When your beloved pet needs a solid home: simple rules on how to make a dog booth with your own hands
When a family living in a private or country house takes on a four-legged guard, you should immediately worry about the pet's place of residence - not everyone likes to live with a dog. The editors of the online magazine homemaster.techinfolux.com/en/ propose to resolve the issue with the pet's housing and offer recommendations on how to make a do-it-yourself kennel for a dog.
The content of the article
- 1 Ideas for making a dog house with photo designs
- 2 What materials are doghouses made of?
- 3 How to determine the size of a doghouse
- 4 How to choose a place for a doghouse
- 5 How to insulate a doghouse
- 6 How to build a wooden doghouse with your own hands
- 7 How to make a brick doghouse with your own hands
- 8 Again about the drawings and other nuances of making do-it-yourself dog booths
- 9 The nuances of making your own house for a dog in an apartment
- 10 How much does a dog house cost - price overview
Ideas for making a dog house with photo designs
When people build a house for themselves, they do not think about how to make it ugly and uncomfortable, the same with a dog: a living creature needs good living conditions.
The slope at such a roof is directed away from the entrance so that water does not drip on the animal's nose sticking out of the passage, creating a puddle under the booth.
The peculiarity of gable booths in harsh places of residence is the addition of an attic ceiling - this will minimize heat loss.
Advice! It is easy to set up a storage space under the roof for dog supplies.
Convenience for a dog in a building with two rooms is that when it rains or snows, the animal can safely survey the surroundings of the yard, and when the frost hits, sleep off in a warm bedroom.
Not everyone can build two-story palaces. And not every dog will be interested in the second floor. For large animals, such buildings are impractical, and small dogs can easily climb up to observe the territory. In this case, the sleeping place can be located at the top, and at the bottom you can simply make a room from the rain.
What materials are doghouses made of?
Let's figure out how to make a dog kennel with our own hands, and what materials can be used to build a good house. You can build from almost anything, but let's focus on the most accessible and common materials: wood and brick. Conifers have proven themselves well from wood. And it is not at all necessary to build a kennel from processed boards, you can make a real log house. A very budget option involves the use of plywood and floorboards. In order for the wood to last a long time, it is treated from the outside with an impregnating protective compound, and from the inside, if necessary, it is insulated. Brick is more monumental: such booths are heavy and massive, so it is better to install them on a strip foundation.
Related article:
Aviary for dogs: photos and types of structures with descriptions, what building materials are needed for self-building a paddock for dogs, how to cover the floor of the enclosure and what is better to build walls, the size of street structures, their arrangement, how to make an enclosure for an apartment - read the publication.
How to determine the size of a doghouse
When you need a booth for a large dog of such breeds as Alabai, Tibetan Mastiff, St. Bernard, it is important not to be mistaken with the size: a growing dog should not feel in the house like a salted mushroom in a jar. Yes, and a small dog is not comme il faut to sit in a huge building in winter - such a one would never warm with his breath.
We measure the pet - the length of the kennel should be +5 cm from the length of the animal from nose to tail. The width is indicated on the basis of the height of the dog plus 5 cm. Now you need to measure the girth of the chest: the hole should be wider by the same 5 cm and 5 cm longer than the height of the animal at the withers.
Advice! If the dog has not yet grown, then you can focus on the indicators from the reference books.
The height of the kennel should exceed the height at the withers by 15 cm: the dog should not touch the ceiling with his head if he wants to sit inside. The depth is calculated so that the pet lies comfortably on its side and can freely extend its legs. The height of the animal at the withers is increased by 15 cm and depth is obtained.
When designing a kennel, the dimensions of the animal are calculated from the vestibules: it will be convenient for small breeds in a room 75 cm long, 65 cm wide, 65 cm high, but the shepherd dog will appreciate 120-125 cm in length. Very large animals will need a room length of 145 cm, a width of 105 cm and a height of 100 cm.
How to choose a place for a doghouse
The choice of place is due to the desire of the owners to create good living conditions for the animal:
- do not put a kennel in an open sunny area;
- the place should not be at the crossroads of all imaginable and inconceivable winds;
- put the booth close to the fence with gaps - get a twitchy nervous animal.The beast can be teased by children and simply annoyed by people walking by;
- the same applies if the street behind the fence is extremely noisy, it is better to install the building not near the fence, behind which there is such a loud life;
- when setting up a booth in a lowland, you should be prepared for the fact that in the first spring the dog will move to live in a house, since its dwelling will simply float in the water.
How to insulate a doghouse
Do you need a warm kennel for a dog? If the animal is lucky enough to live "in the south", then we can congratulate the owners that they do not need to bother with the insulation of the dog's dwelling. The northern regions will have to invest here again.
Sawdust, styrofoam and mineral wool are good insulation. The floor, walls and roof are also subject to insulation. Mineral wool, foam plastic or ordinary sawdust are used as insulation. Insulation is laid on the walls and roof from the inside. Then the insulating material is covered with a vapor barrier. The floor is insulated from below with ordinary sawdust.
How to build a wooden doghouse with your own hands
After admiring the photo of the dog kennel on the Internet, it's time to start creating a dog shelter with your own hands from wood.
Wood is an excellent material that has stood the test of centuries. Yes, such a kennel will last less than a brick one, but next time it will be a palace. If you wish, you can build a dog house from pallets and pallets, which are easy to sheathe with plywood sheets. But if you approach the matter thoroughly, they prepare both good material and a set of tools. A blockhouse or slab is also recommended as a building material: products are massive, durable and chic.
Video about building a wooden booth
How to prepare a drawing for making a doghouse with your own hands
The first step, if necessary, to assemble a house with your own hands, prepare a sketch and drawings of a dog kennel.
First, we draw a sketch of the future structure, then we measure the dimensions of the animal. According to the sketch, we create a drawing in two projections and indicate all dimensions on it. If there is no experience in construction at all, then it is better, in addition to the general assembly drawing, to draw individual elements, so it will be easier to navigate in the details.
Floor and frame
For stationary products, it is better to make a columnar foundation; for a portable one, hemmed thick boards in a couple of rows will do.
A sheet of plywood is laid on the frame. When the bottom is ready, it is turned over so that foam plastic is placed on the other side in the space of the bottom for insulation. It is closed with plywood.
Now they are starting to install vertical struts made of square bars at the corners of the bottom. They are fixed with steel corners. It is worth making sure that the vertical level does not get lost. The upper strapping is screwed onto the columns and intermediate racks are installed if the booth is supposed to be two-room.
Back wall and front part
The back wall and facade can be cut directly from plywood. This will require compliance with all dimensions indicated in the drawing and an electric jigsaw. If the assembly is carried out from an edged board, then, again, to make it easier for a beginner, you can draw a template of a finished size right on the ground and check with it. Having cut off unnecessary parts of the boards, you can nail the elements onto the frame.
Roof and side walls
It doesn't matter if it is decided to install a single-pitched or a gable roof - any option must be removable. This will help for easy access to the inside of the building to change bedding and disinfect.
A 40 × 40 cm beam and an OSB sheet are taken on a shed roof. The bars are knocked into a frame corresponding to the internal dimensions of the building. A sheet of OSB is laid on top. The roof is insulated with foam, which is covered with a moisture-insulating film. Plywood is laid on the insulation. It is taken into account that it should be 8-10 cm larger than the frame at the side and back, 18-20 cm in front.
How to make a brick doghouse with your own hands
A small bobby is unlikely to need a serious brick structure, but such a house will come in handy for huge watchdogs.
To build a strong solid brick kennel, they mark the future building on the ground and begin to dig a trench around its perimeter. A size of 25 × 25 cm is enough - concrete is poured into the trench and further work begins only after a few days. First, the walls are laid out, regularly checking the correspondence of all verticals and angles, which should be perfectly straight. Where the hole is located, leave a pass of several bricks. Upon reaching the desired height of the masonry, a wooden board is laid above it. Further masonry will already be solid. From the inside, the house must be completely insulated with clapboard or sheathed with wooden boards. The roof is made separately and installed on the attic timber floor.
Again about the drawings and other nuances of making do-it-yourself dog booths
Not everyone understands the value of a good drawing: the more carefully the details are worked out at this stage, the less chances there are for an error during construction. Do not rely on the fact that your hands will feel the material themselves - if you want high-quality durable work, then you should not neglect the drawings and step-by-step instructions.
Recommendation! To build a drawing, you can use the services of architectural programs.
Site breakdown
It has already been mentioned above where the kennel should not be. Let's clarify that not every site has a free suitable place, but that is why human hands were created to correct shortcomings. Any place can be brought to mind: drainage and raising the soil level are used to combat dampness. A drainage trench will also help here. Ideally, the scaffold house can be placed on stilts.
If the dog will sit on a chain, there is the option of installing a long steel wire for more freedom of the pet. The chain will slide over the wire and the dog will be able to run the length of the chain and return to the kennel. You can concrete the site - but keep in mind that dogs love to dig holes and hide bones there. Therefore, if you want to leave such an opportunity for your pet, then it is worth concreting the space around the booth, otherwise the dog can dig in the foundation, and in spring it will wash it off with streams of water.
Preparatory work and pouring the concrete layer
The roots of stumps and trees are removed from the territory, the place is leveled, a trench (for a strip foundation) or holes (for a pile foundation) is dug. No difficulties at this stage are foreseen.
The nuances of making your own house for a dog in an apartment
It is not required to insulate the dog's house in the apartment, which saves building materials, finances and own strength.
You can build such a house from scratch using the recommendations for building a coffee table, but instead of boxes, leave free space inside.
The structure is built in the same way as a wooden building for the street.
For large breeds, it is easier to take any old chest of drawers and restore it to the interior of the room by laying a bedding inside the makeshift home.
How much does a dog house cost - price overview
A booth for a dog can be bought inexpensively from masters, you can find a ready-made option that is suitable in size. Various houses for home guards are offered on the Internet. Wooden products start their price start from 3000 rubles. The presence of insulation increases the cost. The price is influenced by the size of the pet - for a large guard the booth will cost 8,000-12,000 rubles. Do not forget that the comfortable living of our smaller brothers depends only on us. It is worth devoting time to arranging the pet's home and making a solid home - the grateful dog eyes will thank you.