The Easter bunnies repair job 6

Over the winter Bart and Mo’s home was badly damaged. The roof bowed and bent under the weight of water in the storms, then sprung a leak. As you know I hate wasting things I was determined to repair not replace this hutch. It was all sound except the roof wood and felt.
Luckily the wooden batoning around the roof was not damaged, which meant I could attach a new roof straight on it. I considered buying plywood and felt and doing it the classic bunny hutch way. Nah, too weak! I considered layered planks of wood, shed roof or chicken coop style, too draughty and needs regular varnishing to keep it water tight. Nope! The wood would cost around £20-30 depending on where was purchased.

Instead what I’ve gone for is a large and thick sheet of recycled plastic. This cost me around £40 but was delivered to my door. I’ve spent today screwing it to the old batoning, this has created a sort of insulated roof, cavity wall kinda thing. The MDF sheet of wood covered in felt that got super soggy is still there, but no longer facing the elements, now it is like a ceiling underneath a roof. With the warmer weather we’ve had this week it is fully dried out, but does still have water damage staining and dents. It is unlikely to bow anymore now it will stay dry, so I saw no point removing it really.
It might not be a traditional repair, but if I could have chosen between buying a wooden hutch with a plastic roof, or a wooden hutch with roofing felt I wouldn’t have picked the felt!

The hutch itself is a triple size hutch, with a hutch on top and a double-size run underneath. It costs £130 new so a forty squid repair makes sense, we have only had it a year. The hutch is big, heavy and awkward to move, and sadly due to those same storms that trashed the roof we’ve no grass just mud…. But its starting to grow back. Bart and Mo still love being outside, wether it is on grass or mud so its all good.

I gave it a quick re-paint recently too, so it should be fabulous for a while longer. Ok it took time and effort, but I am pleased it is water tight for my rabbits now.

It is a bank holiday which means DIY, and of course it is Easter which is about bunnies and eggs, so a good time to fix it I thought.

Do you fix and upcycle/recycle things, or do you buy new when things go wrong?