Advice on building a kennel - all ideas welcome.

easyeason3

My dogs kennel is starting to look shabby so we're building him a new one. Given the winters we have been having the last few years I want this to be ultra cosy for when he's out during the day.

At the moment I want to buy thick insulation (approx three inches thick), the kind that is used in houses. Each side of the insulation will have timber on it. So there will be insulation under the floor of the house, insulation in each wall & the roof. I'll be putting a hard plastic flap on the door as he tends to eat the soft plastic ones :rolleyes:

Can anyone suggest anything else I could do?
What is the best kind of timber to use for heat, durability etc?

Chris_Heilong

Build it like an igloo, small entrance with a shaft so there wont be much heat escaping and a large interior with a removable top so If you need to get to the dog you can and it would be handy for changing bedding or cleaning.

easyeason3

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Build it like an igloo, small entrance with a shaft so there wont be much heat escaping and a large interior with a removable top so If you need to get to the dog you can and it would be handy for changing bedding or cleaning.

I don't think that would be possible. How would I shape the timber in an igloo shape?
I was thinking of putting a porch on the front of it. Make it like a two room kennel. So he would have to go through the first dog flap to get into the first 'room' where his water & food would be & then there would be a second dog flap to go through to get to the second 'room' where his bed would be. I think that would be fairly cosy.
I'd be making the porch large enough to stand in & hold his food/ water but not large enough to lie down.

Any ideas on material to use?

Cherry Blossom

No idea on materials but a few other suggestions!

The higher it is from the ground the warmer it will be, so id raise it a foot off ground level, your talking about a separate room, id raise that another foot, like a sort of sleeping platform, id have the entrance to that near the back away from the front entrance. Sacks (or pillow cases) filled with hay make the warmest bedding and stay reasonably clean/dry, you won't need those for a while though as its August Save up all your old duvets as well. If you are insulating, I'd imagine you would need to do the roof as well. If you have a garden shed you can incorporate it into you won't have to worry to much about weatherproofing and its an extra layer of protection.

Chris_Heilong

I think you kinda know what I meant, a long porch will help stop heat from escaping and you would not have to shape it like an igloo, but if it is narrower at the top than the bottom then that helps too. If you are building a 2 room kennel then that would also help with keeping in the heat.

mymo

A friend of mine took a garden shed and insulated like you're thinking, they then built a box for a bed and raised it about 2ft (with a step added), the box has a roof too, and a large opening with a divider the dog has to go around (hard to explain hope you get what I mean). The roof of the bed lifts off the bed area, to make it easy to clean, and you can stand up in the shed, nice and dry to do it. The shed door has a flap in it.
The dog seems pretty cosy in it, even through the snow (this rescue dog will shake and wet himself if taken in a house or even the garage, so couldn't be brought inside). My friend cut up and stitched some old quilts into a size they can be put in the washing machine, for bedding, and takes the roof of the bed area in summer.

boatbuilder

I built one of these for my dog and its amazing in any kind of weather. Its has an insulated floor, walls and ceiling. I used 25mm rigid insulation. Then I used roofing felt (the heavy tar-based stuff with little pebbles in it) for waterproffing the roof. I hinged the roof with two big interior door hinges. You can use an interior partition with a smaller hole in it to create an even cosier room inside.
http://www.doghouseplans.com/

ppink

we built several kennels but 2 in particular are very heavy duty insulated kennels. this past winter though there was no way we could leave our dogs out even in them, it was just too cold. ours are not ina garden shed so i think if you could do that it would be better.
Also if it is for daytime not sure about your dog but ours will never go "into" a back part of a kennel in the day where they cannot see what is going on. they will usually sit at the entrance watching everything from there.