Outside of running a business, this is probably the biggest project I’ve taken on. My wife, requested that I make her a cattery. Honestly, I think I can say that I had never heard of the term “cattery” before this moment. I figured it must have something to do with those adorable little furballs that she seemed so fond of. I soon found out that her vision of a cattery was pretty specific.
Given our new location in the hot Arizona desert, I knew there was quite a bit I was going to have to figure out to make this project a success. This wasn’t one of those, shoot from the hip type of things, and work out the details after the fact.
This was one of those engineering projects the required water, power, and HVAC. Not to mention that the fury things needed in indoor and outdoor living area.
Initially, moving to the new property in January with 6 cats, a temporary solution was needed. The property already had a shop, which was a bonus for the cats, and something I could work with in a pinch. In 2019, when all the conventions were canceled, I scored a couple pallets of display grid wall that I wired to the beams to keep little monsters from escaping. This took a bit of work, but offered a good temporary solution, as some of the cats in my opinion were not smart enough to become great warrior hunters of the Arizona wasteland.
After designating, a patch of previously ignored dirt, as the location for the new cat castle, I attempted to hand level the area to prepare it for concrete form work. I quickly realized, that the dirt itself highly resembled concrete. With my tractor on my other 40-acre property, I decided to get creative. I attached an I-beam to my forklift and used it to grade the property. This worked almost as well, or not well as you would expect. However, it was drastically better than the rake and shovel I was using previously.
My neighbor Ed, in his quick thinking, grabbed his tractor and help distribute some piles of road fill that had been left on the property by the previous owner. After about 20 bucket fulls of this gravelly stuff had been somewhat strategically placed, I was able to get a nicely level and compacted 25’ x 50’ spot to move forward with.
If you are wondering, the box on the back of his tractor worked on the concrete inspired dirt about as well as the hand rake.
If you are wondering, the box on the back of his tractor worked on the concrete inspired dirt about as well as the hand rake.
2 x 4 forms were put in place. 2 inch foam was put in the middle of where the concrete slab would be poured to create a thermal break between the sections, so the indoor areas could be more easily temperature controlled.
The plumbing and electrical were trenched in, and concrete was poured. Thinking ahead, I made some forms for a couple stairs so I could make use of any extra concrete than might be left in the truck. Luckily, I used every last drop had just enough. After completing the steps, I used the gasoline chop saw to cut out the extra block.
With this project getting into high swing, lumber was reaching a state of hyperinflation where you could purchase a 2 x 4 for the ultralow price of eight dollars each. Already on a tight budget and having a house that had to be completely remodeled before I could properly finance it, it was time to get creative. With Facebook classifieds to the rescue, I was able to find urethane foam panels with a steel skin on each side. Well not the easiest way to make a building, it would be well insulated in the hot Arizona sun. Adding to the challenge, these panels were all mismatched, of different thicknesses, and different configurations. I took inventory of everything that was available, and put it in the CAD to figure out how to utilize what was available. The panels vary in thickness from 2 inches to 6 inches, so all the walls were different and some architectural creativity was required.
Luckily, Ed came back over and helped me put all the panels together and fly them into the place with the forklift. My wife and I screwed some plywood reinforcing strips to the large six-inch thick panels that would become the roof. In a precarious moment of nailbiting stress, I placed the roof panels on top of the buildings.
We installed a bunch of surplus windows that I picked up from the salvage yard and performed some spray foam wizardry to the tune of about 80 cans to seal everything up. Hundreds of concrete screws held everything down to the pad, and roof flashing was installed to finish all corners. Some Simpson ties finished making everything solid. It took a little doing, but the final structure was very solid, very well insulated and watertight.
With the help of Mike, the walls, ceiling and floor were all coded with epoxy. Trim was added around all the windows, and around the floor.
Next, was one of those soul testing experiences where I had to trench 200 feet of electricity and water to supply the buildings. Expecting this job to be uneventful, I quickly found out that I trying to dig a hole through a minefield of 8 inch rocks. Needing to get the project done, I had an eventful 16 hour day with a pickax.
As my responsibility started to pull me away from completing this project, at the same I was also having to step up completing the utilities. Needing to get the project done, I picked up a truckload of corrugated roofing to cover the whole building. Before I could get it up, it rained on the corrugated, and the water between the layers left an interesting patina. We decided we liked the aesthetic and went for it. As I was scrambling do the utilities on the inside of the building, Ed offered to side it. That was deftly not something I was going to turn down. With his help, it freed up time for me to install the swamp coolers and the mini split units. We use the swamp coolers whenever possible because they provide air exchange, but the mini splits are use when it’s too hot, or we need heat in the winter.
Back to the whole concept of using what I could find lying around the property, it was time to make the individual indoor units for the cats. After ordering some steel base plates, I was able to find enough metal that I already had to build all the interior walls. The grid wall that was used for the temporary cat enclosures, was reused here. About 5 gallons of tractor paint later, I coated all the assemblies that I welded, along with the bonus of unintentionally painting my forklift, truck, trailer and shop.
Now, for that big leap where it starts to look like there was a plan behind it, I installed the electrical panels, a bunch a steel conduit about a mile of wire. I installed a sink in each building with their own water heater and put the panels in place. I modified some doors that came off of some old server racks and they worked perfect. The cats finally had a temperature-controlled place to call home.
The lower blue aluminum panels received a layer of vinyl car wrap, and were screwed in place. Refrigerators and freezers were added to store the food. It was getting together just in time, as summer was creeping in.
The lower blue aluminum panels received a layer of vinyl car wrap, and were screwed in place. Refrigerators and freezers were added to store the food. It was getting together just in time, as summer was creeping in.
With the inside of the buildings done, it was time to focus on the outside. Going back to the box steel and grid wall, I framed in the outdoor area. I completed the roof and the gutter system.
Needing a way for the cats to get from the indoor to the outdoor area while maintaining the climate control, a design some doors that had an air gap in the middle. I laser cut the doors out of acrylic and added magnets so that they can open when pushed from either side.
