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Pet Barricade

Pet Barricade
My cat, Willie, is 17 years old. This is not “Dog/cat years” it is actual years.

I've had him for about 2 years now. He’s a good cat most of the time, but tends to be rather stubborn. His preferred place in the world seems to be in the garage, where he spends most of his time. Unfortunately, he can’t see outside while in the garage and doesn’t get much fresh air when it is nice weather outside. There is a window in the “person door” going out of the back the garage, but I hesitate to stack up some plastic containers so he can see outside. If Willie jumps down off a surface of a couple of feet, he tends to injure one of his front paws when he lands. A limping cat is rather pathetic. So, I made a “cat barricade” that fits under the garage door to allow him to see out from ground level and let in some breeze.


 
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Step 1The Frame

The Frame
The barricade can be easily installed and removed from the door. The barricade slides into the track of the garage door.

The frame for the barricade was made out of 2x2's and plywood. Window screen and wire shelving units keep out most flying bugs and any stray dogs. The first step was to cut out the plywood for the frame. When setting the height of the barricade, I wanted to be able to insert bolts in the garage track to keep the garage door from being opened from the outside when the barricade is installed. For me, the two plywood pieces on each side were 13.5" tall by 18" wide.

When setting the width of the plywood, I wanted to have a center support for the barricade using a short length of 2x2 and to use two, 12 inch by 36-inch wire shelves from the hardware store.

The plywood was attached to 2x2’s using 1.5-inch wood screws. (Two on the end of each 2x2)

The center support for the frame (shown in Figure 9) was attached by using 3-inch wood screws. (Two screws on each end) The holes were predrilled so I didn’t split the wood.

Once the frame was assembled, the barricade was painted white to match the garage door.

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6 comments
Aug 29, 2011. 4:16 AMCJSudduth says:
My husband used this idea to allow our garage to stay a little cooler in the summertime. It does get quite hot here in Texas ... Thank you for the idea ..
Apr 26, 2011. 10:41 PMkaterlyn says:
Maybe a flap on the outside that has a magnet strip that would stick to the garage door, I can't remember if a garage door would hold a magnet?
Apr 26, 2011. 10:40 PMkaterlyn says:
I"m sure the window screen cuts down on the insects. Perhaps you can rig some more screening at the top?
Apr 9, 2011. 1:34 PMrimar2000 says:
He is a beautiful cat, deserves your care!

Good work.

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Author:matt6ft9