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Featured Dog House 10: The T-Bone ChaletLocation: Maryland, USABuilder: Derek
I built this dog house for T-Bone, our new JRT puppy, after researching your site and adopting many of the fundamentals your site provided. Thank you for providing such an informative and idea generating place for folks like me to go and learn about dog houses. If necessity is the Mother of Invention, then being on a tight budget and being resourceful certainly must be the father! I built this dog house for $9.35 and it took me less than 7 hours from start to finish. The two major contributing factors to this were; 1) I’m in the Military (read on) and, 2) I’m fairly decent at working with wood and power tools. While the house was in its’ planning stages a fellow soldier informed me that I could get some scrap (read: "free") plywood that was soon to be on its’ way to the local dump. They were target supports and all I would have to do is dismantle the legs and supports (2" X 4’s") and use what I wanted. Granted, I did have to plug a few holes which were caused by my sharp shooting colleagues, but it was worth it. With this in mind, I headed to the local hardware store and bought some 1’ X 1" lumber for the frame and a box of wood screws (another tip I learned from your site). Keep in mind that I used the small framing material due the fact that I knew T-Bone would not get too big and I live in a relatively moderate climate so snow accumulation/insulation was not an issue either. T-Bone will not be an outside dog during inclement weather. Leaving him out in the cold would, in my book, be like leaving any other friend out in the cold. ‘Nuf said on that topic. I followed your advice and built the house with the divider for wind protection. The initial sketches I made and used to build the house did not show it as a two story abode. This happened after the flooring, framing, and sides had been assembled. Maybe the fact that I’d sucked down a few beers prior to this point had an impact as well. J One look down through the top told me that li’l T-Bone probably wouldn’t feel to comfy in his pad because of the excess head-room. That’s when I opted to install the "Master Bedroom." I got some scrap carpeting by doing some dumpster-diving earlier that day. The window that you see is actually the plexi-glass lid to one of the nut and bolt organizers that never organize anything once you’ve used ‘em a few times. I merely cut off the hinges, drilled a bunch of holes around it’s border, added some foam insulating tape I had lying around, then mounted it. It sounds absurd, but T-Bone certainly enjoys it and that’s all that matters to me! The entire structure was built with 3/8" plywood. I caulked and siliconed all the joints and mating surfaces prior to painting. My neighbor saw me building the house and offered some old shingles that he had lying around. Of course, I took him up on his offer! J The shutters you see in the picture are made of scrap wood and I improvised a bit by accenting them with halves from clothes pins (make sure you ask the wife first!). I used the leftover 2" X 4" materials to elevate the house and to build T-Bone a nice little deck. The entire house was painted the Ugly Green you see because that was the only outdoor paint I had available in the basement. Remember, cost was a major factor in this endeavor and besides, T-Bone can’t see what color it is anyway! J The aluminum piece in the front was put there for no other reason than the fact I tripped over it in my work area and wanted it there. I figured it’d provided a sound surface for putting an umbrella over his deck when summer gets here. The "T" and the "bone" were also made out of scrap wood. I admit, that was more for my desires than his. Being our only dog, it isn’t like he needed help differentiating his house from any others but…I like it. About the only advice I would have for any reader would be to; 1) have fun building your dogs house, 2) keep the beer cold and mugs chilled, 3) go dumpter diving or ask around for free stuff before needlessly throwing down your hard earned cash at the local harware/lumber store, 4) keep in mind that it IS your dogs house and make it comfortable for him/her. Again, thanks again for giving me some basic fundamentals in project design and completion. T-Bone thanks you as well.
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