Pet door for my house

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wems2371
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Pet door for my house

Post by wems2371 » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:31 am

We are fencing off a section of our yard for our 3 dogs and are thinking of installing a pet door for them to come and go freely in and out of the house. This would be easy enough with an exterior door, but that doesn't work with our berm home, the landscaping, or the way the deck and doors are set up. So we're going to put the pet door in a studwall. We built the house ourselves, so we do have the skillset to frame out the opening, but if anyone has any tips or suggestions--they would be appreciated. I also haven't a clue what the best going door out there is, so if you have a door that you've been happy with, I'd appreciate the make/model of it. Some R-factor efficiency would be nice, but I realize that that's improbable with a pet door.

In letting them out myself, I've had dried worms and owl pellets brought in after potty time. I can't wait to see what they bring in, when they can come and go freely. :o :roll: :lol:

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Ayres
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Re: Pet door for my house

Post by Ayres » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:38 am

I really like the heavy-duty doors from Gun Dog House Door Company. You can get a guillotine enclosure door for them to shut everything in/out at night.

When my builders framed in the doors to my kennels, they used a color-matched coil stock to make everything look nice and neat. You can see them from this link: Justus Kennels Facebook Photo Page
(I hope that link works, since it's to a Facebook photo page.)

I've since been able to cut square pieces of hard foam insulation and tucked them inside some old pillowcases. Then I sealed the pillowcases. Now I'm able to stuff those insulation blocks into the openings between the guillotine enclosures and the doors for added insulation during the winter (for the doors that aren't being used).
- Steven

Justus Kennels.com

Justus James Ayres SH CGC - Justus - Rest in Peace, buddy.
Wind River's JK Clara Belle - Belle
Wind River's JK Black Tie Affair - Tux

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Karen
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Re: Pet door for my house

Post by Karen » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:39 am

You definitely get what you pay for with dog doors. I did the "PetSafe" doors for years, to come home and find the hard plastic flap cracked or in peices on the floor. They weren't cheap doors, but they weren't any good. Now I have one of these:

http://www.moorepet-petdoors.com/SmartP ... -s/302.htm

I'd HIGHLY recommend it. The gasket around the door makes it more weather-tight than I thought possible. I've had it for about 18 months now, and am going to take it with me when we sell the house next year. It was pricy, but worth every penny. They also make it with a plexiglass window if you have multiple dogs coming and going at the same time. I have 3-5 dogs at home at any given time, and they all seem to come and go at the same time and they go through slowly now.

Make sure you put the door high enough. That was my one big mistake. My first Brittany grew bigger than he was suppose to (darned early neutering!), and it's a little low for him.
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