Build Your Own Cat House

This is the easy bit. All you have to do here is think up a design and draw it on a piece of paper. Don't worry, you don't have to be an artist to do this. Just scribble down all the ideas that come to mind

You are looking for an overall shape that is not too complicated to build. Use my cat house design as an example. I decided to go for a simple shape and design with very few curves and extended pieces. If you are having trouble, just draw a square with a roof on it. Done!

As well as the actual shape of the house you are going to need to put in some measurements. What I did was measure the space the cat usually sleeps in and then doubled the size so as it can spread out when it's asleep. For the height I measured the cat while it sat upright and added a couple of inches for a little extra room.

I wanted to make this build on as low a budget as possible. The best way to do that was to salvage whatever wood I could find.

A lot of the framing wood I used came from pallets, (used for stacking goods with a forklift truck). Some factories or industrial builders leave these outside to be thrown away because they may be a little damaged. If they are damaged it is ok because you are going to strip them down anyway.

The walls and base of the cat house have to be some kind of flat board wood. I had some pieces of MDF lying around so I used that . Thickness isn't really important but remember the thicker the wood the heavier the cat house will be. Of course, it will be warmer inside for the cat also.

1. Mark your shape on the wood you are going to use for the base. Make sure the measurements are correct. The shape of the base I cut is off at an angle because I designed it that way so as it can fit into an unusually shaped corner of my friend's home. Your base can be any shape you want it to be. As long as it fits your original design.

2. Use your saw or jigsaw to cut the shape out, (Photo 1 in the slides below).

3. If the base board is quite thin then you may need to strengthen it a little. All I did was glue and nail on some additional thin strips of wood along the outside of the base to prevent any trwisting due to the weather. (Photo2).

Remember:The inside space of the cat house is minus the thickness of the wood you are using for the walls.

4. At the front edge of the base I screwed on a lip to overhang. This will come in handy later on. (Photo 3).

5. With whatever scrap wood you have you can cut up four legs for the base. I just used pieces from the pallet I was using. They will get painted up later and so will not look so ugly. (Photo 4).

6. Glue and screw the legs to the underside of the base at each corner. (Photo 5 & 6).

7. For supporting the walls you will need to cut thin pieces of wood and glue them to the top part of the base on all four sides. ( Photo 7 in the above slides).

8. Again, make sure that you have marked the thickness of the walls onto the base so you can place the supports just inside the line. ( Photo 8).

1. The first thing you want to do here is mark and cut the face of the cat house and the back. These two pieces will be the exact same shape and size. This creates the overall shape and angle of the roof that you will fit later on. (Photo 2 in slideshow below).

2. I also cut out the entrance to the house and a slot above the entrance where the overhang will go. As an added extra you can even cut out a small window on the face board. I didn't do that as I didn't have any spare Tupperware pieces to use as the window. (Photo 3 & 4).

3. The top edge of both left and right side walls have to be bevelled a little at an angle. This is done because when laying the roof on top it will be a more snug fit. ( Photo 5).

4. Before putting the pieces together you need to cut out the hole for the window. For the window itself I cut out a clear lid top belonging to a Tupperware box. You can use anything you like for the window as long as it is clear and not too heavy. Plastic is the safest to go with. ( Photo 6 in the slides above.)

5. To make things a little neater I cut out four thin strips of wood and placed them around the window on the inside of the wall. Glued into position. ( Photo 7 ).

6. From the back of the wall, glue the window directly onto the borders. Make sure the widow is placed well and central. ( Photo 8 ).

7. Like me, if you are a perfectionist you can cut and glue a border on the inside as well. This will smarten up the inside of the window and also keep your cat safe from any sharp edges.

I put in an overhang because I wanted to keep the rain out of the house while allowing the cat to curl up inside and still be able to look out the front. You can quite easily fit a swinging cat door onto the front of the house if you want. It is totally up to you.
I went for the simple design as my friend's cat likes to look outside while it rests.

1. Measure and cut a piece of board to fit snugly into the slot above the entrance hole. Glue it in position and cut off any extra overhangs on the inner side of the board. It doesn't have to be perfectly neat because this will be covered with insulation and so will be hidden. ( Photo 1 & 2 in the slideshow below ).

2. Next, Cut pieces of board or thin timber to make the roof of the overhang. I used thin pieces from the wooden pallet I was using for materials. I cut them to size and then bevelled off the edges. ( Photo 3 & 4 ).

3. Glue all the pieces together in the shape of your choosing. I just went for the traditional roof style. When the glue is dry sand it down till it is smooth to the touch. ( Photos 5,6 & 7 ).

Now comes the really fun part. It is time to put the whole thing together. Double check everything and put the walls together before you glue just to make sure it all comes together fine.

Set out the glue, screws, nails and all the tools you need.

1. First, you want to cut some pieces of board to be used as corner sections inside the house. ( Photo 1 in slideshow below ). Cut four lengths at the height of the walls. The corners of the walls will be glued and screwed to these lengths holding the whole house together.

2. In Photo2 where the arrows are pointing you can see the added strips of board. Glue and screw the walls to these for added sturdiness.

3. Add a couple more strips on the upper part of the front and back boards, ( Photo 2 also ). The plan is to have one half of the roof to be a permenant fixture and the other half will be a lid that can be removed. I designed my cat house this way because I thought it would be a good idea to be able to easily reach into the house and remove any dirty cat cloths or for general cleaning etc.

I think it is great for summer as well because you will be able to keep half the roof off allowing for a nice breaze to circulate inside the house while your cat sleeps.

4. Now glue and screw the whole thing together.

In order to make the cat house as water resistant as possible it is a good idea to undercoat all the areas that you are not going to varnish. I undercoated the whole thing and left out the front overhang and the roof as these were to be varnished.

As you can see in the photos I undercoated before I glued and screwed the whole thing together. It really doesn't matter which you do first. Painting afterwards is less messy though.

When the undercoat has dried you can cut sections of cardboard and glue them to the inside of the house. You can do this before or after you have put the house together. I did it before to show you how it looked in the slides below.

You don't have to use cardboard. I used it because it costs nothing if you collect a few unused cardboard boxes from your local supermarket. It does a good job of keeping the heat in. You can also use proper insulation boards, if you don't mind the expense, or old carpeting will do just fine.

Extras: If you look at Photo 4 you can see that I added a couple of sides to the overhang. I did this to protect the entrance blocking off any rain or wind that may come about in bad weather. All you have to do is cut the small strips of board to the shape of your choosing and glue them underneath both sides of the overhang.

I designed my cat house to have half the roof as a permenant fixture and the other half as a sort of lid.

1. As a base for the roof I first cut out two pieces of wooden board that I used for making the walls. One of the pieces will be glued and nailed straight down on one half of the house. The other pieces is left aside to make the roof lid.

2. In Photo 1 you can see some thin lengths of wood cut out. These will be glued and nailed onto the lid half of the roof, Photo 2. They act as a base for the lid to rest on and also make the whole thing look neater when the lid is left off.

3. On the permanent side of the roof I cut down lengths of board from the pallet I was using and just glued and nailed them directly on, Photo 3. I wanted to keep the old, battered rustic style look of the wood so I just left them in their natural state with knots, bows, holes, etc all left as is. All I will have to do is sand the whole thing just to get rid of any splinters and sharp edges.

Remember: When you cut the lengths for the roof make sure you allow for a little overhang on each side. I added around 20mm on either side. This will help keep the rain off the roof join. If it rains.

Making the lid is much the same as the work on the other half of the roof. The difference is that the lid isn't permanent so don't nail it to the house.

4. As with the previous work cut and nail the wooden lengths to the base that you cut out for the lid.

5. What you should have now is your cat house with half the roof fitted and the other half left open. Measure the inner part of the half from wall to wall. You will now have four seperate measurements. You need to cut out four small lengths of wood to be used as stops for inside the lid. These will secure the lid in position making it easy to remove and replace.

6. Cut the lengths up. Measure and mark, on the underside of the lid, where the pieces should go and then glue and nail into position. Allow a couple of millimeters on either side for movement because the wood will stretch and shrink in different weather conditions.

All that is left now is to paint and varnish your cat house. If all is done correctly you should have a beautiful cat house that will keep your cat warm and dry in the winter and cool in the summer.