Alright... It's been a while since a post, but I'm finally back working in the garage. Since the last one we moved to Florida (where we were garage-less in an apartment), then to San Antonio (where all the time was spent fixing up our house), and now to Austin where I have a garage and a little more time. Enough of that stuff, lets get to the project.
This one is from the Pintrest-born Honey-Do list. That's a long list, but I figured this one had some merit because hiding cat poop as best you can is always a smart move.
I would like to note that this is a new type of build for me. I'm not big on painting wood, and I'm not fond of using particle board. With that being said, remember what this is being used for. Paint will do just fine.
I started the build making the basic frame putting the front, sides and bottom all together. The bottom board has two 1/4" groves cut in it to allow the plexi-glass doors slide. I used a dado blade on my table saw, but youi could always get the same effect making a few passes on an 1/8" blade.
With the basic frame glued up I moved on to the inside and back. The inner divider is built with cheap and light 1/4" Birch plywood with quarter round at the top and bottom. This is just enough support top and bottom to hold it in place. No structural purpose there, so no need to get too crazy. I notched the rear of the sides and bottom for the rear panel to sit in. This gave it a good flush look.
After the basic frame was put together I went on to cutting the cat hole and dry fitting the doors. The doors are made from 1/4" plexi-glass that came in a 2'x4' sheet. It was surprisingly easy to work with. I first cut it to fit on the table saw, rounded the edges to ensure it would slide, then drilled a large hole to use to slide. To give the frosted appearance I used Valspar frosting spray from Lowes. It has stuck well, however I wasn't entirely pleased with how uniform it went on.
For painting the cabinet I went with a PPG sealer first, then a quality latex enamel. The combo gives a tough scrubbable finish but still allows for soap and water cleanup. I had a scrap of carpet laying around and cut it to fit. The carpet should capture any stray littler before the cat has a chance to track it out.
One other item I want to point out involves keeping the litter from getting into the door tracks. I accept that eventually litter will make it into the tracks and cause an issue with the door sliding. To help prevent this I attached the soft side of a velcro strip to the sliding door which makes for constant contact between it and the floor molding. This should keep a lot of the litter out of the track.
Here are some final pictures:
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