Decorating, Want To Make A Room 100% Piggie-friendly!?

Danielle Smith

Danielle Smith

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We are wanting to decorate our piggery-cum-sewing room. I'm interested in hearing people's nice-to-haves and general views.

One of the bigger things is that at the minute we have carpet down -- this is going to be replaced, as it's rubbish for floor time, poo gets ground into it and wee isn't easy to clean up (never mind the pigs have cage liners and litter boxes everywhere...).

I don't know whether to get laminate (probably the 12mm stuff that's suitable for bathrooms) or vinyl plank (Karndean-type wood effect). To make things tricky, we are in a first floor flat so want to have the quietest flooring possible that is easy to clean! Any advice would be appreciated! We are very new to DIY and I'm not sure I could lay the flooring either, so any recounted experience would be helpful!

Also, has anyone added anything to their pig room or shed that they found really useful? I figure it's handy to do these things while decorating rather than afterwards.
 
I would go for a wood-effect lino. It would be quieter, tolerate liquids better and it's cheaper (so you could probably get someone to fit it for the same price as buying the wooden flooring). I used that in my son's room when he had rats, and it was great. The stuff you get now is barely distinguishable from wood.
 
Good to hear an endorsement for that option, the opinions I'd read online say it can be a little fragile but I don't see why it would be any worse than laminate.

Was it the planks you used -- did you find it needed a lot of mopping to keep clean? Did you fit it yourself or did you get someone in to do it for you (if latter, do you mind if I asked how much it roughly cost)? I'm well nosy, sorry :tu:!
 
Danielle Smith said:
Good to hear an endorsement for that option, the opinions I'd read online say it can be a little fragile but I don't see why it would be any worse than laminate.

Was it the planks you used -- did you find it needed a lot of mopping to keep clean? Did you fit it yourself or did you get someone in to do it for you (if latter, do you mind if I asked how much it roughly cost)? I'm well nosy, sorry :tu:!
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No it was just a room sized sheet of linoleum. It's designed for kitchens and bathrooms, so I don't think it's particularly fragile - as long as you're not walking about in stilettos, which would obviously dent it. If you search 'wood effect lino images' you'll see the sort of thing you can get.
You can mop it - which is sometimes a problem with laminate, I did get someone to do it, but I can't remember how much it was, it was a long time ago. Best of luck x
 
Danielle Smith said:
We are wanting to decorate our piggery-cum-sewing room. I'm interested in hearing people's nice-to-haves and general views.

One of the bigger things is that at the minute we have carpet down -- this is going to be replaced, as it's rubbish for floor time, poo gets ground into it and wee isn't easy to clean up (never mind the pigs have cage liners and litter boxes everywhere...).

I don't know whether to get laminate (probably the 12mm stuff that's suitable for bathrooms) or vinyl plank (Karndean-type wood effect). To make things tricky, we are in a first floor flat so want to have the quietest flooring possible that is easy to clean! Any advice would be appreciated! We are very new to DIY and I'm not sure I could lay the flooring either, so any recounted experience would be helpful!

Also, has anyone added anything to their pig room or shed that they found really useful? I figure it's handy to do these things while decorating rather than afterwards.
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Go for lino - piggies really do not enjoy walking and running on laminate (which you would need to get the more expensive watertight quality of if you want your piggies roaming). Their legs just go everywhere!
I have only a low barrier separating the piggy half from the laminated rest of the lounge but no piggy has ever jumped fence in three years to get out onto the laminate.

Practical tips: Make sure that you have cables well out of reach or covered up; anything that they can get at, they will chew! If you have got a wallpaper nibbler, protect the lower end of the walls.
If you have free roaming piggies regularly, a petrol stop corner with a covered hay tray and a fleecy sleeping area is going to to help with the inevitable toiletting problems.
 
Thanks all, looks like lino is the way to go! Unfortunately I try to make enticing corners for my pigs to do their toileting in, but I'm failing so far... maybe they are just too relaxed to care :raz:!

Any tips for storing piggy accoutrements (cage liners, cosies, floortime stuff, medication)? At the minute it's on horrendous plastic shelving but finding bookcases which are deep enough is a bit of a struggle!
 
unfortunately I cannot find the pictures of my works into my daughters' room where I (myself!) cut and put tiles of PVC which look like wood. The brand is Gerfloor Senso. They cost more than other brands but I put the tiles ten years ago and during these years my daughters walked on it with shoes, with no care, they used to grad chairs and table, they live in a total mess, but the tiles are still perfect and look like new. If you are interested, tomorrow I can take new pictures. I used only the knife and my daughters' ruler. It was very easy to cut the tiles and to glue them on the floor (marble).
Anyway, the wee of the piggies is rich of calcium and acid, I see that cleaning the wee from the normal tiles of the kitchen is difficult and I need to use a special product sometimes. Such detergents would ruin the pvc tiles.
I have not understood if you want to let your piggies free on the room as I also do in my kitchen, but PVC might end ruined.
I don't even suggest you the cheap PVC; my neighbour put it on the floor, as she fell in love with mine but preferred saving money and one year later she had to remove it because it was ruined. It was not by Gerfloor (which is guaranteed 20 years).
below there is a pic taken from the net, you can see the thickness of such tiles
(anyway I did not spend a fortune, if you need renovating a floor I definitely recommend it; I bought them on sale in a Brico shop)
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That's a great idea @Tiamolly123 ! Unfortunately I have 3 cages that are 2x6 or equivalent, so I have two cages on the floor with one on a table above to ensure there is floor space! Might be worth putting one of the floor cages on a cabinet to get some storage going though :hmm:

I'd love to see your floor @rome_italy. To be clearer, I do want the piggies to have almost permanent floor time in the room (each herd 8 hours a day); there would be some cage liners, blankets, and hay trays on the floor of course but I'm sure you know how piggies just love shuffling their bottom over the edge and peeing right on the floor :)). I was thinking I'd get Karndean flooring, which is a quite respected brand here in the UK, definitely no skimping here!

This is a general DIY question; would people recommend painting the room before taking the carpet up, after carpet is up (so bare floorboards or subfloor), or after vinyl is installed? Thinking of going for second option.
 
I will show you the room. Of course there are a lot of very good brands, in Italy there are none. Only imported items...
About the walls, if you put a vinyl or pvc I might paint the walls before only for preventing stains and drops of colour, especially if you are not an expert of the job. You will also need a ladder which might scratch the new floor. Of course you can put some newspapers and risks will be avoided!:nod:
 
Danielle Smith said:
That's a great idea @Tiamolly123 ! Unfortunately I have 3 cages that are 2x6 or equivalent, so I have two cages on the floor with one on a table above to ensure there is floor space! Might be worth putting one of the floor cages on a cabinet to get some storage going though :hmm:

I'd love to see your floor @rome_italy. To be clearer, I do want the piggies to have almost permanent floor time in the room (each herd 8 hours a day); there would be some cage liners, blankets, and hay trays on the floor of course but I'm sure you know how piggies just love shuffling their bottom over the edge and peeing right on the floor :)). I was thinking I'd get Karndean flooring, which is a quite respected brand here in the UK, definitely no skimping here!

This is a general DIY question; would people recommend painting the room before taking the carpet up, after carpet is up (so bare floorboards or subfloor), or after vinyl is installed? Thinking of going for second option.
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Definitely second option. Hard flooring isn't generally as thick as carpet, so if you paint first you'll have a gap once you lift the carpet, and you could also chip the paint while lifting it. If you leave it till the floor is done you run the risk of spillage or scratches as @rome_italy says. While the floor is bare carries the fewest risks. Enjoy!
 
I send you some pictures of the floor of my daughter's room who have NEVER washed it and hardly ever even sweap it (they did it yesterday only because I informed them that today their mess would have been shown all over the world!:sly:)
I sometimes (not more than 3-4 times a year) use a detergent wipe for floor... I don't know the effect of the urine, though.
These tiles are made of PVC, but this mean nothing, because the endurance depends on the quality of the material. The best option for you is buying a best rated product. It is only a room, not a whole flat, therefore the cost will not be excessive and you will have a bright floor even in the future. The tiles you are going to see are 10 years old and my two daughters use chairs with rollers...
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my advice for you, if you are going to put tiles: be careful not to leave any fissure among them because as you can see in the pic, over the years, you might see a black line made of dirty deposits.
 
Your floor does indeed look very hard wearing, @rome_italy! Tell your children thank-you for allowing me to see it, and thanks are due to you for taking pictures too!

I am a little worried about the gaps between the planks/tiles but to my mind they look so much better than sheet vinyl! My plan is to choose a type that are not glued down (click together instead), and then single planks can be replaced as needed. I will be going with the best quality we can reasonably buy :)
 
when I decided to make this work I realised that the room was not perfectly square... walls are a bit irregular and I would not be able to put a sheet vinyl or something large... But another difficulty at the beginning was just the arrangement of the tiles one next to the other one because their glue was strong and did not allow any mistake! it was impossible to remove it...
I had fun, but at the end my back was in pain... In fact when my husband told me to do the same also in our room I said NO (the problem is the furniture... I hope your piggie room is empty! because moving furniture and working with it all around you is a nightmare!:mal:)
 
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