# Waterproofing our bunny hutch



## Louiseandfriends

Since quite a few of you are into bunny DIY, do you know what sort of bunny safe products we need to waterproof Buddy and Trixie's hutch?  

Thanks
Louise 
xx


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## SammyJo

Any pics?


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## kate_7590

Do you mean the inside of the hutch or protecting the outside from weather?


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## Louiseandfriends

It was made by a carpenter a few months ago but he doesn't know what is and isn't animal safe so he left it.

Protecting it from the weather outside.

That's it. If you want a better picture I can get another one now.


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## kate_7590

I have painted my hutches with white emulsion inside, which you can then wipe clean.

On the outside, any fence/shed paint should be fine. I used cuprinol colours, i think on my hutches and shed.


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## Louiseandfriends

Cool!  Sounds good, thank you. xx


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## LouLatch

Just be aware if the paint is water or oil based, i made the mistake of painting my hutch with water based paint and every time it rains the paint turns wet again and i have to be so careful not to touch it.
My grandad thaught he was helping by saving me money but didnt realise it would do this. 

It may be worse because of the paint that was already on mine. At least you are starting with bare wood so that will help the paint soak in.


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## Louiseandfriends

It is bare wood, yes. If it's not oil or water base, what other paints are there? xx


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## LouLatch

Are are no others, as far as im aware. Soz i ment its best to have oil based paint and not water based. 

Im not very good at explaining myself. 

You just have to chesk the tin and it will say which one it is.

Its the water based ones that go like wet paint every time it get wet. 

Does that make better sence?


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## sskmick

My husband works for an insulation company so he covered the whole hutch and used silver tape to seal the insulaton. Then we bought an insulation/thermal hutch cover to fit over to keep everything in place. We also bought a waterproof cover to fit over the whole lot.

The idea is it keeps him warm in winter and cool in summer (I doubt that works) but he has access to his run 24/7.


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## Louiseandfriends

Cool.  I have tarp over it at the moment but it will probably get too hot for that soon. xx


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## sskmick

I got the thermal hutch cover £80.00 and waterproof cover £60.00 from [email protected], the cover for the run was about £30.00.


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## Limitlesstim

Louiseandfriends said:


> It was made by a carpenter a few months ago but he doesn't know what is and isn't animal safe so he left it.
> 
> Protecting it from the weather outside.
> 
> That's it. If you want a better picture I can get another one now.


Hi There,

I'm guessing that you have already completed the insulation by now, however I can say that a coat of Bitumen does wonders for water proofing. actually two coats. This can be applied to a metal roof such as corrugated iorn or a plywood roof - as well as many other materials! 

Best of all you can paint over this (after it has dried) with an outdoor paint of you choice with colour - this will add further layers of weather protection!

One other option is to add layers of tarp as the other people have commented in this post. A word on tarp covers. Make sure they a good quality, or in a very short time they will allow water and rain to penetrate. Look for a tarp with a waxy type of feel and with some thickness - as they last longer

For more information and handy tips on how to build a rabbit hutch, please see my site.

Rabbit Hutch Designs

Good luck to all who are looking to protect their rabbit and maintain their rabbit hutch!


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## loukodi

Do you want to protect the exterior of the hutch? If you do you need a spirit based treatment such as barrettine.


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