How to Install a Dog or Pet Door

Well it's time for me to make another house call.  Kelly and Glen Panotti of Palo Alto, California want to give their dog Sushi a door of her own.  So I'm going to see if I can lend a hand.

And this would be?
KELLY:
Sushi.
RON HAZELTON:
Hi sweetheart, how are you.  How you doing huh?  How you doing sweetie.  Yes, oh - so this is the, this is the doorway here huh?

GLENN:
Yes, this is where we want the doggie door.

RON HAZELTON:
Now this, this doorway goes where? To your house -
GLENN:
To our garage.

RON HAZELTON:
The garage okay. So Sushi, you'll be able to go from the patio out here, the courtyard to the garage on your own huh?  Is Sushi pretty much full size now would you say?
GLENN:
Pretty much. She'll probably get maybe 5 pounds heavier.

RON HAZELTON:
Okay.   And any other dogs coming along, brothers and sisters?
KELLY:
No, I don't think so. We're a one dog family.

RON HAZELTON:
One dog family okay.  So we'll base the size of the dog door then on her current height right now.

Doggie doors should be positioned so that the bottom of the door is at roughly the same height from the floor as the dog's chest.  So we'll need to make some measurements.  But measuring a moving target is a bit of a challenge.  Okay, I would say about - just about - I would say just about 10 inches.

But the inside and outside floors are not the same height. So we'll need to modify our measurements.

4 inch difference between those two.  I'd suggest we split the difference. And make the opening, the bottom of the opening about 8 inches up from the bottom of the door right here.  We measure and mark the 8 inches.  Then remove the door.

Why don't you go ahead and take that pin out on the upper hinge there.  That's the last one.  Using a hammer and screwdriver, Kelly drives the pins out of the hinges and again pulls the door free.

Let me put a piece of tape down here again. The tape will make our marks easier to see. And avoid our having to erase a lot of pencil lines from the door later on.

Glenn measures the width of the door to find the exact center and Kelly marks the spot on the tape.  Square if you would. We're going to draw a perpendicular line right up -

Now we'll extend our center line several inches upward.   So if you come up here, you're 8 inches.  Then measure up 8 inches from the bottom edge.  Okay, now we'll draw a line parallel to the bottom right there.  This will be the bottom edge of the opening.  This doggie door like most comes with a security panel.  In this case, the panel is the exact size of the opening we need to cut and serves as a template.

So this is the center  line of the panel, this is the center line of the door. If we align those, you know we've got the panel snug in the door and we'll align the bottom edge with this line right here.

Now large drill bits like this tend to splinter the wood as they exit.  So we'll start the hole from this side. But stop about halfway through.  All right, guys.  Now we're going to flip this over -

And finish the hole from the opposite side of the door.  The pilot hole will show us exactly where to drill.  Those are our 4 corners of the opening.

So we're ready to cut.  Have you used a jigsaw before?
KELLY:
No, never before.
RON HAZELTON:
Great.  I love that.  All right one thing -there's a little notch right here. See that?
KELLY:
[Affirmative].
RON HAZELTON:
Okay, well the idea is to keep that notch or the bottom of that notch on your line.
KELLY:
Okay.
RON HAZELTON:
Just come right down here, all right.
KELLY:
Just follow that, okay.
RON HAZELTON:
Just follow that.  Glenn and Kelly quickly get the hang of the jigsaw.  And before you know it, we have a hole in the door.  We no longer need the tape, so we pull it off and it's quickly disposed of. 

Since this is an exterior door, we want to make sure there's a water tight seal around the edge of the doggie door frame.  An exterior caulk like this one will prevent leaks which could cause the door to rot from the inside out.  Think you'll still be in this house in 25 years?
KELLY:
I don't know.  It's kind of a small house.
RON HAZELTON:
Planning a family?
KELLY:
Eventually.  A dog’s kind of practice, right.
RON HAZELTON:
I know that. We press the exterior portion of the frame into the caulk and use our fingers to smooth any caulk that has squeezed out. Wipe off the excess here.  Glenn and Kelly apply some tape to hold the frame in position while Sushi and I supervise.

Then we turn the door over.  Okay, now this is the interior panel.  I want to make sure that the hinge side goes to the top of the door. And if you guys want to start putting these screws in.

Screws secure the inner panel to the outer one.  In effect, sandwiching the door in between.  You guys work together?
KELLY:
Yes, we do.
[SEVERAL SPEAK AT ONCE]
RON HAZELTON:
No, I should - yeah, you work really well together.  Our installation complete, we re-hang the door and discuss security issues. One thing I want to show you here, this is called a security panel. It just slips right in from the top here.

And the reason you want to use this is to keep uninvited guests from coming in.  It could be other dogs, other pets in the neighborhood. I've even seen raccoons come in through doors like this.  Well we finished but our project still needs final approval from the top dog.

Come on, come on Sush, come on.
ALL:
Yay!
RON HAZELTON:
Well I guess our efforts weren't for naught.
GLENN:
Thanks, Ron.
RON HAZELTON:
She seems to like it.
KELLY:
Thanks so much.
RON HAZELTON:
One last thing before I go.   Glenn snaps a picture for Sushi's web page where I'm the guest of honor.