it would make assembly and dis-assembly easier; however, I’d be limited in construction options in terms of different forms of assembly, and it’d be a little less secure. If I were to go with pilot holes and screws, the overall structure would be more secure, and I’d have more assembly options; however actual assembly and dis-assembly would be more difficult, time consuming, and there would be a chance of warping the wood with the screws, and of screws being exposed if the rabbit chewed through those parts of the wood. Any ideas that any of you may have on the play house and how I could make it better would be greatly appreciated.

[BinkyBunny]

I just talked to my architect husband who also loves to build stuff. He suggested screws unless you are a master builder and can create interlocking tabs. He said not to worry about warping with the screws – it shouldn’t warp as long as it’s decent dry wood.

You also want to stay away from redwood if there isa cahnce where they would be able to chew on it, as redwood is toxic for them to chew on. A tiny little chew isn’t usually a big deal, but if they are chronic, then that’s no good.

Check out cool habitats – and see “OTHER” https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/CoolHabitats/tabid/71/Default.aspx. There may be some ideas there you can follow.

Also be sure that if you make a wooden floor to cover it with something waterproof – like chloroplast.

Keep us updated on what you come up with!

[macros]

I definitely will. I actually am using the one labyrinth cardboard design from this site as a template. I don’t know if I’ll have enough wood for an entire bottom or not, but I’ll definitely be lining the bottom with cardboard, coupons (basically newspaper) and then used carpet, or some combination of the three. If it works out very well, I’d be willing to make these playhouses for you guys, I’ll just have to come up with my own design for it, so I’ll definitely keep all of you updated on how it’s going. Thanks for your, and your husbands help ^_^

[RabbitPam]

I’d also read that you need to use untreated pine if using pine – that treated wood can be harmful as well.

Sounds cool! Can’t wait for pix.

[macros]

I couldn’t stand waiting till tomorrow, so I rode my bike down to the grocery store at 3am and found a lot of boxes and brought em back, and I built Sherlock a 3 Level Playhouse. He knew that I was making him something while I was doing it, and he was running in circles around me while I worked. When I finally finished and started cleaning up the mess, he was running around the room binkying for 20 minutes straight running in the bottom of it and darting back out, it was hilarious!!! He hasn’t spent much time in it yet, and he hasn’t gone up to the 2nd and 3rd levels yet, but I put some hay in there for him, so he should eventually. I also found a small box and was able to make a 2nd litter box for him, and he’s actually using it!!! I was soooo surprised, as soon as I let him out of his cage earlier he went to go check it out, and hopped right in, and he’s gone back in it 4 more times so far tonight I’m still going to try my hand at the big wood playhouse tomorrow, so he’ll have this smaller cardboard one, and a larger wooden one, so he’ll definitely be one happy bunny XD. ^_^ 

[Beka27]

hmmm… your pic didn’t work! can you try and repost the link?

i like cardboard boxes for playhouses because they’re safe for the bun to chew, and if they get too demolished, no big deal, you can toss it and replace it with a new one…

i’m not sure what you’re trying to do with the playhouse… make sure it’s not so big that you cannot pick it up to clean. i’d recommend not making a bottom for it so you can easily flip it over to wipe down the insides with a damp cloth to get loose fur out.

another thing i just thought of recently is you could do an E shape, and turn it sideways so there was a flat ledge on top, and two hidey holes underneath…

my husband made our buns two wood hidey houses… they’re very simple… 4 sides, one roof and a small doorway cut out… they spend equal time inside and on top…

[macros]

Ok, I edited it, it should work now.

[BinkyBunny]

macros – I edited your post to makes sure the pic showed up. For the future – With the kind of link that you posted, the way to make it work is to first click on the mountain/sun icon in your tool bar. It will open up a box with lots of options. The only thing you have to worry about is pasting the the url in the URL box and resizing the photo so it is no more than 700 px across. (otherwise it’ll mess with the page views)

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