Is everything ok with your kiddo? I spent the day in the ER a couple of weeks ago with my toddlers (they got into my husbands old pain killers and I didn't know if they swallowed any). 8 hours in the ER for observation. Horrible, terrible day.
Allergies are the worst, I have horrible allergies and asthma. Fleece presents it's own set of challenges but it will very quickly save you a ton of money after you buy the fleece and padding (7.95 per pad, you would need 2) If you do end up doing a pen style cage it will be very, very helpful cleaning the cage using fleece rather than bedding. This is how I would do it temporarily since this would be the absolute cheapest way to do it. You can always add on the coroplast and add a stand etc layer on as funds allow.
How I would do it in a temporary situation:
lay down a liner. (A sheet of vinyl -you can buy vinyl by the yard at joanns OR shower Curtain OR thick plastic OR a blue tarp. Anything big enough to protect your floor)
lay down 2 layers of uhaul padding on top of the liner.
lay down one layer of fleece on top of that.
put the C and C pen on top of that.
To spot clean:
use a dust pan and broom to sweep up loose poops (daily) It will be easy since the fleece will be taunt because the grids will hold it down flat.
To fully clean:
put the piggies in temporary cage/bin etc.
lift the grid pen off the fleece.
shake all the mess into the middle of the fleece.
sweep it up with a broom
take the fleece outside and brush it off with the dust broom or a stiff scrubbing brush
Or take the uhual pads away and brush the fleece onto the plastic liner and sweep up the mess.
If you need to wipe down the bottom of the grids with vinegar (if they pee heavily in that area)
throw the fleece in the wash.
If you need to wipe down the liner with vinegar water.
Put new uhaul and fleece back on the liner.
It's easier than it sounds. I wouldn't want to deal with cleaning this cage/cages forever but many people do do it this way. You can also do it this way on a table/stand (would need to split the cages into separate cages).
Another option would be to put in cat litter pan kitchens in each cage, put the food bowls in there and hang your hay over it. That will keep a good amount of the mess in the kitchen area.
Thank you everyone for the advice, I'll research more into that in the morning. Just got home from spending most of the afternoon and evening in the emergency room with the kiddo, so I'm beat. @ Traysea, right now I'm using the carefresh bedding, though I'm thinking about fleece. Couldn't do the wood shaving bedding even if I wanted to since I'm allergic to it.
