Double-Decker Guinea Pig Enclosure from IKEA TV stand

I made a Guinea Pig Enclosure using a TV stand from IKEA. The project is a pretty quick and easy one. It took a couple of hours after I bought all the materials. The most difficult part was screwing the fiberglass onto the sides of the TV stand. All I can say is drill SLOWLY! I cracked a panel and had to use another one!

IKEA item used:

MOSJÖ television unit

MOSJÖ TV unit | IKEA.com

Tools:

Electric drill
Electric jigsaw (or any small handheld saw)
Heavy-duty scissors
24 1/2″ wood screws
Fiberglass (fiberglass cut into four pieces; two 16″ tall by 35 3/8″ long pieces and two 16″ tall by 15 3/4″ long pieces — to match the dimensions of the wood unit)
2 corrugated plastic sheets (48 x 96″)
Two 1″ steel angle brackets
6″ wide x 38″ long piece of plywood

Guinea Pig Enclosure – hack instructions

First, I removed the middle shelf of the unit.

Then, using my jigsaw, I created a 5 x 5″ hole in the top of the unit (to serve as the conduit for the guinea pig to get from one floor to the other).

I then took my pre-cut fiberglass (any Lowe’s will do this for you!) and carefully screwed each panel into place around the sides of what was the top of the TV unit (thus creating walls for the “top floor” of the enclosure; about 8 screws per long side and 4 per short side).

Double Decker Guinea Pig Enclosure from IKEA TV unit

I made the bottom fiberglass panel removable (for cleaning purposes!) by attaching the steel angle brackets to either side of the bottom part of the unit. So now, I simply slide the piece out when I need to clean the bottom!

I used some scrap plywood to make a ramp under the previous hole I’d cut out and then cut corrugated plastic sheets to fit the bottom of each floor (for easy cleaning and to protect the wood). And voilà! Double-decker guinea pig enclosure.

Double Decker Guinea Pig Enclosure from IKEA TV unit

Total cost minus power tools: ~$50 (without first owning the TV stand, it’d be more like $100).

Tip: These days I actually put a couple pee pads onto the corrugated plastic for the EASIEST cleanup ever (simply roll them up and toss them when the piggy gets dirty!)

Side note: If you want to bend the corrugated plastic (as I have at the sides), simply cut only ONE side of the sheet with a Xacto or utility knife) and then bend!

~ by Kim

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