One of our cats, Roxie, has been sleeping in the garage for the past several months instead of her cat house on the back porch. Now that the weather is getting colder I wanted to quickly make an insulated home for her that I could leave in the garage. I used two Sterlite storage bins and some insulation to make her a cozy little house on the cheap.
The bins were available at The Dollar Store for $5 and $6 respectively, and a 4′ x 8′ sheet of foam insulation can be purchased from Lowes or Home Depot for under $10. The size of the bins aren’t really that important as long as they nest inside each other with enough room for some insulation and the smallest one is large enough for the cat to fit comfortably. A piece of cloth could be attached to cover the door opening which would help keep in extra heat if needed.
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| The finished cat house. |
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| I cut a 5.5″ x 8″ cat door in the larger 18 gallon Sterlite bin and lined it with 1″ thick foam insulation. |
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| I cut the same opening in the smaller 10 gallon Sterlite bin aligning it with the opening I cut in the larger bin. I covered the floor of the small bin with some straw and nested it inside the larger bin. |
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| I put the lid on the smaller red bin and cut a piece of insulation to cover the top, then I placed the lid on the larger tub. With the exception of the opening for the cat door there is a layer of insulation and two thicknesses of the plastic bin on all sides of the cat house. |
