Mitre 10 Mega: Dog House
YOUR GUIDE TO MAKING A MASSIVE CHEESY DOG HOUSE:
Alright your dog is going to love you even more for this! So organize a weekend that you
and your family can get together and knock this awesome dog house up. I reckon you
could make the whole thing in a day if you work together!
MATERIALS:
Because we’re making the real deal here, use ‘treated wood’ that basically means that the
wood has been covered in chemicals that make it last way longer outside so you don’t
have to worry about it rotting
-
Plywood at least 9mm thick (treated)
50mm x 100mm timber (treated)
Lots of galvanized nails
Lots of stainless steel screws
Paint
Metal roof lining (to stop rain getting through the top)
Optional:
- hinges
- bolts for hinges (I got away with using screws for my hinges)
WOOD CUTTING LENGTHS/ SIZING:
Now when I actually started putting this beast together I quickly realized that I was
building one MASSIVE piece of cheese (dog house). But there was no turning back! So
think about your dog’s size and where you’re going to put the dog house and make it suit
those requirements.
If you happen to own a ‘Burnese Mountain Dog’ then you may as well use the same
measurements as me, otherwise it won’t take you long to down size all measurement- this
will save a fair bit of money when it comes to buying your wood too
So here are the measurements I used:
Plywood measurements:
Roof
- 2 x’s 1.8m by 1.1m
End walls
- 2 x’s 1.2m by 1m
Side walls
- 2 x’s 1.8m by 1m
Base
- 1x’s 1.8m by 1.2m
Roof support triangles
- 3 x’s 1.2m along the base by 50cm high
Here’s the measurements I used for the pine wood (the stuff that’s 50mm by 100mm
thick)
For the base:
- 3x’s 1.2m long
- 3x’s 1.8m long
For the framing:
- 4x’s 95cm long
- 1x’s 1m long
- 2x’s 1.8m long
For the roof:
- 1x’s 1m long
- 1x’s 1.8m long
- 4x’s A few random off cuts about 40-50cm long (these will be used for joining 2
of the roof triangle plywood to the end walls plywood)
TOOLS:
- a saw (preferably an electric circular saw for cutting wood)
- jig saw
- drill for drilling in screws
- hammer
- a right angle (to check that’s its square)
- pencil
- ruler/ tape measure
- paint brush
DESIGN:
So this dog house is a very common looking one but you can totally let your imagination
take over and make small but effective changes to set its look apart. I decided that
because Teddy loves cheese, I’d make it a cheese theme and it worked fantastically! For
that I just had to make a few ‘bit mark’ cuts in it and draw on some holes (like on holy
cheese)
STEPS:
Its all go from here!...
Step 1)
First up, “let that base drop” if you have a stereo around because we’re starting with the
base!
Step 2)
So grab your 3 pieces of pine wood that are 1.8m long and your 3 pieces of pine wood
that are 1.2m long and lay them down on a flat surface so that they are as arranged in the
photo. Here you’ll need to shorten the lengths of your wood here and there so that it fits
the dimension of being 1.8m long and 1.5m wide because the thickness of the wood will
make it slightly too big! Nail and screw that together and you’ve completed the frame
work for the base!
Step 3)
Grab your base sheet of ply and screw that to the base framing
Step 4)
Its time to get started on the framing for the walls already! So grab the 4 pieces of pine
wood that are 95cm long and screw them into each of the 4 corners of the base like in the
picture- then grab your 2 pieces of 1.8 long pine wood and screw those on top like so
Step 5)
Have a lunch break and admire what you’ve done so far but then after that- add on your
1m long Framing piece on pine wood in the middle of the frame going from one side to
the next (you’ll see what I mean when you look at the next few photos)
Step 6)
I’m assuming your dog doesn’t have teleporting abilities so where going to need to make
an entrance your dog can walk through. Grab one of your end walls and mark/ cut out an
archway your dog can fit through
Step 7)
Screw the entrance onto the front of your framing
Step 8)
Screw on the other end wall…
Step 9)
And the side walls…
Step 10)
Now get two of your triangle roofing pieces and your four pieces of scrap wood and use 2
bits of scrap wood on each triangle to attach them to the End Walls.
Step 11)
On with the show…the next bit is to get your 1m long pine wood for the roof framing and
screw that along the other 1m long piece that’s already attached to the framing.
Then screw your last triangle piece to that roof framing- note at the top of that triangle
you’ll need to cut out a rectangle large enough so that the roofs beam can fit through it
Step 12)
Attach your 1.8m long roofing beam at the top of the triangles- so slot it into the middle
triangle and screw it to the end triangles. Then start screwing on the roofing ply!!!
Step 13)
We’re almost there! Now you can screw on the metal roof lining- this piece of metal will
make sure no rain gets through, if you want you can use some plastic or whatever your
imagination comes up with to replace the metal.
Step 14)
Now I don’t have a picture but now would be a good time to put hinges on the back wall.
First attach the hinges to the corner you like. Then unscrew the back wall from the rest of
the dog house and it will swing back and forth on the hinge- you could add a laock to
keep it shut!
Step 15)
Do a coat of primer paint- this will make your colored layers of paint ‘pop’ more.
Step 16)
And now you can paint it however you like with your design in mind- I went for a giant
cheese so I painted it yellow!
Step 17)
Add those details! I cut out a bit mark to make it look like a ‘Giant’ tried to feast on this
cheese.
Step 18)
Show it off to ya dog, have a BBQ with your family and celebrate a great family activity!
Well done!
This is the
best Cheese
ever!!!!