Getting Coroplast Home can be Tricky
You've scored a full sheet of Coroplast. Now you need to get it home in your car to start your cage-building journey!Coroplast comes in 4' x 8' sheets (48" x 96") and IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, should NOT be scored or cut unless it's to your cage specifications! A sheet of Coroplast is the same size as a sheet of plywood which is pretty easy for most of us to visualize. When you are making a cage, it's preferable to start with a clean sheet of Coro that doesn't already have scores or anything you need to consider or tape up. Sometimes, scores don't matter, sometimes they do. It all depends on where they are and what you are building. If you can fit a sheet of plywood in your vehicle, then you've got it made. If you can't, then here's how you do it.
I've managed to send someone home with TWO sheets of Coroplast rolled together in a VW bug -- unscathed! So, yes it's doable. A little patience and a tape gun go a long way.
ROLLING is the KEY
It definitely helps to have two people doing it, but I've done it plenty of times on my own.Here's the finished product that will fit in the passenger seat with the seat-back pushed down or back, or most backseats, and many trunks.
No matter what -- HOT TIP!
Avoid walking or stepping on your coro. You WILL leave footprint indents, especially with shoes. You don't want to create pockets or dips or divets that are harder to clean once the cage is built. So respect the surface and treat it a bit gingerly. When you go to start scoring and cutting the coro to build your cage, just keep the smoothest side on the inside; keep the imperfection side (if there are any) on the underside of the cage.It BENDS along the flutes very easily and won't look good. Get a feel for it and try your best NOT to bend it and crease it. It's not the end of the world if you do, but it's better not to. So again, you need to treat it gently and don't force it.
STEP 1
And this is hardest part -- getting it started. My helper here had never done this before, so you can do it, too. If you go slowly and don't force anything, the trick is getting as tight of a start as possible without pushing it to the point of bending it. If you have a bigger vehicle, you don't need to go as tight as we are showing here. You can make a bigger diameter cylinder if you have the space. This example is showing it about as far as you want to push it, but also, quite doable.- If by yourself, rest the opposite edge against a wall or an immovable object so there is no slipping or sliding around.
- FROM THE CENTER, with TWO HANDS (ARMS), spread apart somewhat to equalize the pressure across the whole sheet,
- Get one end bent down and in a tuck position as tightly as you can.
STEP 2
Continue the roll forward. If BY YOURSELF, be in the center and walk it slowly forward.Keep the roll going. If by yourself, you'll be more in the center.
STEP 3
Bring the end up to the roll. If by yourself, you'll need to be able to bend over fully to pick up the other end.STEP 4
- Grab the tape gun which needs to be nearby or in your pocket.
- You are going to apply THREE good strips of packing tape to secure the roll.
There you go!
You got it home and now it's rather curvy!
The longer you leave coro rolled up, the more it adapts to the curve -- especially if it had a ride in a hot car. That can intensify the curve when you unfurl it at home. No problem, though. A simple fix. Coroplast is a thermo-plastic, so it will melt at modestly higher temperatures. That's why it can bend a bit. But, that makes it easy to unbend as well.To flatten your Coro
- Just lay it out in your driveway or a flat area in the sun for a little while. The heat from the sun will remove the bend. OR,
- If the sun isn't shining or the weather is bad, lay it out in a flat area in your home and lightly run a warm (NOT HOT) hair dryer over it diffusely for a little bit.
