One of our summer projects is to build a catio (an enclosed wire mesh patio for the cat) around our back deck. There are numerous kits available online, as well as DIY blueprints.
The kits seem to be quite expensive for what appears to be a few small pieces of wood plus some wire mesh. There are cheaper ones online, of dubious quality.
The plans don’t look THAT complicated, but a couple things I’m not too sure about:
How to connect the wire mesh (something thicker than chicken wire, I presume, while still being flexible?) to the wood frame. Do I just staplegun it, or is there some better way to more securely and less jankily attach mesh to wood?
How to make sure the wood frame itself stays upright (if it’s not cemented/anchored to anything) and won’t just collapse on the first windy day, or under the winter snowload — or maybe we should design it for easy disassembly every winter?
Is it realistic for someone with minimal woodworking experience (high school workshop + garden sink frame) to DIY it? I don’t have the tools at home, but can access various saws and even CNC machines at a local makerspace.
I’m thinking of adapting one of the for-sale blueprints (just so I can better understand how the pieces fit together), but modifying it to our exact dimensions and then making a mockup in Sketchup to check all the dimensions right. Then I’ll buy the parts, get the lumber store to cut the big pieces, and then do the finer work at the makerspace. The SO has volunteered herself to do the sanding and varnishing (I wonder if she knows what she’s getting herself into…). Together we’ll put up the frame and mesh… and that’s it, right?! Should only take a couple hours? Hah. Nah, we’ll devote at least 2-3 full weekends to it.
Is that at all realistic for a busy working couple to try our hands at, or should we just stick with a manufactured and pre-cut kit?
My first thought is that I strongly recommend fixing the structure securely to something solid, somehow. Even if it isn’t blown away, it may move enough to let the cat slip through somewhere.
My second thought is to make sure the wire mesh ends are secured so that the cat won’t accidentally or on purpose rub against them. There may be various ways to do this, possibly as easy as making sure you staple the mesh to the outside of any wood framing, i.e. on the side where the cat isn’t. I would use a pair of pliers to bend the edges over so the sharp parts are up against the wood.
I don’t think it would be that difficult, and I think your idea of getting a set of plans that you can adapt is an excellent one.
The pre-buit ones look like mesh cages with wood features sitting in them. With that approach you only need to ensure a sound cage. The nice thing about that approach is a sturdy cage will last a long time, clean easily, and can suffer the wind. You can always replace the indoor features.
For a DIY I would first determine the mesh and a source. That will give some insight into the options, complexity, and cost. I searched for Black powder coated mesh (a phrase I saw on your first link). Aside from security solutions I found a company selling outdoor yard catios that were 7.5’ x 15’ for ~$900. So maybe the first link has a lot of convenience built into the price. There’s also lots of hits on Amazon for mesh for protecting plants, rabbit hutches, etc.
Looking at the second link they don’t look too hard to build. It says your create each panel separately. I guess a wood frame and a flat piece of mesh. I don’t think you would staple the mesh, but screw them down with straps/plates.
My concern with the second link is withstanding the weather and maintenance. You would have to weatherproof the wood every couple of years like a deck. Also not sure how much wind it can handle.
If you decide to go the DIY route it might be worth the $60 to get the plans at least for another set of ideas.
What means of ingress were you thinking? A human-sized door? Or just window access for the cat? For a cat-only catio you might want to DIY and use the style in the first link
I don’t know how big you want it to be, or how nice it needs to look, but we connected two old dog crates with zip ties and covered the outside with some old screen we had in the shed. It’s like a cat habitrail.
Our first was two AKC kennel pens (around 5’x6’ panels) of sturdy metal mesh, each pen having one wall that is a gate. We used both gates and 5 of the other panels. The gates can be padlocked.
We attached the structure to the wooden deck and side of the house. We attached 2’x4’ rafters, which we attached chicken wire, finishing by attaching it to the top edges of the panels. We hung interior shade cloths. In the winter, we attached clear tarps to the exterior sides and then a white boat tarp over the top.
We didn’t want to lose deck access from the house, we wanted the cats to be able to go in and out via a cat door to the side of the deck door, and we didn’t want a structure too flimsy to withstand a determined raccoon or dog. We also wanted enough room for a cat tree, a small table and two chairs, and a hammock so we could be with the cats.
Originally, I was thinking of DIYing something like this…
With the Wayfair prebuilt (or similar ones on Amazon) (thank you @DavidNRockies!), it would instead look something like this:
A lot smaller, but a heckuva lot easier!
Yeah, that’s a good idea. Looking at the patio, I think I can screw it into the sides of the patios to help secure it.
Another good idea.
That’s a good point… creating 3 flat panels (assuming we use the existing exterior wall for the 4th) is a lot easier than trying to make a room all at once.
If prebuilt, we’d need some sort of patio-door-pet-door thingy like this:
And we’d just walk right into it whenever we wanted to.
If we get a pre-built, we’d probably still have something like that, but connect it via a cat tube to the entrance of the catio. The rest of the deck wouldn’t be enclosed anymore (so we’d sit outside the catio and stare on in…). Not quite as ideal, but a lot easier.
It does sound like fun…
And that would be nice, compared to the thin flimsy prebuilts…
Nine years ago we got a new deck, and a patio roof. When SWMBO decreed that the cats shall not wander, I turned the patio into a catio by fencing it in, and adding four 2x4 uprights for the sliding doors. (I used pocket door hardware for the doors.)
Staples definitely sound to me like the right tool for the job, for attaching any sort of mesh to wood. Maybe put a thin lath on top of the mesh before stapling.
ETA: The fencing material is three feet wide, so there are two panels for the height. You can see in photos 4 and 5 that I joined the panels together with small zip-ties (that I trimmed afterward).
ETA2: The catio is open at the top, as we do not need the top closed with our current cats. If we get a cat that’s a climber, we’ll have to address that. As it is, we have ‘obstacles’ on the posts to discourage climbing. (The post between the shades has the rectangular lantern on it now, and the right corner post has something else hanging on it.)
1 - You can air-staple the mesh to the studs. This will be strong, but ugly. I’d staple the mesh, and then screw a thin piece of board over the cut edges. This will both hide the jagged edges, and make the assembly stronger.
2 - Cut small diagonal bracing for each corner, in each axis. Once done, the whole box will be very solid.
I just put the mesh on the outside, where no one would see it. (This was my first attempt at such a project, so I didn’t really know what I was doing. I spent weeks working out the details in my head before I began.)
I have both the custom cat run and the wayfair one. The Wayfair one because Ms Fluffy got impatient and ordered it, and the real one because I ended up having to build it anyway.
The self built product will be better in everyway. I am pretty sure you have what it yakes to accomplish this, based on the fact you have created a pretty good sketch. Conceptualizing it into a plan is the most important step.
For the mesh, staples shot with a rented staple gun, and reinforced with a batten screwed over will be very secure. Another option is wooden or resin lattice.
A properly built rectangular frame with roof is going to be pretty strong and stable on its own. It just needs to be anchored some way. A simple way is to drive stakes into the ground at the corners and ever 4 feet or so, cut off level. Best if it sits directly on the stakes. A heavier option is 4x6 timbers as a base, you will still need to start with a few 2x4 stakes to set the timbers on. Another option is to build it like a fence, with posts.
Ill post am image of our run if I get the chance when I am home from work.
Yes. As I said, I didn’t know I could do it until I did. I didn’t sketch anything.
Again, as I said, I conceptualised for weeks. The hardest part was the doors. Swinging doors sag, so I decided on sliding doors; but the tracks would collect debris. Then I hit upon the pocket door idea, and it’s perfect for the catio. The only hitch is that one of my pressure-treated uprights warped and interferes with one of them. One of these days, I’ll flip it around.
(This was my first attempt at such a project, so I didn’t really know what I was doing. I spent weeks working out the details in my head before I began.)