Storage Areas New cage idea, need advice

[thevultureslove]

Hey all I'm building my new pig a new cage. Since everyone in my house are video game nerds we're doing a Rainbow Road themed cage from Mario Kart. I ordered the rainbow coloured grids but I was interested in building storage area underneath the cage which I have never done before. So if I were to elevate the cage, how many cubes would be used? I'm not so much interested in dividing the bottom into different sections, just a general storage space. The rainbow box grids come 16 in a box and 10 are going to be used for the actual cage. How many more grids would I need to achieve this?

 

[bpatters]

Take a look at the Photo galleries. Lay out your proposed design on a piece of paper and count them. We don't know how big your cage is going to be or how high you want to elevate it, so there's absolutely no way for us to tell how many you'll need.

It's pretty elementary math -- you can do this.

 

[thevultureslove]

I'm building a 2x3 cage. I can't really see how many grids people are using for bottom storage in the pictures, unless there's a picture out there of just the bottom storage areas, which if there is I haven't seen one. I was really just asking how many grids are needed along the bottom to be able to support elevated cage. Like how often a grid must connect to the floor to support the elevated cage, because people don't seem to have grids laying completely flat on the floor. I'm not asking how much footage or measurements. I just don't want my cage to collapse.

 

[thevultureslove]

I'm just trying to do something like this, but like I said I can't see what the bottom looks like. Some of the other storage cages, like this one, look like they are built different so I was just wondering how many cubes were used.

 

[Crystalkate]

I took this picture just for you This is the bottom of my cage. I made the two shelves on the sides of my 2x3 for the main support. I put one grid in the back - in the middle top for support of the two sides (so the sides can keep their proper distance if the cage has to be moved). I didn't have another grid, so I used piece that had been cut in half to use in the center bottom. It wasn't necessary. But I have a toddler and he tends to pull on it, so I wanted to make sure it was sturdy. The most important thing is to use LOTS of zip ties. On every single grid, in every corner of every grid. They are your main source of support. The grids do not hold together well at all without them. You are waiting for a disaster in you don't have enough. I did not put grids on the top of the shelf where the cage sits, because the cage had them. I just made sure I used a heck of a lot of zip ties to hold it onto the shelf in the right places. My cage could withstand a tornado it has so many zip ties. jk haha Hope this helps a bit. Good luck.

 

[KD006]

I posted how I did my 2x4 with storage a few days ago, sorry about the formatting of the post I used MS Word and it adds formating info and did not get to it in time to edit out the crud. You do need to provide support for the cage and that was what I was attempting to show in my post and layout drawings showing it flat as you would ty-wrap on floor before folding and joining the grids.

 

[thevultureslove]

Thank you! This is exactly what I'm trying to do. I was just trying to figure how to do the support in the middle. I have enough zip ties to probably make a small cage out of them! I just don't trust the connecters to hold up.

 

[Crystalkate]

Ok so you want the cage to be about 14 inches (size of 1 grid) off the floor. You can do the exact same as mine...but without the bottom shelves. I personally would use some grids on the carpet on the bottom of the shelf, for support. My guess in my head makes that out to 15 grids for the shelf alone....but I am sure you can use several less, and still have good enough support.

 

[thevultureslove]

Yeah I was just trying to figure out if I needed to order one box of grids or two. So two it is!

 

[Crystalkate]

More support is always better I don't know about your piggies, but mine waddle like ducks and throw their weight around like they don't have a care in the world. It takes away some of the bounce from the grids also.

 

[Gigabyte]

I use two on the bottom on each corner, ZIP TIE THEM! If it's real big, remember to support it well! Place a brick or pig weight object inside and move it around a bit to see how stable it is.
BUT, @Crystalkate has the PERFECT idea. And it's nice and simple and clean. I'm stealing your idea, Crystal!

 

[Crystalkate]

Ill tell you one thing. Figuring out which way to put the connectors to make everything come together can be a headache. I had to re-do certain grids several times. I want to add that if I had a full grid, I would have laid the it down on the carpet in the center- front. That was what I wanted to do, but ran out. Using a half one wouldn't have worked laying it flat, so I had to make it upright. I also didn't put grids on the side shelves on the bottom-back. I didn't have enough, and they really were not needed since I put one in the front.

 

[beachgurl_1988]

Order three boxes! You can use extra grids for a playpen area, or some may snap like mine did trying to bend them into a hayrack, just get three. You will be glad you did!