Cat flap in plastic door?

[sweetheart]

Hi , further to my other issues. I need a new door on my kitchen. Its become an essential. So I was thinking to get a plastic composite one with double glazing ( of course) The basis being that even if it is wet by condensation I can dry it off rather than it rotting into the wood.

I have a cat and he needs the cat flap Is it possible to fit a cat flap to these plastic type doors? I have had two different views expressed from company sales men/ workers so far. No particular order either. One told me to bung the fitter a few quid and he would fit one. Another told me they can be ordered and factory fitted. Another said no, you cant have a cat flap.

So? Anyone got an answer for definite?

[Harry]

Yes, you can fit one.

[sweetheart]

Thank you. I can go ahead and get that door ordered now.

[DDS]

It's quite easy to do - in our case, the door's top half was glazed and the lower panel was plastic. It's two sheets of white plastic, sandwiching a foam layer in between.

You just mark out the cat flap template (there will be a bit of card in the box when you buy the flap), drill some holes at each corner and use a saw blade or pad saw or similar to cut out the hole. The complete task took an hour perhaps?

[stuart noble]

The one who said no was presumably under the impression that the bottom half would be glazed

[The Medway Handyman]

I've fitted a few, not a problem.

[mogga]

Our porch has one - we bought it and gave it to them so it was fitted when it was built. It's not on a door section though but looks like the same sort of stuff. Don't see why you couldn't have one.

[gremlin_95]

+1, we fitted ours a year and a half ago.

[MuddyMike]

I agree, if the bottom panel is plastic you can buy a cat flap to fit. It has to go in the panel above the frame of course and the panel must be plain rather than the decoratively ribbed variety. The guy that said no may have been referring to a ribbed panel.

Mike

[Richard Russell]

You can get a cat flap fitted in a (double-) glazed section too - we did - but obviously the hole has to be cut *before* the glass is toughened so it's something you need to specify in advance of the unit being manufactured. Here's a picture of ours in situ:

[Steve Walker]

We've put a cat flap in our plastic back door with no problem.

However, if the particular door that you want has some feature that makes it difficult (for instance some electronic cat flaps don't work well if there is a steel section in the door) then you can buy extension tunnels and fit the cat flap through a wall instead.

SteveW

[dennis]

Mine has a layer of steel in it. What stops a thief just cutting through your door with a gas soldering iron?

The steel makes it harder to fit a flap but only in what saw to use.

[hugh]

How about in a glass conservatory door?

[Andrew Gabriel]

You can get holes put through sealed units (often done for fans). The problem with a door is that it's going to be toughened glass, so the hole will have to be cut before the glass gets heat treated, so it can't be done after the unit is manufactured.

[sweetheart]

Thank you.

[sweetheart]

Maybe???? I thought I had made it clear to them all I wanted something similar to that I had - window at the top and a panel at the bottom. Plain sort of door because its a back door.

[sweetheart]

Thank you. I wasnt planning on anything dancy. When we had the current cat flap it came with an extension to go through a wall. I just wanted one in the door. It will have to be a l;arge one ( big for cats, not a dog size) because my cat is such a hefty lump;-)

[Steve Walker]

Yes, we've got one of those! We got two kittens, but one died under the anaesthetic when being neutered. We then got another of a similar age. Now fully grown the "replacement" only just squeezes through the cat-flap - she is a little tubby, but most of it is just general largeness (her paws are huge).

SteveW

[Richard Russell]

That's exactly what my picture showed:

had any problems with it, but as I and Andrew said it's not retro-fittable.

Richard.

[hugh]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

That's a no in this case, but thanks for the reply