Home Improvement Today?

I've been looking at package boxes, mostly to keep my packages out of the rain. Not really liking what I'm seeing so I had an idea, an outdoor dog house as a package box like this

$104 Trixie Natura Classic Dog House – Small Outdoor Dog House with Weatherproof Sealer & Hinged Roof, Wooden Dog House with Adjustable Legs for Small Dogs in Grey – 23.75 x 33.5 x 23 in

https://www.amazon.com/TRIXIE-Classic-Outdoor-Weatherproof-Elevated/dp/B07S2BQHM5?th=1
block the door with the vinyl flap and something black behind it hand have item placed in from the top

 

I'm getting my house ready to rent out. One thing I need to do is seal up a cat flap in the door that goes from the kitchen to the garage.

What is the best way to cover up a square hole in a solid-core door? I'm thinking uninstall the cat flap to reveal a square hole, buy the same thickness of wood, cut to fit, attach it with a bracket on the garage side, it'll look ugly but who cares, and caulk and paint on the kitchen side so it hides well.

I would love your suggestions. Move day is in a week and this one was way down the punch list.

 

usually cat door frames accept a solid panel that slides in from the top

 

I don't think this is the same kind. This is what mine looks like, installed in a solid-core door:

 

Are you trying to fill / patch the hole to make it look like it was never there or just cover the hole ?

 

Ideally make it look like it was never there on both sides. I'd settle for just the kitchen being covered up and the evidence being on the garage side.

 

What is door thickness ? 1 3/8 or 1 3/4 ?

 

Id get new door.

 

what about a piece cut to fit, then held with Kreg jig/screws? Temp braces on opposite side your screwing so it doesn't protrude. Caulk and paint, or wood filler.

 

How about a kick plate? How big is the hole?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-10-in-x-34-in-Stainless-Steel-Kick-Plate-14320/204988102

They make them taller than 10" as well.

Edit.... could use a piece of flat sheet steel or alum. from HD, lowrs, etc... if it need to be bigger and the larger kick plates get too pricy.

 

Did some work to the kitchen today. Preparing to paint everything and I wanted to take out a bank of cabinets. What I thought would be simple and able to salvage all the wood, yea no. It was integrated more than I thought.





Had to use my handy oscillating tool to cut some of the stuff out of the way. I need to fill in a spot, so I bought a piece of 1/4 plywood to fill in this area.



The tan stuff you see is wood filler. Whoever built these cabinets used 2" and 2 1/2" finish nails and was a bear to remove. So, plenty of nail holes to fill in.

For reference, this is what it looked like before (realty listing).

 

this is likely the best way to go

 

Get a can of Bondo wood filler. Patch the hole with as piece of wood that is about 1/4" thinner then the door. Use construction adhesive to glue the filler to the door then shoot a few pin nails into it to hold until glue cures. Bondo the now almost filled hole. Sand, prime, paint.

This is my mudroom door in my house. For some reason the previous owner also had a dead bolt installed. When I remodeled my kitchen I took the time to get rid of that stupid dead bolt. All done with bondo wood filler.

 

problem i see with this is that the likelyhood of delivery people using it is near-zero.

 

yes, that seems to be the rub

 

Get one of these bad boys and print out (and laminate) something with UPS/FedEx/postal service/Amazon's logos on it that says PLACE PACKAGES HERE.
Seal the deal, hang an unlocked padlock on the outside so once they place the package inside, they can lock it up until you get home.

Or put the sign on the doghouse, up to you.

 

I agree wholeheartedly but it's not in the time budget or the budget budget haha

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

then patch and bondo as suggested above

 

So, I'm not the carpenter @Sig45 is, but I think this turned out pretty good.

Cutting the plywood was the biggest PITA. I thought everything would be square, but noo.



So, I needed to trim around it. I had some actual 1" x 6" that I ripped down on the table saw to 3/4" wide by 1/2" thick. The scrap that came off of that was the perfect thickness for the pieces against the wall and cabinet. Used my 18ga nailer for all of it. Those little 1" buggers were expensive! Also don't know if it made a difference, but I put up the pieces with wood glue as well. Future me will probably be cussing me







Now the real work begins. Need to order some new 3/8 offset hinges and knobs first.

 

After working on my own house, I realized nothing is ever square in a house.

And that caulk and spackle can hide almost anything!