Pigeon Point Project A 1907 Craftsman, rebuilt · 2005–2009

Vacation TODO: Day 6

November 23, 2006 · Nick · 1st Floor Renovation , Vacation

Scratch another item off the list! Today I slept in until a leisurely 7:30. Over coffee I decided I needed to accomplish at least one full list item, and the lowest hanging fruit was #17: Cat door platform. Allow me to explain.

When we got our cats a few years ago we decided that they would primarly be outdoor cats. But we wanted to allow them to come in the house to eat and hang out with us - on our terms. To accomodate this we bought a cat door that allows only our cats to enter, and only when we say they can enter. The cats wear a magnet on their collar and this magnet allows the door to open if we have it unlocked. We can set the door to open out, open in, open both ways, or not open at all. We installed this in our back door at the time, and we lived with it for about a year. Except that Lizzie Mae sometimes lost her collar, it worked great.

We weren’t about to cut a hole in the new back door, so when that was installed the cat door went. But we had a plan for the future: in the new kitchen pantry we would install the cat door permanently in the side of the house. This would work out great because the pantry can be shut off from the rest of upstairs, such that the cats could come in and eat, and also go to the basement if they so desired. When we framed in the pantry, we framed in the cat door. My dad installed it for us two visits ago.

But the cat door has continued to be non-operational. The primary reason is that outside the catdoor is a 2 foot dropoff to the ground. I guess we could have set it so the cats could leave - they’d easily jump the 2 feet, but getting in would have been imposible.

This brings us to #17 on the list “cat door platform”. The platform would essentially be a deck outside the cat door, with a ramp down to the ground. This would allow the cats to come and go as they please without having to do any acrobatic maneuvers.

It is raining today in Seattle, and it is WET. WET. And MUDDY. Especially on the side of our house where the cat door protrudes. I walked back there with my coffee around 10am and took stock of the situation. My first inclination was to build a ramp about 6 feet long down to the ground. One problem with this is it would have intersected the 3” conduit that brings power into the house. The conduit runs horizontally along the bulding just below the cat door, and the ramp would have to have a cut-out to accomodate it. I went back to my shop and found a plank and made the cutout. Holding it in place, however, I felt this was not a worthy cat ramp. It was ugly, narrow, and I really didn’t have any great ideas of how to fasten it to the house. Time for plan #2.

Plan #2 is essentially the Cadillac of cat door platforms. I decided to build a long horizontal “cat walk” from the cat door down the length of the house towards the back yard. It’s a foot wide, 12’ long, is covered with rubberized carpet, and has a railing. Our cats could have a cat-bbq out there (and they might).

I started by lag-bolting a 12 foot 2x4 onto the house. On this I set an L-shaped length of metal flashing to keep water away from the house. Then I screwed down 4’ sections of 1/2” plywood, each a foot wide, and covered them with tar paper and rubber “carpet” (really left over rubberized underlayment from our bamboo floor). Then I cut some dowels into stiles for the railing, which was a length of left-over pressure treated lumber. Here’s the result:

And, here’s the view from the inside. Pretty inviting, I think.

I’m done for the day. Now that I’ve worked up my appetite, I’m ready for Turkey!

  1. Kitchen cabinet doors. 11 total. 4 important ones for the base cabinets.
  2. Kitchen cabinet drawers. 7 total.
  3. Upper cabinet crown.
  4. Kitchen nook seating and table.
  5. Kitchen island trim and panels.
  6. Kitchen under-cabinet lighting.
  7. 3 interior doors: sand, varnish, install with hardware. (Important baby-proofing item…)
  8. Paint kitchen ceiling and walls (already primed).
  9. Paint foyer ceiling and walls.
  10. Electrical panel - re-order the breakers and document them all.
  11. Strip and sand baseboard for the living / dining room. Determine if it can be re-varnished.
  12. Cable TV to the kitchen. Forgot this when we had the walls open (DOH!)
  13. Window sill for kitchen nook. Started this but is incomplete.
  14. Exterior lights by the back doors.
  15. Dining room chandelier (choose, purchase, install).
  16. Dining room speakers (purchase, install - I prewired for them before we drywalled…)
  17. Cat door platform (ask Trissa…)
  18. Clean the upstairs hall closet - it’s a MESS!