In the previous post I mentioned my wife and I just bought our first house recently. We have been very happily married over 1 year now! With any married couple you at some point talk about kids and pets and other important things like that. By the way, this and lots more are on our family blog. If you want the full story behind this one in particular, it is here. So long story short we had our family talk and decided no kids for a while and no pets either. About 2 weeks later we rescued 3 cats while out geocaching and, surprise, we still have them, funny how that happens isn't it? (Note: Nope, no kids yet.)We decided that the 3 cats would be outdoor animals, we did not want to clean up cat hair and have scratched furniture and all that, but we enjoy having them around. The great thing is they come with a sleek fur coat, rodent control claws and night vision all pre-installed from the factory. So the perfect answer was to let them live outdoors and keep our property free of moles, rats, mice etc, which they do quite well.This post is not about the cats, it is about the cat house I decided to make them because I felt sorry for them sitting in the cold rain outside all night. (Weak and unmanly of me, I know) I went with a traditional looking pet house that ironically ended up looking more like a cross between a dog and bird house (Picture a foot perch peg right below the door).
I made this entire project for around $30 at Home Depot. That was for 1 4x8 sheet of 1/2" pressure treated ply wood, 1 10' 2x4 and 1 pack of shingles, wood screws and roofing nails, we had paint left over from the house so we just used that, but you can get small sample cans for a few dollars at most hardware stores that might just be enough.
To the left is a shot of the floor and walls. I made the roof detachable so you can pull out any blankets and get inside easier.Here is the quick run down:
1. Lay your plywood out and draw out the floor, 2 side walls, 2 front/back walls, and 2 roof halves. You might try drawing out all your pieces
on a piece of paper first and give yourself some leeway in case you over-cut. Here is a simple diagram of what I drew on the plywood to make the walls and floor. (You can move the pieces around much better than this, to reduce the amount of wasted wood. Just make sure you have all your pieces drawn out how you want before you make the first cut! ) Remember to make your 2 roof pieces each a few inches wider than the sloped edge of the front/back wall (See: Pythagorean Theorem A²+B²=C² for some fun with math!) so you have some overhang on each side to shed the rain water, and similarly make them a few inches longer, front to back, than the floor so it covers the front door area like a front porch. I think I ended up with about 7" overhang on the front, and about 2" the other 3 sides.2. Cut the pieces out with a jig or circular saw. I traced a circle around a paint can lid on what would become the front wall to cut out the doorway, make sure it will be big enough for your pet to fit through or this while project will yield a large useless lawn ornament. Cats are better able, and I think even prefer, to squeeze through tighter spaces much more than dogs so i left it fairly small.
3. Sand all the sharp splintery edges down. A course 60 grit sandpaper works great for this.
4. I ripped a 2x4 right down the middle for about 4 feet which yields about 8 total feet of 2x2 that you use for supports in the 4 corners and 3 lengthwise brace pieces at the top where the roof piece will sit (See the interior photo toward the top left for their placement, look closely at the far inside corner). Remember the measure twice cut once rule. The 4 vertical corner pieces are about 2" shorter than the height of any of your 4 wall pieces since another 2x2 will be sitting on top of it lengthwise and it needs to all fit.
5. Assemble all 4 walls with the 4 corner supports all onto the floor piece. Fit them all together first as best you can before you start putting screws in to make sure everything lines up. (This is where an extra arm or two, or a set of clamps might help.)
6. Cut out a pair of around 6-10" 2x4s and angl
e the top edge to the appropriate pitch to make the roof supports to hold the 2 roof halves together, see photo to the right. (Hint: Just lay your 2x4 piece down under either of the 2 side walls you just cut out and trace the top edge onto it. The pitch angle needs to be the same so they fit snugly.) I also routed the bottom edges with a roundover bit
so they would slide onto the house frame easier, you could also just sand it a lot. When you assemble the roof make sure the 2 2x4s you just cut out are spaced exactly far enough apart so that when you drop the roof onto the frame they fit snugly around the 2 front/back walls to hold it in place.7. After the roof is assembled lay your shingles and attach them using
the roofing nails. I did not use tar paper on the bottom layer as you would on a house normally and the house still has no leaks, but you can do so if you really want. When you lay shingles you start with lowest point of the roof (I.E. both sides) and build your way up to the center peak and layer them over each other so they overhang and will shed water onto the top of the next shingle below and so on (Here is a pretty good guide with lots of pictures! If you have never done this before search the internet and read up on it). Dont forget your starter strip! (The backwards first row of shingles, see guide) And for the crown since it is a much smaller roof than a house, I cut each tab in half to yield 6 total crown pieces from a 3-tab shingle. If you do not do this it may just look funny and out of proportion.8. Caulk the walls and floor if you want to, I did not, but should have so water will not leak in through the wall seams. Make sure any nails sticking through are filed down or bent in for safety! :)
9. Paint or water seal it all. Use an outdoor or oil based paint or a typical wood deck sealant. We actually used our left over interior latex paint from the house which has fared the elements just fine.
