Small dog (12″ at the shoulder) dog house plans

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw and a straight edge (or have the store cut the sheets)
• Jigsaw
• Clamps, two 12″ or longer
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part. Cut sheets with the good face down when using a circular saw: the blade splinters the top face.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Pick the boards and the screws

   Cedar for the dog house: look for boards with mostly reddish-brown heartwood. Pale yellow-white streaks are sapwood, which rots years sooner; keep those streaks on the inside or skip the board.

   Pressure-treated pine: read the end tag. Parts that touch soil, sit in wet mulch or go in the ground must say "ground contact"; "above ground" lumber is fine for everything else. New treated boards are often wet and heavy: stack them flat with scrap sticks between them for a week or two in the shade so they dry and stop twisting.

   Sight down each board at the store like a rifle barrel. Skip boards that twist, bow more than about 1/4″ over 8′, or have big loose knots near where you will cut or screw.

   Use exterior screws only: coated deck screws (labelled for treated lumber, "ACQ compatible") or stainless steel. The copper in treated wood eats plain and zinc-plated steel within a few years. Indoor wood screws and drywall screws rust and snap outdoors.

   Animals chew and lick wood. Keep pressure-treated lumber to the legs and frame outside the living space, and use cedar or exterior plywood for anything they touch inside.

   Plywood: buy exterior plywood (stamped "Exterior" or "Exposure 1", BC grade is fine). Its glue is waterproof. Interior plywood comes apart in layers after one wet season.

   • Tip Buy one extra board of the most-used size. A split or a mis-cut then costs you nothing but a few dollars.
   • Tip Cedar splits easily: predrill every screw within 2″ of the end of a board with a bit about the size of the screw's inner shank.

   ✓ Every board is reasonably straight, and the screw box says exterior, coated for treated lumber, or stainless.

4. 4Measure your dog

   Stand your dog on a flat floor. Lay a ruler flat across the top of its shoulder blades (the highest point of the back, just behind the neck) and measure from the floor to the ruler. That is the shoulder height: this plan uses 12″.

   Measure from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, where it joins the body: this plan uses 18″.

   For a puppy, use the adult size for its breed. The house comes out 27″ wide, 23″ deep and 15″ tall inside at the back.

   • Tip Treats help. Measure twice on different days; dogs rarely stand the same way twice.

   ✓ Your dog can stand up inside 15″ without its head touching, and a floor of 27″ × 23″ fits it lying stretched out on its side.

5. 5Build the floor frame

   Lay the two rim joists (A) on edge, 26″ apart outside to outside.

   Fit the 3 floor joists (B) between them, on edge, the end ones flush with the rim ends, the rest 14 1/4″ or less apart on center.

   Predrill and drive two 3″ screws through the rim into the end of each joist.

   Set four concrete patio blocks on level, tamped ground where the house will go, one under each corner, and set the frame on them. The blocks keep the wood off wet ground and let air under the floor.

   • Tip Measure joist positions from the same end each time and mark them on both rims with a speed square so the joists run straight.

   ✓ The frame's diagonals match within 1/8″ and a level laid across it reads level both ways. If not, add or scrape soil under a block.

6. 6Lay the floor

   Lay the floor (C) on the frame with its edges flush with the outside of the frame.

   Drive 2″ screws through the floor into every joist and rim, every 8″. Keep screws 3/8″ in from the edges so the plywood doesn't split.

   ✓ No edge of the floor overhangs the frame, and it doesn't bounce when you press on it between joists.

7. 7Cut the walls and frame the front and back

   Mark the door on the front wall (E): 9″ wide × 9″ tall, its left edge 5″ from the left end and its bottom 6 3/16″ up from the bottom edge. The 3″ step above the floor keeps bedding in and the draft low.

   Drill a 1/2″ hole inside each corner of the door outline, then cut from hole to hole with a jigsaw. Round the cut edges with sandpaper so they can't scrape the dog.

   Cut the side walls (F) with the sloped top: 22 5/8″ tall at the front end, 18 1/4″ at the back. Clamp them together and cut both at once so they match.

   Lay the back wall (D) good face down. Screw a back corner post (G) along each end, 1/2″ in from the end (where the side walls will sit), the post bottoms 3 3/16″ up from the bottom edge so they will stand on the floor. Use 1 1/4″ screws every 6″ through the plywood into the post.

   Screw a top cleat (I) between the posts along the top edge. Build the front wall the same way with the front posts (H).

   • Tip Mark which face is the outside on every panel before you start screwing. It's easy to build a mirror-image wall by accident.

   ✓ The posts are square to the bottom edge, and the bottom 3 3/16″ of each wall is clear so it can lap down over the floor frame.

   STOP. Keep both hands behind the jigsaw blade and let it stop before lifting it out of the cut.

8. 8Stand the walls on the floor

   Stand the back wall against the back of the floor frame, posts inside on the floor, its bottom edge 1″ above the blocks. Drive 1 5/8″ screws through the plywood into the rim joist every 6″.

   Stand the front wall the same way at the front.

   Fit the side walls (F) between the front and back walls, tall end to the front. Screw them to the corner posts every 6″ with 1 1/4″ screws, and into the end joists every 6″ with 1 5/8″ screws.

   • Tip Clamp each wall in place before screwing; then you can check it is flush at the corners before anything is permanent.

   ✓ The corners are tight with no daylight, and the top edges of the side walls run in a straight line from the front wall top to the back wall top.

9. 9Build the lift-off roof

   Lay the roof plywood (J) upside down: 36 15/16″ wide (side to side) × 34 1/2″ long (front to back).

   Screw 3 roof ribs (K) front to back on it, the outer ones 5 1/8″ in from each side edge so they drop just inside the side walls, the rest evenly between, 12 5/8″ or less apart. Start the ribs 5 1/8″ from the back edge.

   Flip it onto the house. The ribs drop inside the walls and keep the lid from sliding off, but it lifts off for cleaning.

   Screw corrugated roofing panels on top with the sealing-washer screws, through the ridges (never the valleys) into the ribs. Let them overhang the plywood about 1″ all round.

   Screw a hook-and-eye on each side so wind can't lift the lid.

   • Tip A light-coloured roofing panel keeps the house noticeably cooler in summer sun.

   ✓ The lid overhangs 3″ at the sides, 4″ at the front over the door and 3″ at the back, and it lifts straight off.

10. 10Protect it from the weather

    Decide how you want the dog house to look in five years. Bare cedar and bare pressure-treated wood both weather to silver-grey and still last many years; doing nothing is a real option.

    To keep the colour, use an exterior oil or semi-transparent stain: brush it on, let it soak in 15 minutes, then wipe off whatever is still shiny. Renew it every one or two years. Avoid clear varnish or polyurethane outdoors: sun cracks the film, water gets under it, and it peels.

    For a solid colour, prime with an exterior primer and use two coats of exterior latex paint. Paint end grain twice: it soaks up water like a straw.

    Pressure-treated wood must dry before any stain or paint. Sprinkle a few drops of water on it: if they bead up, wait; if they soak in within ten minutes, it is ready. This can take a few weeks to a few months.

    Finish only the outside. Leave inside faces bare, and let any finish dry and air out for at least a week before an animal moves in: fresh fumes are hard on small lungs.

    • Tip Finish on a dry day above 50°F with no rain forecast for 24 hours.
    • Tip Oil-soaked rags can catch fire on their own as they dry. Lay them flat outside to dry or keep them in a sealed metal can of water.

    ✓ The finish is dry to the touch everywhere, with no wet or shiny puddles in corners.

11. 11Set it up for your dog

    Turn the door away from the usual wind and rain (in most of the US that means facing south or east). Put the house where it gets shade in the afternoon.

    Bedding: a thick layer of straw in cold weather. It stays dry; blankets and hay soak up damp and freeze.

    Check the bedding weekly and replace it if it is damp or dirty. Lift the lid and sweep out the house every month.

    ✓ Pour a bucket of water over the roof: it runs off the back edge and none drips inside.

    STOP. A dog house is shelter, not a substitute for bringing your dog in during extreme heat or cold.

12. 12Finish

    Ease every sharp edge and corner with 120-grit sandpaper so nobody gets a splinter.

    Sand all over with 180 grit, always along the grain (the direction the wood fibres run). Scratches across the grain show through stain.

    Wipe off the dust with a barely damp rag and let it dry.

    Outdoors, use an exterior finish: a penetrating deck oil or exterior stain, or primer and exterior paint. Leave cedar bare to weather silver if you like. If it holds soil for food plants, leave the inside unfinished.

    Let it dry for the time on the can before using it.

    • Tip Try your finish on a scrap of the same wood first: stain looks different on every board.