Ron travels to the heart of Silicon Valley, to visit Kelly and Gen Tanabe in their Palo Alto home. The Tanabes need some help with their first "child", the family dog. Kelly and Gen both work at home, but it is an annoying interruption to their day when their dog, Sushi, wants to come in…and then out again…and then in again…and then …you get the idea. They've asked Ron to help them install a pet door leading into the garage from the backyard so that Sushi can go in and out as she pleases, leaving them to get some work done. Being a dog lover, Ron is happy to help out.
Visit Sushi's web site at www.supercollege.com/sushi
Click here for a list of what
you will need in order to complete this project.
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1. Determine dog door placement:
- They based the size of the dog door on Sushi's height. Pet 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. Measuring a moving target was a bit of a challenge, but they finally got a measurement of ten inches.
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- In this home, the inside and outside floors were not the same height so they needed to modify their measurements. There was a four-inch difference between the two floor heights and Ron suggested they split the difference and make the bottom of the opening about eight inches up from the bottom of the higher of the two floors. They measured and marked the eight inches on the door with a piece of masking tape.
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2. Remove door from hinges:
- Using a hammer and screwdriver, Kelly drove the pins out of the hinges and then removed the door.
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- They carried the door out to the patio and placed it across two sawhorses. Ron thought it would be easier to work on the door while it was lying down and it would also be easier for him to show them exactly what to do.
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3. Determine location of cut out:
- The next step was to locate the center of the door. Ron put a piece of wide masking tape on the door in approximately the center position. This way, they could put their marks right on the tape and they would be easier to see. This would also mean they would not have to erase a lot of pencil lines from the door later on.
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- Gen measured the width of the door to find the exact center and Kelly marked the spot on the tape.
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- Next, they needed to draw a perpendicular line to indicate the bottom edge of the opening. They extended the center line several inches upward and then measured up eight inches from the bottom edge. Using a carpenter's square, Ron drew a line parallel to the bottom of the door.
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- The doggie door they had purchased, like most, came with a security panel. In this case, the panel was the exact size of the opening they needed to cut and therefore could be used as a template. They measured and marked the exact center of the security panel, and then aligned the two center points along the parallel line that they had drawn to get the exact position of the door.
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- Kelly traced the outline of the security panel onto the door and they were ready to bring out the power tools.
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4. Cut opening in door:
- They were going to use a jigsaw to cut out this rectangular opening but Ron said this would be easier if they had holes to start with. Ron recommended that they drill holes in all four corners so they would not need to turn the jigsaw around any corners. They used a combination square to help keep the bit as vertical as possible while they drilled the pilot holes.
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- Next they used a larger bit to enlarge the holes enough to insert the jigsaw blade. Ron cautioned that large drill bits tend to splinter the wood as they exit so they started the hole from the first side, but stopped it about halfway through, flipped the door over and then finished the hole from the opposite side of the door. The pilot hole showed them exactly where to drill.
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- Ron showed Kelly a little notch on the jigsaw that is used to align with the line she had traced earlier. She lined up the bottom of that notch with her line and began cutting exactly on the mark.
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- Once the hole has been cut, they no longer needed the tape, so they removed it and threw it away.
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5. Install pet door:
- Since this was an exterior door, it was important to create a watertight seal around the edge of the pet doorframe. They used an exterior caulk to prevent leaks, which could cause the door to rot from the inside out.
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