Are You Handy? 2

[SPOCKED]

^^ Same here, Spocked. I've been hit with some bills ($800 to repair a cat's broken leg ) which knocked me on my ass for work. I'm gearing up to do some painting, scraping the "cottage cheese" from the living room ceiling (it's 19'x22' with a 15' vault), and then I'm remodeling the master bath. I'll have pics galore after Thanksgiving.

Owch, sorry about your cat The OT I'm working this weekend is going to go right into my second round of car repair which in the last week has totalled well over $600. And both cars still need inspections. It's a crappy time in our renovations effort. I knew November would be a bad month, but soon things will pick up again. Just need to get over the hump

 

[Elmo Dukat]

Yeah, it really sucks when both cars have the same inspection month, and since they're both >7 years old, inevitably need repair work. It puts a big hit on November.

Good thing is, the pellet stove is keep us toasty and warms, and I think we've only used a total of 6 40-lb bags so far this fall. We bought a ton. Hopefully we'll get through the winter with that, and will only have to supplement a bit in the early spring.

 

[RevDMV]

Good luck to you two on the continuing renovation effort. I recommend hot chocolate and pellet stove snuggle time for the both of you.

Went through a bump on my yard project, a previously permitted retaining wall was reinspected and denied after a neighbor called the planning office. Now, it has to be rebuilt to the tune of 5k extra cost, including the new permit fee.

I hate my city planning office...

 

[trampledamage]

Yeah, it really sucks when both cars have the same inspection month, and since they're both >7 years old, inevitably need repair work. It puts a big hit on November.

Good thing is, the pellet stove is keep us toasty and warms, and I think we've only used a total of 6 40-lb bags so far this fall. We bought a ton. Hopefully we'll get through the winter with that, and will only have to supplement a bit in the early spring.

I'm glad you got the pellet stove installed and working before everything went to hell in a handbasket - somewhere nice and warm, and it's a definite achievement to all your work.

You two should hibernate for the winter - come back in the spring and start again

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, I'm glad things are still proceeding, even if slowly. Actually, hibernating might be a good idea. A little R&R never hurt anyone, and it sounds like you guys could use it.

Sorry to hear about your cat, John_Picard.

I hate my city planning office...

I think you should hate thy neighbor.

 

[SPOCKED]

Ok... so I need a cat house to keep Shimmy warm and dry in the winter months while we're not home in the day. I will not have a cat box in my house so I have no choice but to build this thing

You all remember Shimmy

As it turns out, our hospital is replacing all the patient rooms with flat screens so along with the old tv's go some tv stands like this one on our loading dock which I'm using for this project..

I decided to lop off everything above the bottom box area, lay it down and build a custom top for that opening.

So here's the progress so far..

I stapled layers of double insluation all through the interior after expanding an existing opening into a door

In this next pic you can see the roof leaning up against the wall in the background. It's strapped together 2X6's and has since been vapor barrieried and then insulated..

Here you see the (completely removable) roof in place and the whole house primed; we even decided to put some left over molding around the outer corners as well as the door. The seams between the roof boards have been sealed and tomorrow we'll give the whole house a coat of outdoor paint

Since we bought our Porter Cable nailgun/compressor yesterday we naturally broke it in for this Shimmy actually decided to check out his new digs for a few minutes while we were working on it So tomorrow we will primer the roof and hopefully get this thing done ahead of the cold weather. We've already got him a fleece blanket to curl up on. And of course I'll update with pics when it's all done

 

[Gertch]

Really nice job. But shouldn't a cat house have a red light? Okay, someone had to say it.

We've tried several of the automatic cat boxes over the years. But it always comes back to scooping. So I can see why you'd go this route.

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

Nice job SPOCKED.

The real trick is getting the cat to use said house.

 

[SPOCKED]

We've tried several of the automatic cat boxes over the years. But it always comes back to scooping. So I can see why you'd go this route.

NO SCOOPING

Really nice job. But shouldn't a cat house have a red light? Okay, someone had to say it.

We're going to hang a tiny birdfeeder by the front door

The real trick is getting the cat to use said house.

See that tarp behind him in the picture?? That is what he used to crawl under to keep out of the rain/sleet/snow last winter so I KNOW he'll appreciate this thing. Plus he has no choice

 

[Gertch]

We're going to hang a tiny birdfeeder by the front door

Now that's the funniest thing I've heard in a week.

 

[An Officer]

Gosh, you are handy. I'll bet the cat's gonna' love it. Nice job.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Ok... so I need a cat house to keep Shimmy warm and dry in the winter months while we're not home in the day. I will not have a cat box in my house so I have no choice but to build this thing

You all remember Shimmy

As it turns out, our hospital is replacing all the patient rooms with flat screens so along with the old tv's go some tv stands like this one on our loading dock which I'm using for this project..

I decided to lop off everything above the bottom box area, lay it down and build a custom top for that opening.

So here's the progress so far..

I stapled layers of double insluation all through the interior after expanding an existing opening into a door

In this next pic you can see the roof leaning up against the wall in the background. It's strapped together 2X6's and has since been vapor barrieried and then insulated..

Here you see the (completely removable) roof in place and the whole house primed; we even decided to put some left over molding around the outer corners as well as the door. The seams between the roof boards have been sealed and tomorrow we'll give the whole house a coat of outdoor paint

Since we bought our Porter Cable nailgun/compressor yesterday we naturally broke it in for this Shimmy actually decided to check out his new digs for a few minutes while we were working on it So tomorrow we will primer the roof and hopefully get this thing done ahead of the cold weather. We've already got him a fleece blanket to curl up on. And of course I'll update with pics when it's all done

That's all really cool. Especially the evil looking black cat.

 

[RJDiogenes]

That's a nice little house. I'm sure Shimmy will appreciate it.

And that's a great picture.

 

[John Picard]

Shimmy: "Sonuvabitch locked me outside and is eating turkey with all the fixin's."

 

[SPOCKED]

Ok after many coats of outdoor paint, I finally give you this reeeeeeeeealy crappy photo of the very nearly finished cat house (forgive the angled roof - I just didn't seat it all the way before I took the pic and didn't notice it)

And hey! Good news! No sooner did I put his blankey in there than he dove in. And he's been in his little outdoor pad for over two hours. He LOVES it!! This worked out really really well, but I need to get better pictures obviously. btw, it's actually going to make a nice outdoor tabletop for beerski this summer lol

 

[trampledamage]

Ok after many coats of outdoor paint, I finally give you this reeeeeeeeealy crappy photo of the very nearly finished cat house (forgive the angled roof - I just didn't seat it all the way before I took the pic and didn't notice it)

And hey! Good news! No sooner did I put his blankey in there than he dove in. And he's been in his little outdoor pad for over two hours. He LOVES it!! This worked out really really well, but I need to get better pictures obviously. btw, it's actually going to make a nice outdoor tabletop for beerski this summer lol

He's running a tap off your cable.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I think the angled roof is a nice touch-- makes it look all Dr Suess.

It's great that he likes it.

 

[SPOCKED]

I just took some cleaner pictures..

Still needs a few tweeks but it's pretty solid. We thought to add heat with a lamp, but Amazon sells a heating pad for outdoors that is activated by the weight of the cat and this seems like the better idea

 

[John Picard]

If you feed him extra food during the winter months, his body will burn that extra fat/energy. Add to it that you have a cloth over the door, plus that reflective insulation and blankets inside, that's one warm pussy cat. I think a heating pad would make him too warm.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Nice looking little house. And deck. And do you have snow?