How to Install a Dog or Pet Door

10Comments

I have 2 dogs of different height and girth. I am installing my doggie door to suit my larger (plump) dog. For the life of me, and my Vet, We have tried to help him slim down, He is just a little (big) lazy bones. I have gone so far as to diet WITH him, to no effect. Though I am slim now, he is A Mr. Plumpster. Do you think it will effect him emotionally if I add a staircase to the doggie door. That way he could burn some calories just using it in the course of a day. I am figuring on 7 stairs, it seems about average. Would you agree? Thank you.

Deecon Chested

Apr 28, at 12:18pm

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I am planning to install a security dog door in a wall. I would like to know how I should get started and what concerns I should have and address. Unfortunately I have to place it on the street side of the house, and am concerned with the security/safety issues with it being seen from the street, any suggestions?

jay bank

Dec 6, at 5:47pm

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This install is in Southern California and doesn't reflect the installation needs in colder / wetter locals. The voids in the door should be filled with minimal expanding foam and sealed against water incursion, the caulk is just not enough. The sliding panel is not sealed against weather, insects and allows cool air to flow out in the summer. (Air that is cooled in the summer will sink to the floor and leak out. Another thing to consider is the fact that this hole in the door can give entry to thieves. The sides of the cut hole will allow a intruder to rip out the door without separating it from the hinges or lock. The fact that it is a small hole can inspire an intruder to use a child to slide through and unlock the door. If you insist in installing one of these, contact your insurance company to find out what kind they will approve otherwise, you may be left with a robbery that the insurance company will not cover.

Jim

Aug 3, at 6:52am

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Can I cut through and install a dog entrance through the door from my kitchen to the garage? Is that compromising the firewall safety in that area? My options are so limited, and the slider glass door is only 6 ft. So when we tried to use a doggy door for the slider, it made getting in and out to the back yard very difficult.

michelle

Aug 1, at 6:31pm

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I have installed a doggy door through a wall of our house twice and 3 times in our doggy daycare business. I started by cutting the opening through the interior and exterior walls using the template the doors came with. Be careful to make sure you go straight through. Then you have to get a little creative fashioning a box that is going to be recessed in the hole. (The inside dimensions of the box should be ¼ inch bigger than the hole you cut.) I attached the top and bottom member of the box to the adjacent studs, each recessed 1/8 inch from the top and bottom of the hole in the wall. I then attached the side members to the top and bottom, each recessed 1/8 inch from the sides of the hole in the wall. I then lined the inside of the box with FRP (see below). The FRP is 1/8 inch thick and that is why the box is recessed 1/8 inch. Next, being very liberal with the window and door caulk, I installed the doggy door. FRP is a plastic material that is used to cover walls in wet areas. It is also impervious to dog’s toe nails, and that is why is so good to line the “tunnel”. It comes in 4 x 8 sheets at Home Depot or Lowes and is usually found in the paneling area.

George Schlosser

Jul 31, at 2:56pm

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What do you do if the door to the backyard is french doors with intergrated blinds in the glass from floor to ceiling. Can you go through the wall. The wall next to the doors is sheet rock on the inside and brick on the outside.

Casey Cowin

Jul 31, at 8:14am

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Can a pet door be put into a storm door? It's the door on my deck that opens into the fenced dog area in my back yard.

Sandy

Jul 31, at 7:24am

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It would be nice if you would show how to install a pet door, with a tunnel. Like a pet door that goes from an inside wall to an enclosed patio through a wall. Also, the price of pet doors is fairly inexpensive, but ones with tunnels are very expensive, how would you suggest to make a tunnel?

Pamela Curry

Jul 31, at 5:09am

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i watch your show every weekend , its very helpful to my projects.i would like to know how to build an out door pond with a waterfall with everyday river rock.

fred

Jul 31, at 2:40am

10Comments

Great project for exterior doors. Everyone should be warned that this should not be installed in the door from the home to the garage. This becomes a breach in the firewall system and will void your homeowners fire insurance.

Stephen Stanczyk

Jul 31, at 1:19am

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How to Install a Dog or Pet Door