Home DIY

Nice one, will do, cheers

I went through the external wall for my catflap and then increased the depth with a tunnel. He got it in 1 attempt.

Wall was preferable for me because way easier and cheaper to patch up and make good if/when we leave/sell/cat dies.

I've thought about the wall but we don't really have a good spot for it. We have two french doors on the front of the house, both with shutters. Other walls are obstructed by stairs / kitchen / table etc...

Our last place had a ladder going up to the bathroom window which I swapped the glass pane for a piece of plywood and cut the catflap in that. A ladder wouldn't really achieve anything in the current place.

Posted this in the wrong thread. Duh. Cross posting here.

Any recommendations for improving the weather resistance of this door set up?

Out of interest, your cat flap seems to have exactly the solution I'm looking for... Care to post a few more photos of it or let me know how it's been done?

They just added a U shaped spacer made out of wood to level the surface. The flap itself has plastic tunnel that goes all the way through. It's not particularly well done.

I am, as of today, particularly unenamoured of sanding.

Top done, bottom done, sides done.

Time to get varnishing.

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That looks great. Well worth the effort.

Super impressive job.

Thinking about remaking mine a litter larger soon but the pain of v1.0 is still in the memory. Also, plywood is £££ right now.

You should do that thing with the holes like in that glossy blog of that nice house.

Hang on, a picture will make more sense.

Here you go:

I reckon that would look great on the herringbone ply.

Who's going to say it first?

That yoghurt really helps bring the grain out

Can’t wait to see it with a coat of varnish. Cracking work.

Cutting through aluminium with a jigsaw:
Is a metal blade going to be enough or should I be buying a aluminium specific blade?

I'm aiming to cut through a anodised aluminium BBQ grill grate.

It's very soft, metal blade would normally be a decent choice. Fine teeth might help. You could do it with a junior hacksaw if you can clamp it properly. Or one of the more stabby hacksaw cousins. Keeping the work still always seems to lead to good consistent results.

I would use a grinder for that personally.

But would. Grinder give a consistent edge on 5 separate aluminium pieces?

Attached pic of profile.

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You can always clean up the cut edge with a file after. Not sure I would trust a jigsaw on that.

Flip it over and go through the back - the grinder basically wants to cut straight lines.

If you have access to a mitre saw, a multi blade would do that nicely.

Was definitely going to turn over, maybe cut a jig in MDF with straight edge to work with the jigsaw.

If the first one is rough, I could just take it super slow with a hacksaw.

Mitre saw would be first choice. I've cut a bit of aluminium before with mitre or table saw and it's perfect, very fine finish, less trouble than oak generally.

If you don't have a mitre saw but do have a circular saw, I have also cut plenty of aluminium with one of those and a suitable blade.

Finished the grouting, sealing and installed the shower screen. Pretty pleased with this.

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You could build a chop saw jig for the grinder. Or just use an old blade on a chop saw / circular saw,