Building a Dog House

A dog should be treated like what it is, man’s bestfriend. This means making their life as comfortable as possible. One way to do this is to build them a nice and comfortable dog house. I will give you instructions below and some tips if you want to build a doghouse for your most beloved pet.

Before building your doghouse, you need to ask these important questions first:

1. How big is my dog?
2. Where do I want to place my doghouse?
3. What is the climate in my place?
4. What is my purpose in building a doghouse?
5. How much money am I willing to spend in this project?

These questions should be asked first before building your dog’s shelter as these will determine several factors including size, location, shape and materials that will be used in the project.

Steps:

1. The first thing to do is to build the base. For this, you will need 2x4-inch planks to build a square base frame in the size you want your doghouse to be. You may want to use pressure-treated wood for your base as this may prevent water leaks. But be careful though, as this kind of wood is toxic to your pet when they come in contact with them. If you do decide to use pressure-treated boards, you may paint it or cover with plywood so your dog may not chew on it.
2. Next, build the walls. Using 2x4 boards, build a frame for your side and back walls. Do not forget to construct center studs to make it more stable. To make the roof strut more secure, place the center stud of the rear wall about 2-3 inches off center.
3. As to the front side, do not build a center stud in order for you to build a large enough entrance. Use about a half-inch thick plywood for your walls. Nail it to the frame from the outside, ensuring that all the edges are exactly aligned. You can choose to cover the whole front side with the plywood first then cutting out the entrance with a jigsaw or sawing the entrance hole first before attaching it to the frame. Personally, I like the latter method.
4. Before building the roof, you should decide first how high your roof must be and also its angle. Using the same 2x4 boards, you can now make the rafters and roof struts. Remember to put the struts at the center of the rear and front wall frames. Nail it in. To make the struts more stable, toenail it.
5. The next step is making the overboard. The length of it should be determined by how long your roof overhang should be. Nail it at the center of the roof struts.
6. Next is making the rafters. You should make 6 rafters in all to have three at each side. The ends of these miters should be angled depending on your roof pitch. Nail it in place. You are now ready for your roof.
7. For your roof, you can use a half-inch thick plywood and then cut to size. Then, fill the open triangular space found at the front and back with the same plywood.
8. Shingle the roof. You have now created your doghouse. You can then choose to customize it.