Project: Dog Mansion

Rainy season has arrived and our Biscuit is rapidly outgrowing the 18 gallon tote that she was using as a dog house.  She really needed a place to hole up in during the heavy storms we get here, so I decided it was time she had a proper doghouse.

After doing some research on native woods that I knew were available, I decided that I wanted to use Almendrillo, an impermeable hardwood.  It is more commonly known as Cumaru and is a major source of the anti-coagulant warfarin.  I went to the sawmill down the road, but they only cut it into 2" thicknesses for beams and such.  The owner told me about another mill that might have it and, sure enough, there was a stack of 1x6 and 1x8 in their pile of rejects.  The best part was that the owner sold them to me at about a 25% discount, since he wasn't selling them anyway!

That's partly why I refer to it as the Dog Mansion:  it's made from tropical hardwood!

The other reason I call it that is the size of the thing.  I want this house to last a long time, so I did a lot of research and drawing to figure out how large to make it.  That's hard to do when your dog is just a pup!  I basically ended up making it the recommended size based on the average female adult Rottweiler.

The reason I wanted impermeable wood is that I wanted to leave it natural, without paint or finish.  Of course, it's just rough-sawn so I needed to at least do something with the floor.  It was a perfect reason to use my planer (which I've had for over a year!) for the first time:

Once the floor boards were nice and flat and all the same thickness, I set about screwing them down to the skids:

The hardest (no pun intended) thing about working with hardwood is fastening pieces together without breaking screws.  I learned a trick in my remodeling days that helps a ton.  Obviously, the most important thing is to pre-drill the holes, preferably with a countersink.  Then, put a little wax on the screw:

The wax lubricates the wood and screw, which reduces binding and heat.  This results in fewer breakages.  During the whole project, I broke two drill bits (production drilling without enough breaks for cooling), but I didn't break any screws!

In Montana, I used beeswax due to its softness at room temperature, but here all I have is leftover candle wax.  I began by turning each screw into the ball of wax and then pulling it straight out, to load the threads.  The problem was that the wax ball would break unless it was warm in the sun.  Then, one night I got smart, lit a candle, and dipped about 20 screws in the hot wax.  Then I had a nice stock of pre-waxed screws at hand the next day!

I started putting walls up, and of course the inspectors arrived to check out my work:

I thought Lydia was going to figure out the roof layout for me:

If you thought it was a lot taller than it really needs to be, you're right.  I intentionally built it with an attic for the kitties.  They, too, need someplace dry to go in the rain, and I wanted a place to put their food where Biscuit wouldn't pester them while they ate.

Cat deck and front gable done:

I put in the beam to support the center rafters and the gable fascia.  My original plan was to put a post under it on either end (built into the truss), but it's so solid I decided to leave it open.

Fascia and cross pieces set, and it's ready for the roof:

I finished it last night and my dad (here visiting for a few months with my mom) helped me set it in place, right outside the kitchen door.  Anne took this picture for me:

 Lydia threw up all over herself around 2am, so after helping Kaylee take care of the mess, I checked to see if Biscuit was using her house.  It had obviously rained earlier (it did later, too), and she was cozy and snug!

This afternoon we kicked the cats back outside (they got neutered and spayed on Wednesday).  They immediately settled into their penthouse:

I wasn't sure how Biscuit would feel about cats in her attic, but I suppose it's better than bats in the belfry: