installing small cat flap through interior wall

12 years ago

We are putting a second floor on our house (all new construction) and would like to have a "cat tunnel" through the bedroom wall to the laundry room, where her litter box will be.

All the cat doors I can find online are designed to be installed through a door, and are not deep enough for a wall. There are a couple of larger doors (meant for small dogs and/or cats) that can be installed with an additional "wall extension" kit, but we really don't want something that big. Also, they're meant for exterior use and have a lot of weatherproofing that we don't need.

I'm wondering if the contractor can build a tunnel through the wall and install a cat flap just on one side -- do you think that would be possible? Any better solution that you can think of? I haven't talked to him about it yet because I have no idea how reasonable that is and didn't want to sound like an idiot.

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Comments (9)

zyllah
12 years ago
I want to do something like that too.
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dekeoboe
12 years ago
Cat Mate has an extension kit that works with their cat flaps. I found a number of other companies also offer this option. Try searching using the word tunnel.

I'm not sure why you need a flap. If you decide you don't need the flap, here is an article about an interior cat hole http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/tips-building-a-cat-tunnel-in-62280
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Buehl, when I said, "Anybody? Bueller?" that was actually a play on a line in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I wasn't calling for you, but any help by ANYBODY at this point would be appreciated. P.S. That lead you sent me was a dead end. sandca, I take it you changed your mind about opening up that opening, no? Even your original quote is quite costly for me--that's 10% of the assessed value of houses around here! No wonder nobody does that thing in this area. Of course, if people live out west or down south in 200K-300K homes & made their fortune, perhaps they should head back East where they can live like kings on $4.99 prime rib roasts and $2.69 NY strip steaks and practically buy blocks & neighborhoods! What Tom's engineer/drawings costed, I could have bought half my new cabinets! I think I'll look in the basement tomorrow and see exactly where those support posts line up. Maybe someone can then explain the relationship of the location better; in effect, I'm trying to open up a 5ft wall that when done still will be supported at the ends of the 5ft span but no longer on three studs between the end points. Those 3 studs only span 32'', yet without cutting another stud on each side, a 46'' opening should still fit between everything without cutting more than 3 studs--enough for 2 people to sit at. Enlarging the door opening I'd probably just need to go to the next stud on the right, which should be another 12''. I just figured if I'm going through all this, then it may just be easier installing one laminated beam from the left corner of the wall to the stud at 32'' from the right corner. Total width from the left corner to the 2nd last stud would be ~8.5ft.
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Hey Linnea56, I think they would as they use covered litterboxes right now, so wouldn't it be almost the same thing. Also with all the litterbox furniture for sale - I'd assume it's totally dark in there too. Well with all the ideas that everyone has been throwing around. I really like the garage idea but can't do it because the door to the garage has no clearance on either wall beside the door - very narrow. Only the half bath and the laundry room really share a wall with the garage. So the garage is out. However, I did like the idea of putting a cat door in the drywall leading to the pantry and then I can put a bench or something there to make it not so obvious. I am really considering this even over the trunks. The trunks are so beautiful. I'd hate to mess them up - plus I'd have to put them upstairs in a spare bedroom
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Mom23Es
12 years ago
Have your cats used flaps before? We have two cat doors in our current house, and neither of our cats would go through the flaps. We had to take off the flaps. Our cats were about 9 and 6 years old when we installed the cat doors. Maybe you can't teach an old cat new tricks? ;-)
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minperkins
Original Author
12 years ago
dekeoboe: My husband wants a flap. I was originally assuming it would just be a tunnel, but he's worried about "acoustic privacy" (even though it just leads to the laundry room). Thanks for the link and the search hint!

Mom23Es: No, our cat has never used a flap, and she's 10. I read a lot of reviews of various cat doors and nearly everyone said their cats got the hang of it pretty quickly, but all cats are different! Ours is pretty spritely and not easily fazed (phased?) -- when we moved into our rental for the renovation, she barely missed a beat.

I'll investigate the "no flap" option -- maybe I can convince hubby.
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brickeyee
12 years ago
Box in the opening with 2x lumber between the drywall layers on each wall and install the flap on one side.

2x is easier to hit with the drywall screws to fasten it in place.

It does not need to be attached to the framing.
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auroraborelis
12 years ago
What about this:

[Contemporary Bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103)
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wagnerpe
12 years ago
I think the problem will be that unless you built it yourself, you are going to end up with overkill. Every "through the wall" cat flap I found is secured via microchip or otherwise to prevent unwanted critters from coming in the house. On the website I've added, the through the wall flaps are $100+, but the interior door cut out is about $30.

Here is a link that might be useful: All kinds of cat flaps/doors
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minperkins
Original Author
12 years ago
We decided to just have the contractor box out a tunnel and finish it off simply (probably not as beautifully as in the photo Laura12 posted). I looked up a bunch of different flaps online and took sort of the average of the rough cut dimensions, and told him to build it 6.5w by 7.5h. That should be big enough for the cat to get through, and small enough that if we decide to add a flap in the future, there will be something to attach it to.

Knowing our track record, it's quite likely that once the house is finished, we will never get around to installing the flap, which would be fine with me!
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Ann Shaffer
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I had to teach my ten year old cat to go through the cat flap. I pushed her head gently through the flap and encouraged her to follow through. I did that from both sides quite a few times. It took a while, but she eventually got the idea and then started using the flap on her own. They say to use treats to reward them when they go through (at your insistence) but my cat does not like treats. I got frustrated, but after I did it a bunch of times over several weeks, I gave up. Then she started using it on her own. Just like a cat! Had to be her idea. Now she loves it.
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installing small cat flap through interior wall

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zyllah

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installing small cat flap through interior wall

Comments (9)

zyllah

dekeoboe

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Mom23Es

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brickeyee

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minperkins
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