Fitting Cat Flap in Wall

[Will Owen]

Hi,

I need to install a cat flap in my kitchen wall. It is a single skin brick wall (1930s red brick) with plasterboard and insulation behind.

How easy is it to cut the hole out for this? I have some long masony drills etc, but am unsure as to how much you knock out. i.e. can you drill holes in a line through the brick to create the hole of the required size or do you have to knock out the surrounding bricks and fill in around it afterwards?

Apols for sounding like a novice, but have never had to do this before.

TIA

Will Owen

[Will Owen]

[.]

apply template, drill a series of holes to suit, knock out the hole with a 2" bolster chisel or SDS chisel, fit catflap inner, infil voids with either mortar (hassle) or builders foam, fit catflap.

make sure you've bought a magnetic catflap or every cat in the 'hood will be wazzing up your sofa and stealing tiddles food.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Heh!

[Owain]

You drill holes along the line you require, but not touching, then 'join-the-dots' with the chisel.

Owain

[Owain]

Won't make any difference if every other cat also has a magnetic collar.

However, cats are very territorial, so if the neighbourhood moggies come in either Tiddles or his owner are being a bit of a wuss.

Owain

[Dave Fawthrop]

|Will Owen wrote: |> Hi, |>

|> I need to install a cat flap in my kitchen wall. It is a single skin |> brick wall (1930s red brick) with plasterboard and insulation behind. |>

|> How easy is it to cut the hole out for this? I have some long masony |> drills etc, but am unsure as to how much you knock out. i.e. can you |> drill holes in a line through the brick to create the hole of the |> required size or do you have to knock out the surrounding bricks and |> fill in around it afterwards? |>

|> Apols for sounding like a novice, but have never had to do this |> before. |>

|> TIA |>

|> Will Owen | |apply template, drill a series of holes to suit, knock out the hole |with a 2" bolster chisel or SDS chisel, fit catflap inner, infil voids |with either mortar (hassle) or builders foam, fit catflap. | |make sure you've bought a magnetic catflap or every cat in the |'hood will be wazzing up your sofa and stealing tiddles food.

The ?electronic? Staywell ones with different coloured keys are IMO better.

[Cordless Crazy]

Stitch drill the opening as you first mentioned the knock out with hammer and bolster ( if you dont have a hammer drill with rotary sto which allows you to chisel it out easily).

The cat flap surround should cover the raggedy edges of the hole in th brickwork, but make it as neat as possible and try and drill the hole close together, otherwise you may find you self making good th brickwork that was supposed to stay intact

-- Cordless Crazy

[robgraham]

Make sure that the flap you buy will actually fit a wall - most are designed for doors and have fittings for that; quite thin doors at that.

Rob

[Bob Eager]

Our cat only ever let one other in, and that was terminally ill.

[chris French]

In message , robgraham writes

Yeah, and unless you use one that has a big enough inner liner- or more likely you can get extension 'rings' for it. to line the hole.

I used an earthenware square liner from builder merchants (used for lining for airbricks I guess?) I fixed the catflap to a slightly larger square of 9 or 12 mm ply and then fixed that to the wall. Much easier than trying to fix the catflap to the brick directly near the edge of the hole.

I had meant to take off the ply (WBP) and varnish it. But never did, it was still perfectly fine 7 years later when we moved.

[Kev]

I've done this in my kitchen as I didn't want to hack holes in the kitchen door. This goes through a double skin wall. This lets them out into the utility area then there is another cat flap in the outer door, having taken out one pane of glass. The cat flap in the kitchen is quite a simple one and the more elaborate one to keep the stray moggies out is the outer cat flap.

Kevin

[Bob Eager]

I would recommend Pet Mate as a brand, when it comes to cat flaps. They are brilliant at customer service, sending replacement parts sometimes FOC, or really very cheaply.

(this doesn't imply that the flaps are badly made, but that we had a large (18lb) energetic cat who went through a locked flap at high speed when spooked by a big dog; he also broke the occasional latch, or lost his magnetic key).

[jim]

FWIIW I've put fixed several Staywell flaps designed for doors onto brickwalls. Each time I hacked out the birckwork approximately true (drill through with a masonry drill -preferably SDS- then use a bolster to join up the holes: messy but quicker ways need more sophistacated SDS drills & other tools). Then I instal a timber liner ex 22mm (actual) PSE timber and screw the staywell flap to that. Fixing a flap on oboth sides of the opening gives makes it almost draught proof.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I made one very many years ago, before you could buy them. Trouble was, cat would arrive back home with a selection of nuts, bolts, and other ironwork stuck to it. I gave up on it.

That happened to my cat at the end of its life. Someone else's cat found it rather unwell, and took it home. The owners, not knowing whose it was but realising it was ill, took it to the vet. We found it a day later through a pet tracing charity, but sadly it died a few days after that, aged nearly 22.

[meow2222]

Your wall is liable to be soft brick and knackered lime mortar, and if

4" not scoring much on stability either. So go gently with the chiselling. Wont be a prob as soft bricks are very soft.

Re larger walls with dual catflaps, creating a tunnel, this works fine with some cats, but a lot will simply refuse to enter a small closed tunnel.

NT

[Frank Erskine]

It also sounds dangerous for the cat, if the flaps jam for some reason with a puddy-tat in the middle.

[.]

it will if it knows it's dinner is on the other side and it'll soon get hungry enough to overcome it's fears, if not you have no more cat infestation. job's a good un.

hahahhaha, cats survive for weeks trapped down holes. it's a wild animal, treat it like one and it will reward you, treat it like a baby or a small child and it will crap in your house, moult hair all over /your/ bed, pee in your house etc, etc.

/plus/ how can a 18" long cat get stuck in a 9" tunnel LOL

[meow2222]

wrong

Yes, though I cant imagine how both would get stuck at the same time.

I can understand why cats have done that to you.

NT

[.]

ergo dead cat or it buggers off to another sap who'll take it in.

and I know why YOU might me predisposed to say that, do you ?

no ?

parasitic microbe commonly found in cats might have helped shape entire human cultures by manipulating the personalities of infected individuals, according to a new study.

Infection by a Toxoplasma gondii could make some individuals more prone to some forms of neuroticism and could lead to differences among cultures if enough people are infected, says Kevin Lafferty, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In a survey of different countries, Lafferty found that people living in those with higher rates of T. gondii infection scored higher on average for neuroticism, defined as an emotional or mental disorder characterized by high levels of anxiety, insecurity or depression.

etc. clue yourself in, all you BRANE are belong to CAT LOL