DIY Doggie Door for Sliding Patio Door
We have a sliding patio door. Our cat and dog like to out onto our patio now that it’s meshed up to be an enclosure (“catio”). We wanted to give them free access instead of opening/closing the sliding door all the time, or just leaving the door open all the time and watching the AC bill go through the roof.
We researched sliding patio door doggie doors, and they can be 0+.
Well, I’m college broke (which means I’m living on student loan money, and after classes and books and rent are paid I pretty much have peanuts to live on). I’ve always been a bit of a scrounger and “make due with what you have”, so I figured I could make a doggie door for the patio with some cardboard and foam edging as sealant.
So, 4 pool noodles + some cardboard boxes broken down and glued together in laminate fashion (ie: where they overlap to create a reinforced structure)… a little box-cutting action to shore up the edges and cut a hole for the dog/cat to go through, and then slice the pool noodles down one side to create a slit that can fit them over the edge of the cardboard panel I made … a doggie door is formed.
The pool noodles are not glued on; they are purposefully kept loose that way you can fit the panel in place then push the pool noodles out some to fill in the air gaps between the panel and patio door.
Only think I’m still debating on is some kind of flap to “seal” the bottom with that is stiff enough to stay in place (to keep the AC from blowing out the bottom hole) while still being functional enough to let the cat go in and out without him freaking out.
