Build a Doghouse With Palletwood

First things first. Sorry for my bad English. I live in Germany but will try my best.

This is also my first instructable.

My wife had a month ago the idea of having a place for our dogs on the terrace when we are sitting outside.
To start we checked the local ads, lucky us we got one guy who offered 15 pallets for free.

Supplies

- Surprisingly pallets
- Screws, like a lot
- chop saw
- handsaw
- propane burner
- brass brush
- some clear wood protection oil
- paintroller

Step 1: Get the Pallets and Material

Simple as that. Drove to the guy, got everything on the trailer and unload at home in the driveway.
Then choose one pallet which looks fine enough as foundation. The rest is just taking pallets apart and nails removing. Annoying as hell.

After that, I took the chosen pallet and the useful pieces, the rest ist for the fireplace.

Step 2: Foundation

I took the plungesaw and to trim the sides, because I wanted to avoid overhanging sides.
The I started to use some of the wood to fill the gaps. Again I used the plungesaw to cut the pieces.
This was tedious work, because the gaps had often different sizes.

Step 3: Burn Part One

For the used Look I took the propane burner. The I used the brass brush to removed the burned stuff. It's more fun then simple sanding.

Step 4:

Now I started with the use of some wooden bars and the salvaged pallet wood to build the house.
It's a very simple way, but I'm no carpenter. Kind of worked.

Step 5: Roofing

Nearly the same as before, took the salvaged wood with screws on it, then I used the plungesaw to trim the front side.

Step 6: Burn Part Two

Forgot to make a picture of this part. Again the propan burner to make the look matching. On the outside of the walls, the roof and where the slats are visible.

Step 7: Protection

Just applied the wood oil with a roller and that's it. I made just one layer and needed about half of it. Container size 750ml.

Step 8: Testing

After some drying we let the dogs in for the testing.

The qualified auditors find it more as acceptable. 👍👍👍

Comments

[sgtslag]

Your Shih-Tzu/Lhasa Apso puppy is very similar in appearance to our 35-pound Shih-Tzu puppy. Our puppy passed a year ago. He was 17. Thanks for including your puppies in the photos -- they bring back a lot of wonderful memories. Cheers!

[LuminousFlux]

Thanks for sharing memories. Actually she is not a puppy any more, she is a 5 year's old havanese and we hope she gets also the proud age of 17 ;-)

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Looks perfect for your pups!

[LuminousFlux]

Thank you 😊

[paulbsa]

It's a nice design, but I would hesitate using found pallets for a dog house. Most dogs, at least mine, will chew, and there are chemicals in pallet wood that are not safe to be consumed. Even if they aren't a chewer, chemicals from the wood will continue to off gas, and a dog that is surrounded by them inside the house could be effected. These chemicals could come from the pallet manufacturing process, like Methyl Bromide, or could be unknown chemicals which have been spilled onto it sometime during its life. I'd invest in new or at least used, non-treated, lumber for a dog house. Here's a link to a good Instructable that details some of these concerns. https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-determine-if-a-wood-pallet-is-safe-for-use/

[LuminousFlux]

So thank you for your information. The pallets had all the HT (heat treatment) and were just used for shipment of nonchemical goods. So there is low risk and they are trained not to chew on stuff like that 😉

[seamster]

Very nicely done! : )

[LuminousFlux]

Thx 😅