For the past while, all the stuff that’s been done on the cat isolation shelter has been preparing pieces before assembly.
Which meant that, while progress was being made, it didn’t really look like much progress was being made!
Well, today, all that prep work finally paid off.
Assembly has begun!
I’m not going to go into too much about the assembly now; I’ve decided I’ll be making a voice-over video of the process when it’s done, so I can go into more detail. For now, here’s the short form.
The first thing I did was mark the centers of all the cut lengths on all sides. I even remembered to bring my carpenter’s triangle this time – and I got a lot of use out of it, today!
The front and back panels, which will be 4′ square, got assembled first. These used the true-to-size 2x4s for the outside, with a single regular 2×4 across the middle.
Of course, that didn’t turn out as easy as expected.
The regular size 2x4s turned out to be a fraction of an inch too long. With the first frame, I ended up recutting it too short, but was able to use the piece I’d cut off, sanded down until it fit, to fill the gap. With the second piece, I used the miter saw’s blade to basically shave off a bit at a time until it fit, so I didn’t have to fill a gap again!
Once the front and back panels were done, I used the side pieces and the centre marks to work out where to attach the triangle blocks. Once those were attached to the front and back panels, the panels were attached to the pallet, with the cross pieces to make sure they were spaced properly.
Once the first panel was attached flush with one edge of the pallet, that officially became the front of the shelter. The bottom cross pieces were set in place along the short sides of the pallet – making sure all the corners were at 90° – before the back piece could be attached, then the side pieces were attached to the pallet as well.
The top cross pieces were then added, which also set the front and back panels correctly, and finally the middle cross pieces were added.
Once it was all together, I rolled the whole thing out of the garage and through the grass. The wheels handled the grass just fine, and it was quite easy to move around! One of the last things I’ll do is add some handles to use to move it around but, for now, I can just grab the frame.
None of the joins are prefect, of course. In fact, some of them are downright messy. But, the corners are square and the whole thing is extremely solid and stable, and that’s what’s important!
Once that was done, I was able to use the funky calipers my daughters got me for Christmas a few years ago to measure the distance inside the frame, at the centre mark. A 2×4 was cut, checked and double checked for it, then got half painted. Since I had the paint out anyhow, I covered a few spots on the frame that needed touching up.
This cross piece will support the floor. The floor in the back half will be from one side to the other, while the front half will be from one side to the middle, leaving an open space for any isolated cat to access the upper level.
That was as much as I could get done today. Tomorrow, the other half of the cross piece will be painted. Until that’s dry, I won’t be able to measure and cut pieces for the floor, but the bottom half of the back panel will be walled in, so I should be able to start measuring, cutting and painting boards for that, as well.
The boards I have that are left over from another project are 12′ long, though. I’m going to have to rotate the table I have the miter saw on, to have the space to work with them!
As I’m doing all this, I’m always turning things around in my mind about what should be, or can be, done on the inside before the whole thing gets the welded wire mesh added, since none of it can be done once the mesh is in place. I find myself thinking of adding something across the front or side to hold food and water bowls, slightly elevated and secured somehow, so they don’t end up knocked about. If I do that, I might change things up so that the front door, which will be made to swing down and become a ramp when left open, is in front of where the litter box will be, instead of in front of where the sleep cubby will be.
I’ll think more on that, as the floor boards are added, as well as the vertical pieces that will need to be added to support the access doors and panels. I also want to include things like a scratching post and other spaces for cats to lie on.
I wonder if we have any scrap carpet somewhere that can be used for this? I know we have a roll of carpet in the barn, but it’s been sitting there for probably at least 10 years, of not longer, and I doubt it would be useable. There might be something in the storage shack, but it would be hard to find anything under all of my parents’ belongings.
Still, it might be worth a look!
If we have cats that have to be in this thing for possibly weeks at a time, I want it to at least be fun and interesting for them!
Have I mentioned that we’re sucks for the cats?
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 