I started by picking up some old scaffold boards for €6 each from a scaffolding company. They were too old to be used in construction any more but would be fine for DIY stuff. My original idea was to use these for a sliding barn door in the apartment but they were far too thick for that. I’ll be writing about the sliding door soon so keep your eyes peeled as it’s an interesting one.

Scaffold boards are quite thick and wide. These were 241cm long, 22cm wide and 6cm thick. The first thing to do was to halve the width of some of my boards to 11cm which would double my number of boards. Thankfully, I had the tools for the job. I placed one board on my saw horses and then placed the boards I wanted to cut on top and used my circular saw to cut them.

My plan for these was to make a frame for the windows, yes the cat house would have two large double glazed windows! These were free, a friend from work had them to get rid of. With the frame cut to size, I used my router with a rabbet bit to cut along the boards. This would allow me to place the glass frame within the cut and keep it in place.

While there may have been a better way, my method of doing this was limited to the space of the balcony. I lay my frame out with the 4 vertical boards first and lay the glass panels into the grooves. I used a hammer to snugly tap the boards into place. I then placed the two cross beams across and drilled them in. I had some left over skirting board from my mancave build which I was sadly leaving behind in Westmeath (I took al the equipment of course). I simply cut 4 pieces and screwed them into the crossbeams to add extra security to the glass.

I then lifted it up and measured the end result so I would have an idea of what to do next. At 1.8m wide and 1.65m high, it was pretty damn big. I knew I would need more timber so I purchased a number of very long boards that were 125mm x 44mm and a whopping 4.8m long. I had to saw these in half just to be able to manoeuvre them up the stairwell, the lift wasn’t an option at this length without pre-measuring and extra cutting and since I was delivering them on my lunch break from work, I didn’t have that option.

I cut up the rest of my scaffold boards into approximately 1.5m boards. I used three of these on the floor as part of the frame. I then used my new timber beams to frame each corner and with three crossbeams. I lacked the skills to ensure everything is fully square by myself so I went for a good enough approach which is fine as it’s a temporary building for cats! As long as it’s sturdy, it will be fine.

Of course, due to space, I ran into a problem. There was no way to move the frame in any meaningful way to put up anything on the far wall or the rear. What I did was use my scaffold boards and simply place them on the side wall (where the glass partition is between  balconies). I just used long screws to screw into them from the front to help secure them. As long as I didn’t add to much pressure, they would be fine until I could secure them better.

When I did my mancave, the concrete shed which I got installed first came with a wooden door. I replaced that wooden door with a normal house, PVC door and kept the wooden door just in case. The cat house gave me an excuse to use it so I moved it to Dublin with me. I added the door back to front with the support beams exposed because it closed better. All I had to do was remove the latch from the inside now and place it on the outside instead.

Now, living in an apartment complex can sometimes yield interesting things being thrown away in the refuse areas. People seem to leave all manner of useless items in the refuse area but not put them in the bins. Usually it’s absolute crap but sometimes it can be useful and I’d like to think that’s why they are breaking house rules by leaving that kind of stuff here. In my case, someone had left a broken up book case or display stand which was rather tall. These boards were perfect as a roof for the cat house. I simply screwed them on. Sure, there’s a minute gap but the roof is really just for shelter as the balcony itself is already covered. I can always add silicon filler or similar later to seal it all up. I also grabbed a few other timber boards along the way as well as a couple of pallets.

Since I was out of timber, I headed to woodies to see what I could find and what I found was a few packs of slightly damaged attic boards for half price. A pack of three was €5 so I bought two. These acted as the floor boards and to finish off the rear and far side wall. I also had a large wooden box or plinth which had been used to support a piece of artwork. We kept it as it was useful and now I had a use for it. This became a little compartment to keep the litter box, that way the cats can’t mess up the rest of the house with litter, only the litter box area. I used the lid as part of the rear wall. I cut up a small pallet and used that to make a wall on the other side of the litter area and to make a roof to act as a raised platform.

The cat house won’t win any aestheitic awards so I got a load of bamboo plants to help hide it and add some nice shelter for the cats. While they don’t like it all that much, I have locked them in a few times and they are getting used to it. Eventually they can have the whole balcony but I need to stick up some netting to prevent them getting on to the neighbours balcony or worse, falling off after getting too adventurous.

The inside is only functionally complete. I also plan on sticking up a full floor rather than just a raised platform. They might eventually love their little house but since they are indoor cats, I suspect they are always going to be more comfortable in the living room. Even in Westmeath, they only went out for 10 to 20 minutes before looking to come back in.

You can see how it looks now when I walk on to the balcony. The cat house door opens only as far as the bamboo. When the netting goes up, it will go up behind the bamboo so they will be unable to climb out onto the railing and plummet to their deaths three stories below. It will also prevent them from getting on the the neighbour’s balcony next door. Since I took these pictures the other day, I have put in an irrigation system using this hozelock pack. It feeds into all of the pots. Since there’s no running water on the balcony, I will hook that up to a water container I bought which will sit on the roof of the cat house. There should be enough gravity pressure to work, fingers crossed.

The post DIY Project 3 – The Balcony Cat House appeared first on Reuben Gray's General Musings.

Moving cats into an apartment is one thing. Moving them into your fiancé’s apartment is quite another. One of the things she hated about going to my house in Westmeath was the fact the cats had free run of the kitchen. The kitchen and dining area were complete open plan there. While the apartment is sort of open plan, the kitchen is easily accessible by anyone, especially two cats. She originally thought about putting up some kind of barrier we could move in and out but the problem is that cats can jump over any baby or dog gate that was put in. In fact, when I moved them in at first, for the first few days I put a large pallet across the entrance and of course they jumped over it.

My plan was to construct a sliding barn door. I originally bought scaffold planks for this but they were far too thick. I was then going to build a door out of wood because no door I could find was wide enough. The entrance was about a metre wide so the first thing I bought was a sliding rail kit. I got this one on amazon but there are plenty available.

If you look at the image above, you will see a number of electrical switches on the left. That means, power cables running through the plasterboard and that’s always dangerous to drill through. I bought a 3 in 1 detector so I could find the power cables and wooden battens. Unfortunately it turns out that there are no wooden battens, all the detector could find was metal so I guess it uses a metal frame. This meant altering my plan somewhat. I couldn’t just screw the rail into the plasterboard and into wooden battens, I now needed to install a frame that didn’t need to be secured into the wall.

I went off to buy some timber and start the frame. I cut the lengths I needed and then tested the frame which fit almost perfectly. I secured it to the wall with a pair of clamps so I could measure for the rail. The hardest part of this frame was actually the skirting area. Since that sticks out from the wall, I had two choices. Either cut it and sit the frame on top of the skirting (easier) or cut the frame so it goes over the skirting. I chose the latter despite being harder. I had no power tool capable of cutting so I had to use a hand saw which was a lot of effort. It nearly broke me!

You might notice a slight but visible gap on the left hand side? I think that’s the plasterboard as it made no difference which plank I used. That can always be filled in with filler. especially if painting at some point int he future.

All I had to do then was screw in the cross beam and then screw in the rail. The cross beam prevents the frame from falling in towards the kitchen. I simply added another, smaller cross beam on the other side to prevent the frame falling the other way. The bottom part of the frame is screwed into the skirting board for extra security. It all worked beautifully. To be safe, I added two tiny castor wheels to the bottom of the door. They are 14mm and according to the instructions, the door should be 10mm off the ground.

The door itself was €99 and was the widest internal door available at 838mm from B&Q which I felt was a bargain, despite being too narrow for the gap, I had a cunning plan though.

As I said you can’t buy a door wide enough for this gap from a regular shop. Even with the frame narrowing the entry way, there was still a gap either side that a cat can easily get through. So I went back to B&Q and bought two redwood planks that looks almost identical to the grain of the pine door. They were a closer match than the pine planks available, though more expensive. I simply matched the thickness, cut to the correct height and screwed them in. The result, the door looks almost seamless and if it’s painted, you wouldn’t even be able to tell as the tiny gap will be gone.

The door works almost perfectly. I say almost, as due to the thickness of my timber crossbeam, the door comes out a little too far so a cat could easily sneak through of they wanted. To combat this, I simply angled the bottom of the door in towards the wall. The result is that it doesn’t sit flush on both rollers so the rollers act more as guides while the door actually rolls on the tiny castor wheels. It’s not an issue, it just means being a little careful as it can some slightly off track. I could resolve this by replacing that crossbeam with a narrower piece of timber but for now, I’m happy with it.

There’s now a natural shelf area above the door which is now filled with boxes of herbal tea to prevent a cat from trying to get through the gap. I didn’t bother with handles as they don’t appear to be necessary but could easily be screwed on to assist with sliding.

Overall, it wasn’t all that expensive considering the end result.

The rails – about €56 delivered

Door – €99

Timber – about €40

Mini Castor Wheels – €1.50 x2 so €3

Overall, just under €200 and it would be a lot cheaper if I didn’t need to make a wooden frame and could just screw the rails into the wall via wooden battens.

The post DIY Projects 2 – Sliding Door – Anti Cat Device appeared first on Reuben Gray's General Musings.

I had a single wooden sheet so I started by cutting it in half to get the desired two boards I would need. I then placed a large round lid on top, roughly half the diameter to cut mark a semicircle in pencil. Using my jigsaw, I carefully cut out that semicircle and set it aside for later. I then took my router and softened the edges around the front. After that, I just needed to use my sander to smooth everything out and soften the corners.

The process was then repeated on the second board in an identical fashion. In the end, I had two identical looking boards that would sit one above the other with the 2×4 spacing them out.

Next, I cut my 2×4 to size. They are to act as the walls and supports of the structure. I screwed the ones on the bottom in to support it in place. The ones on the top were connected with the brackets. You could do the same with glue and wood plugs instead. It would be neater but probably result in a weaker structure. I used my router to give the outward facing part of the 2×4 a rounded edge but that’s optional. You could probably do the same thing with a wood chisel/sanding combo or a wood plane if you don’t have a router.

Not being one to waste anything, I realised I had a use for the two semi-circles I had cut out earlier. First, I cut one of the semi-cirlces in half to create two corner shelves. Again, I used the router and sander to give them a nice smooth edge. I then used the semi-circle on its own and placed it in the middle. Screws and hooks can be placed here for holding jewellery making tools and other items.

I attached the jewellers anvil/peg to the bottom but realised that while this would work, it would be too low for most uses so I decided I needed to move it to the top shelf. This presented a new challenge because I hadn’t measured it compared to the height of the gap. The result was that I couldn’t tighten the anvil to the board. What I had to do then was take the bottom board off and cut a new piece out to allow me to turn the metal bar which tightens the anvil and secures it in place.

And that brings me to the finished product above. You can see where I cut a square out of the bottom board and again, used the router and sander to smooth the edges. This allows the anvil to be taken off which is necessary for changing the peg. I also secured the light to the board. This can be moved around wherever you like. I could even permanently secure it by screwing it in rather than using the clamp. The telescopic lamp I used was purchased from Lidl and was perhaps the most expensive item in the build. I don’t recall the exact price but it was probably around €50 which is more than all the other materials combined.

You can also see that I used two pieces of 2×4 at an angle in the middle of the sandwiched boards. That’s simply to provide more support while not wasting any pieces of wood. It also allows a certain amount of separation if storing jewellery supplies underneath.

This was the finished piece as presented but the plan with this was to be able to use it on any table, to make it portable. For that, I had ordered a pair of wood clamps to secure to a desk or table. You can use plastic clamps if you like, they are certainly cheaper and easier to find but the wood clamps looked better. Hooks were added to the bottom of the top board. This allowed for a leather catch tray to be attached so it catches silver/gold filings for future use.

The bench ended up being attached to a computer desk on wheels for easy movement around the home.

Making the bench was probably the most time consuming and complicated project I have undertaken. I learned a lot and could easily repeat the process much quicker now. If I was making it again, the biggest change I would make is my choice of wood. I went for something simple and cheap so natural pine was what I ended up with. It does the job just fine but pine is a softwood and a good hardwood is going to stand up to hard use a lot better so if you decide to make a jewellery table yourself, get some good and solid hardwood instead.

Also, you can save some time and complication by having a single story unit, you don’t need the second board that I used if you are constructing it permanently fit to a table. The bottom shelf was only there to allow the workbench to sit on top of any flat surface and be portable.

If anyone reading this does decide to make their own, please comment with a link to a picture of the finished product. This is the first in my DIY series. On the rare occasion I make or fix something that’s interesting, I’ll be sure to write about it.

The post DIY Projects 1 – Jewellery Workbench appeared first on Reuben Gray's General Musings.