Hi,

So, my husband isn’t planning on making anymore at this time – so I will try to give the best instruction I can on how we developed these great goat houses and reference pictures when I can.  Keep in mind, you totes may differ slightly.

 

1.   Mark the area to be cut with a marker (shown in image # 1 as dotted red lines).

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2.   Mark the 3 lowest horizontal cross bars as well (shown in image # 1 as dotted blue lines)
3.   Remove the top cross bars that hold the tote inside the cage (red arrows on image # 2)

 

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4.   At this point, you should easily be able to pull the white tote from the cage.
5.   Using a saw (we used a reciprocating saw with a metal blade) to cut the two sides and bottom that you marked off with a marker in step 1 (red lines from image #1)
6.   At this point, we used a heat gun to assist in working with the plastic… heat and then bend back the area you just cut (the bend will occur at the part marked with the green dotted line in image #1)
7.   From the bend, measure down 12 inches and cut.  The part still attached is going to be the top of the awning.  Keep the piece that you just cut off, you will need this for the sides of the awning later.
8.   On the cage, using the reciprocating saw, cut the three horizontal bars from step #2 (blue lines).  Keep the metal bars, you will need these as well.
9.   At this point, we used the heat gun and a small block of a 2x4 to heat and smooth the cut areas.  (Heat with the gun and run the block of wood over the heated area to smooth it down - This is simply to reduce the rough edges)
10.   You can now replace the tote back into the cage with one note: the 12” bent piece will rest over the bar that was not cut (the one right at the green dotted line in image #1)
11.   You can now replace the two cross bars to the top of the tote as they were originally in image # 2.
12.   Its hard to see in the pictures, so I apologize.  You can look through the pictures to hopefully get the idea of what to do with the three metal bars that were cut off.  I’ve tried to point to these in image # 3.  We just used self-tapping screws to attach these to the points they touch on the cage and each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 12” flap that is hanging over will now be screwed to the top bar.
The left-over plastic can now be cut to form the sides of the awning and screwed onto the side bars.  I try to show images of these last three steps in images # 4 thru # 7.

 

 

 

 

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Lastly, we attached a piece of PVC to the top hole using a 2” connector.  It is a 2” threaded male to 2” slip connector that just screws into the existing threading of the top hole. And the PVC pipe just slides in perfectly. 
I forgot to mention, our totes came with a metal piece attached to the cage (some totes have plastic plates) that would have listed what the tote contained.  We utilized the metal plate and a pair of tin snips to cut out the pipe cover and screwed it to the PVC for air flow and to keep the rain out (image # 8)

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This work great because they are SUPER easy to clean out (sweep with a broom and rinse with a water hose).  The goats love them and they also make fantastic dog houses too.