How to make wood houses??

[~Alex~]

So how do you guys go about making you're wood houses for your chins? I thought I saw somewhere that Elmer's wood glue is safe to use to put the wood together.

So, how long do you leave the wood to dry? What do you use to keep the pieces together?

If you want to put the house on a shelf how would you guys secure it to make sure it is'nt knocked down?

Also, do you heat the wood in the oven as well or should it be okay? The wood is supposed to be untreated kiln-dried pine right?

I appreciate the help! I'm making a lot of plan's for Ernie's cage to make it very cute and fun. At the moment he has tons of ledges and a few hanging toys but other then that it's pretty bare. Once I can put houses and such in it I was planning to do my own custom one for Ernie.

 

[greychins]

Yes, Elmer's wood glue is safe to use. You can also use the white elmer's glue, as it's non-toxic as well... though someone once told me the wood glue holds better. I really dunno, I have tons of bottles of the white glue I bought at a back-to-school sale last year, so I'm set for awhile.

I personally let the houses dry for 2 full days before using or moving them around too much. For my houses, I put rubberbands around them to hold them together. I basically just put three large rubberbands around the entire house (top, middle, bottom) and it helps hold them together. Once I have the roof on, I put something heavy on top of the house to help secure it even more.

If I was going to put a house up on a shelf, I would screw some carriage bolts into the house and use them, plus washers and wingnuts, to secure the house to the side of the cage (securing it to the bars, not to the shelf).

I don't heat the wood at all - we use kd pine, so it's fine as it is, if that's what you plan on using.

Hope this helps!

 

[AZChins]

Alex, come over someday and we can make a house for Ernie. (or I can cut one out and we can put it together at your house.)

 

[Chelle]

Can you use nails or screws to put houses together? Or would that be unsafe if they start chewing through the wood?

 

[lola]

nails and screws are dangerous because if a chin chews on them they can get teeth problems

 

[mistywaterwoman]

I like to make a tunnel home using three same sized peices of wood, and just glueing them together with wood glue. I use a staple gun to hold the sides together until the glue dries, and then pull the staples out afterward.

To keep it on the shelf, I had a large marble tile cut in half and I slide it into the tunnel. The weight of the tile keeps the chins from being able to push the whole hutch off of the shelf.

Here's a pic of my spastic girl Sally sitting in her hutch.

 

[~Alex~]

haha! Oh gosh that is an adorable picture she literally looks like a little kid sitting in a tunnel in a playground! That is too cute!

@graychins: Thanks for that advice Thats exactly what I was looking for!

@azchins: hehe I think Ill definitely take you up on that offer! I'd actually love to go to your house again and see all the cuties you have there~ I'll email you and we can set up a day that would be good I was gonna email you either way to order a few things this next week.

 

[lauriane78]

haha! Oh gosh that is an adorable picture she literally looks like a little kid sitting in a tunnel in a playground! That is too cute!

My thoughts exactly :thumbsup: