Saturday, January 26, 2013

DIY Expandable Baby Pen

So we decided to make a 'pen' for Zane because he is crawling into everything. We decided to make it 6'x6'. It ended up a little larger because of the PVC joints.We used about 82' of 3/4" PVC pipe. 32 3/4" pvc T joints and 8 3/4" 90 degree pvc couplers. Also a plastic garden fance and zip ties. It toataled about $45 and took maybe a half hour.
Step 1: Cut PVC into 40-2 foot pipes and 16-2 inch pieces.
Step 2: Assemble bottom and top
one angle coupler, one 2 inch piece, one t coupler, a 2' pipe, t coupler, 2 ft pipe, t coupler, 2 ft pipe,t coupler, 2 inch piece, angle coupler. That is one of the 4 sides of the top or bottom. Once you have each side assembled, put the together to make a square.
Step 3: Put in Slats
Put the other 2 ft pipes into the open t coupler hole. Push everything hard to make sure it is all the way in.
Step 4: Put the top on
You can do this a couple ways, make the top like you did the bottom, once it is a square, lift it up an put it on top of the slats.
Or put one side of on at a time.
Step 5: Weave fencing around pen and then zip tie to pvc
Then add baby. We didn't trim the zip tie ends because a) he likes to play with them b) they are sharp when trimmed. We put his toy box in there and he loves it, now I can do chores or go to the bathroom without worry.

3 comments:

  1. Very cool! I have been looking for some ideas.

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  2. Thanks for posting. I want to make something like this for my driveway to corral toddlers lol.... I'd like to sit out there and enjoy being with Gigi instead of worrying about having her take off (which she hasn't done yet!)...

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  3. I've been needing something like this! Baby is crawling and getting into things she shouldn't. Thanks!

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