How to make a do-it-yourself doghouse

This article is a step-by-step guide for building a doghouse. This is a rather interesting project, because it provides an excellent opportunity to practice using different woodworking methods, and in addition, its result is not only useful, but also a very nice thing. We will show you how to make a dog house with your own hands, tell you what materials and tools will be required to complete this work. It is not necessary to strictly follow this instruction. Armed with the acquired knowledge, you can build a booth of the shape and size that will better suit your needs and tastes. Of course, you can just buy a ready-made kennel in a disassembled form, but having done it yourself, you will, firstly, save a significant amount of money and, secondly, you will enjoy the process itself.

Preparatory work

Determining the necessary dimensions of the booth is quite difficult, we recommend that you carefully study this issue from the very beginning. You must make sure that your dog has enough room to freely turn around and sit down. If you make a mistake with the size, the booth may be too small or too large for your pet.

It should be remembered that pressed lumber (in particular chipboard - approx. techno.techinfus.com/en/) is often treated with toxic substances that can harm the animal. This aspect is of great importance, therefore, when choosing materials for the manufacture of the frame and walls, you must carefully familiarize yourself with the technical characteristics of the materials in order to avoid possible problems.

To make a doghouse, you will need:

Tips:

• remember the proverb "Measure seven times ...";
• to get a rigid structure, fasten the side walls with the floor, driving nails at an angle;
• in the figures accompanying our instructions, all dimensions are given in inches, to convert to your usual units of measurement, you must use the formula: 1 inch = 2.5 cm.

Assembling the frame of a doghouse

So how do you make a doghouse? Start work by creating a foundation. You need to saw off 3 bars (5 × 10 cm) 110 cm long and 2 bars (5 × 10 cm) 90 cm long. Join them as shown in the figure, making sure with the joiner's square that all corners are straight, and fasten 10 cm screws (two at each junction).

Tip: Before screwing in the screws, drill guide holes to prevent wood from splitting.

Assembling the frame for the floor of the booth.

Next, you need to cut a rectangular piece of 18 mm plywood 90x120 cm in size - the floor of the future booth. Attach it to the frame with 5 cm nails or self-tapping screws every 25 cm.

Tip: Pull back at least 1 cm from the edge, otherwise the tree may split.

Fixing the floor of the booth.

Using 5 × 5 cm bars, build a frame of the side walls. If you want a tough structure, install a center pillar on each side. After you assemble the frames of the side walls, you must attach them to the base with a few 10 cm screws. Before mounting, make sure the walls are vertical, for this you will need an alcohol level.

Mounting the frame of the side walls.

It was the turn of the frames of the front and rear walls. For their manufacture you will need 5x5 cm. Bars. Fasten the made frames 10 cm. With self-tapping screws.As you can see in the figure, the front and back walls are different. In the frame of the front wall, you must place two additional racks. The distance between them is the width of the entrance to the booth. Make sure your dog can walk between them easily.

Installing the frame of the rear and front walls.

Now you have to build the roof of the booth. For reasons of efficiency, ease of construction and aesthetic appeal, we recommend that you create a roof with an angle of inclination of 45º.

Saw off the bars of the required size for the rafters and the ridge. Fix the rafters on the frame of the booth 10 cm with self-tapping screws, after checking their parallelism with each other on each slope. Cut the ends of the rafters at an angle of 45º.

Creating a frame for the roof of the booth.

It is quite easy to make elements of the roof frame. To do this, simply follow our instructions and saw out the rafters of the correct size. Remember that in the figures all dimensions are in inches (1 inch = 2.5 cm). In the rafters, it is necessary to make grooves, so that they will be better adjacent to the walls.

Having cut the first pair of rafters, make sure that they fit well. If this is not the case, make the necessary adjustments, and after that, using the first pair as a template, make the rest of the rafters.

 
Necessary elements of the roof.

Frame cladding

Use 12 mm plywood to make the walls of the booth. This process is quite simple and straightforward: you must measure the frame of the walls and cut out pieces of plywood of the appropriate size with a hacksaw.

On the front wall do not forget to make an entrance. Just draw the outline of the entrance and, after drilling a hole, make a cut along this line with a jigsaw.

Production and fastening of plywood walls.

Along the rafters with decorative nails, nail a decorative girdle. As you can see in the figure, the roof of the structure should protrude at least 5 cm beyond the boundaries of the front and rear walls.

Tip: The size of the protrusion of the roof may differ from what we recommend. It all depends on your needs and aesthetic preferences.

Roof decorative.

At the next stage, you should cut out two sheets of 12 mm plywood and attach them to the roof frame with 5 cm screws or nails every 25 cm along the ridge and rafters. Before attaching the roofing sheets, carefully combine them.

Roof sheathing with plywood.

Tile the roof of the booth with flexible tiles. Begin to fasten it from the bottom row. Using chalk, draw several horizontal lines on the plywood slopes of the roof, which will serve as a guide when laying flexible tiles. Use flexible nails to attach flexible tiles.

Do not forget that the roof tile must protrude at least 2.5 cm in all directions in order to properly protect the wooden structure from rainwater. Do not forget to protect from water and the ridge of the roof

Ready-made do-it-yourself doghouse.