You might have better luck cutting it yourself with the jigsaw or take it to a professional woodworker. The store’s blades have large teeth to handle thick pieces of wood and may not be able to be that precise down to the quarter inch. You could get the wood cut at the same hardware store where you buy it, but keep in mind their equipment is not always accurate. Notice how I still leave several gaps open – although we do want to contain the odor, we do not want to seal it completely off from oxygen, as it will make the smell far worse when having to go in to scoop the litter.Ĭut several pieces to the full width of the back of the desk, covering as much as the back as you want (I used several pieces of scrap wood I found in my garage). If your desk has very little backing or no backing at all, you may want cut extra wood to cover it in order to further contain the odor. If your drawer does not have a thick enough height to it, you may want to hot glue the wood to the drawer rather than drill screws into it. The height of the back piece should be 1-2” tall.This will be the height of the front piece (The gap will allow your fingers to reach in to open and close the drawer). Measure from the bottom of the drawer to the start of the top wooden frame, subtract 1”. Measure the width of the desk, subtract ½”.If your desk has a drawer like mine, you’ll want a to cut a front and back for it (the back piece will prevent things from falling backwards into the litter). This will be the width of the right door. Measure the width of the right alcove including the right wooden frame.Measure the width of the left alcove including the left wooden frame.This will be the height for both of your doors. Measure the height of the right alcove, including the top and bottom wooden frame, then, subtract ½”.Simply maintain a ¼” border around the edges, and ensure there is a small space between where the doors meet at the desk’s divider. Not all computer desks are built the same size, but the way to measure the wood for the doors remains the same. You’ll need to get two pieces of wood cut (one wider than the other with the same height) in order to serve as doors for each of the alcoves. I recommend a reverse blade to minimize chip-outs and produce smoother cuts. Get the width of the desk’s side to determine the center point and draw out your opening using a T-square.Ĭarefully cut the lines you drew with an electric jigsaw. So for instance, my litter box is 9” tall, the bottom cut (5 ½” wide) of the opening should be 9 ¼” high, the top cut (5 ½” wide) should be at least 16 ¾” from the base. Best location for the cat entrance is to have the bottom of the hole start ¼” higher than the height of the litter box. The placement of the opening is also very important – too high and your cat can’t reach it, too low and the litter box will block the entrance. It’s important not to cut the opening too large as it will let more odor escape and more litter to spill out. Typically, an adequate sized opening for cats up to 15 pounds is 5 ½” x 7 ½” (up to 8 ½” x 12 for larger cats). If you think about it, cats have no collar bone, so has long as their small head and shoulders can fit through the opening, the rest of their body will follow. How big should your cat entrance be? Cats have an amazing ability to fit through much smaller spaces than we realize. My alcove is 22”W x 21”H x 20”D and the litter box I used is 20”W x 9”H x 17”D. When shopping around for the right computer desk, make sure the larger alcove would be able to fit the litter box you have while giving enough headroom for your kitty to comfortably squat down. Electric Jigsaw (recommend a reverse blade)Īnd not a dresser, cabinet, or trunk? It seems like almost any type of furniture could be made into a cat litter enclosure with enough creativity, but I chose the computer desk for its off center divider making one alcove much larger than the other, providing a perfect space to fit a litter box.Several paintbrushes ranging from small to large.Several pieces of plywood (untreated pine or birchwood) from hardware store (follow instructions below to get dimensions).Small Bag of Poly-fil (polyester filling/fiberfill).Four mortise door hinges (3” – 4” in size).Step-by-step instructions for an elegant solution to conceal both the sight and smell of your cat’s bathroom. Transform a computer desk into a hidden cat litter enclosure.
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