How to make a cat litter house

Step 1
Start by measuring the size of your cat litter tray and working out how big you want to make your house. Make the pieces out of 7mm thick untreated plywood. The two sides of my house are 43.5cm long and 40cm tall. The front and back are 33.5cm wide, 40cm tall at the sides and the peak is 48cm tall.

Step 2
Find a silhouette on-line of a cat’s face and print this out so that it is big enough for your cat to walk through. This is the ‘door’. Use scissors to cut this out, position it where you want (Fleur made sure the bottom was the same height as the top of the tray), stick it down with a bit of sellotape and trace around it with a pencil. Remove the printout and with a drill, drill a hole inside the pencil outline and then use a jigsaw to cut out the cat face. Use sandpaper to sand any rough edges smooth. Wipe off all sanding dust.

Step 3
Use some strong wood glue to glue the four sides of the house together. Fleur used some blocking wood in the corners for a stronger construction. You could also drill some screws into the blocking to make is extra strong. If you add blocking, make sure you position it high enough up from the bottom so that the house will still sit over the litter tray okay.

Step 4
While the glue is drying, start work on the roof. Fleur’s two roof panels are 49cm long by 20.5cm wide. Fleur used a 5cm hole saw attachment on my electric drill to make 10 ventilation holes. These holes will also help the cat feel safe and like they are not too enclosed. Make holes in both panels and sand any rough edges smooth. Wipe off all sanding dust.

Step 5
Prime the entire house and the two roof panels with Resene Quick Dry.

Step 6
Paint the roof panels in two coats of Resene Lustacryl tinted to Resene Napa, allowing for the first coat to dry before applying the second coat. Glue one of the panels in place. Fleur added more blocking to the roof and screwed into the blocking from the roof and also in from the sides. Use wood filler to patch over the screws. Once dry, sand these flat and prime with a bit of Resene Quick Dry.

Step 7
Complete the painting by painting the inside with Resene Tea, the front with Resene Casper, and the remaining two sides and the back with Resene Napa. Finish by screwing some hinges to the roof panels so that one panel opens, fill your cat litter tray with cat litter and then place the house over the top of the tray.

Top tip
If you’re using lighter colours, use Resene Lustacryl Kitchen & Bathroom for extra defence against mould.