Insulating A Shed

Demi

Demi

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello, we have just moved house and the piggies will be spending the winter in the shed. We are planning to insulate it and create a run inside for the piggies to have free run of most of the shed (need room for the bale of hay for them) we want to light the shed up during the day and also look into how to heat it.

We think we would like to use insulating wool with mdf panels covering it and put lino down on the floor. Additionally to get natural light during the day we would like to look at a mesh inner door we can have to keep the piggies safe but allow the main shed door to be kept open for the piggies to get light.

Would this be enough to insulate the piggies? Do you have any better ideas? I'm open to anything.

Here is a picture of my four

IMG_1002.webp
 
Tagging above users for you, I think they have sheds or have had
 
Thank you guys I appreciate it. Want to start thinking about it now so it's definitely done before it gets cold :)
 
Hi. I have a big piggy shed. It is insulated with kingspan. The ceiling is then covered with ply wood, I forget the depth now, I think maybe 4mm. and the sides are covered over with 6mm T &G. I also made an inner door with a wooden frame and welded mesh. The shed has a power supply so it has lighting and in winter an oil filled electric radiator and a dehumidifier, oh and in summer, a fan. I hope this helps

Oh and I love your piggies:love::love:
 
Hi Demi - to be honest, I have more trouble keeping my shed cool in Summer than I do warm in winter. So, a mesh door for ventilation is a great idea . When it gets really cold, I don't try to heat the whole shed. I keep my guineas in hutches in the shed - and have hutch covers and heaters . They only have the run of the whole shed when they are having floor time .
I like having them in hutches as I feel it is more secure for them ( should any wild animal get in somehow ) .

These are quite old pictures - but give an idea of what my set up is like ...


hutch-2-jpg.30839

My OH has kindly fitted a banister to their ramp - and I use a ramp tunnel too ( PS - you can see the greenhouse heater that I have fitted inside the hutch in this picture too)
ramp-and-bannister-jpg.30844


Storage area ...

storage-jpg.30848


The exercise yard - not fitted
exercise-yard-jpg.30850

The exercise yard fitted
ey-jpg.30851


My trio using the exercise yard
exercise-yard-jpg.30855
 
@PiggyOwner Oh wow that shed looks awesome! And tbh I have no idea how cold the shed would get, I've only ever had them inside during winter or in our garage and now as either of them are not possible I want to make sure the shed will be warm enough for them. One thing that worries me is that the shed does not have a window and therefore they will only get natural light when I am home and open up the shed door for light, I was thinking that if I got a strong inner mesh door I could keep the main door open on days it was not too cold.

And at the moment they are outside in a shaded place which doesn't get much wind or rain to it and they have a cover too. They haven't got too warm on summer days so it's not been too bad.

I will definitely look into a greenhouse heated, I never thought of that. How have you ran electricity to the shed? Through an extension? And do you have a light?

Thank you
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
Hi. I have a big piggy shed. It is insulated with kingspan. The ceiling is then covered with ply wood, I forget the depth now, I think maybe 4mm. and the sides are covered over with 6mm T &G. I also made an inner door with a wooden frame and welded mesh. The shed has a power supply so it has lighting and in winter an oil filled electric radiator and a dehumidifier, oh and in summer, a fan. I hope this helps

Oh and I love your piggies:love::love:
Click to expand...


Your piggies sound like very lucky piggies! I'll definitely look into that insulation. We went into b&b and there was so many to choose from. I will look into what t&g is too. How have you got electricity into your shed? Through an extension cable?

Thank you :)
 
Demi said:
@PiggyOwner Oh wow that shed looks awesome! And tbh I have no idea how cold the shed would get, I've only ever had them inside during winter or in our garage and now as either of them are not possible I want to make sure the shed will be warm enough for them. One thing that worries me is that the shed does not have a window and therefore they will only get natural light when I am home and open up the shed door for light, I was thinking that if I got a strong inner mesh door I could keep the main door open on days it was not too cold.

And at the moment they are outside in a shaded place which doesn't get much wind or rain to it and they have a cover too. They haven't got too warm on summer days so it's not been too bad.

I will definitely look into a greenhouse heated, I never thought of that. How have you ran electricity to the shed? Through an extension? And do you have a light?

Thank you
Click to expand...
we paid for an electrician to fit plug sockets and we have a flourescent light. power from an extension would be good enough .
 
Demi said:
Your piggies sound like very lucky piggies! I'll definitely look into that insulation. We went into b&b and there was so many to choose from. I will look into what t&g is too. How have you got electricity into your shed? Through an extension cable?
Click to expand...
kingspan is really good and easy to use, it comes in big sheets which you can cut to size with a saw but its like cutting butter:)) It insulates against summer heat as well as winter cold.

I got an electrician to come and run a cable from the house and put in sockets and lights. The cable runs underground, I dug the trench for it myself to save paying someone, that was a lot of work and not something I want to do again!
 
Hi Guys, apologies for the delay in replying.

My guineas are in a largeish shed (I think its something like 9x6 feet?) with an L Shaped C&C. This means they have about 20 sq foot to run around in. The L shape is created from a platform on legs which means I can then store loads of 'stuff' (we all know how much stuff guineas generate!) underneath but get to the back easily as well. At the far end of the shed I have also created another shelf on top, in the apex of the roof which can be converted to another cage if need be and is currently acting as storage for more 'stuff'. I call it the loft conversion!

We have power to the shed, in the winter I have an oil filled radiator which keeps it lovely and warm and in the summer when it does get hot, I have a fan and cooler combined, you put water in the tank and it passes air through it creating a cool breeze which they love, a little expensive at around £100 but means I worry so much less about them. My husband also fitted a mesh door which is open in the summer but a solid one for nights and winter. I also put some interlocking gym mats on the floor to insulate the floor in winter. They have windows which in winter I cover with bubble wrap to further insulate, but paint with the white chalk powder paint you put on greenhouse windows in summer to reflect the heat.

I also have a fire extinguisher in there and a good strip light. In the winter its so cozy I am tempted to stay in there myself!

One thing we did was built an L shaped inner 'shelf', which is about 6 inches wide and about 6 inches off the floor with a C&C grid on top to prevent them climbing out. In the winter I put a thick blanket over the top. This gives them a quiet place to go and every guinea who has ever lived in the shed loves it. We call it the R&R (Rest and Relaxation) suite. All the guineas sleep together up there at night and its the biggest hit. I have lined it with correx and stuff plenty of hay in there in the winter, there are often three little 'nests' the next morning. Its very cute. In the past it was useful when I had six guineas and when they were in season tyhings got a bit crazy, it gave them somewhere to go and get away from it all as well as the hidies they had.

They are spoilt with hay mountains to bury under, little rolls of towels and fleece to climb on which they love, and hammocks for each.

I will try and post some pictures later so you can see what I mean as its hard to describe in words.
 
Guinea Slave said:
Hi Guys, apologies for the delay in replying.

My guineas are in a largeish shed (I think its something like 9x6 feet?) with an L Shaped C&C. This means they have about 20 sq foot to run around in. The L shape is created from a platform on legs which means I can then store loads of 'stuff' (we all know how much stuff guineas generate!) underneath but get to the back easily as well. At the far end of the shed I have also created another shelf on top, in the apex of the roof which can be converted to another cage if need be and is currently acting as storage for more 'stuff'. I call it the loft conversion!

We have power to the shed, in the winter I have an oil filled radiator which keeps it lovely and warm and in the summer when it does get hot, I have a fan and cooler combined, you put water in the tank and it passes air through it creating a cool breeze which they love, a little expensive at around £100 but means I worry so much less about them. My husband also fitted a mesh door which is open in the summer but a solid one for nights and winter. I also put some interlocking gym mats on the floor to insulate the floor in winter. They have windows which in winter I cover with bubble wrap to further insulate, but paint with the white chalk powder paint you put on greenhouse windows in summer to reflect the heat.

I also have a fire extinguisher in there and a good strip light. In the winter its so cozy I am tempted to stay in there myself!

One thing we did was built an L shaped inner 'shelf', which is about 6 inches wide and about 6 inches off the floor with a C&C grid on top to prevent them climbing out. In the winter I put a thick blanket over the top. This gives them a quiet place to go and every guinea who has ever lived in the shed loves it. We call it the R&R (Rest and Relaxation) suite. All the guineas sleep together up there at night and its the biggest hit. I have lined it with correx and stuff plenty of hay in there in the winter, there are often three little 'nests' the next morning. Its very cute. In the past it was useful when I had six guineas and when they were in season tyhings got a bit crazy, it gave them somewhere to go and get away from it all as well as the hidies they had.

They are spoilt with hay mountains to bury under, little rolls of towels and fleece to climb on which they love, and hammocks for each.

I will try and post some pictures later so you can see what I mean as its hard to describe in words.
Click to expand...


Sounds amazing! Would love to see a picture. I'm wanting to do the same thing with the inner mesh door. I didn't think of having a C&c cage inside, I'm currently using c&c grids for an outdoor run so that's definitely something I could do. Thanks for the idea. The gym mats is a good idea I was planning to use Lino on the floor but I will look into that idea
 
Demi said:
Hello, we have just moved house and the piggies will be spending the winter in the shed. We are planning to insulate it and create a run inside for the piggies to have free run of most of the shed (need room for the bale of hay for them) we want to light the shed up during the day and also look into how to heat it.

We think we would like to use insulating wool with mdf panels covering it and put lino down on the floor. Additionally to get natural light during the day we would like to look at a mesh inner door we can have to keep the piggies safe but allow the main shed door to be kept open for the piggies to get light.

Would this be enough to insulate the piggies? Do you have any better ideas? I'm open to anything.

Here is a picture of my four

View attachment 67378
Click to expand...
Lovely pic. Good luck
 
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