How to Install a Cat Flap in a Screen Door
Installing a cat flap on your screen is a great way to give your little furry friend the ability to come and go as they please. While installing one of these is by no means difficult, you might not know how to do it. But before we touch on this procedure, let’s look at a few other things first.
What Types of Screen Doors Are There?
If you are in the market for a screen door, you’re going to want to get an understanding of the different types. Roughly, there are three types: hinged,or swing type, retractable, and sliding screen doors. Hinged are typically found in entry ways, while sliding are often found on patios.
These doors work great in allowing outside air into your home while also serving as a barrier to keep mosquitoes, bugs, and other disease-carrying insects out of your home. Using a screen door during milder seasons are great for controlling your electric bill.
What Kinds of Cat Flaps Are There?
Cat flaps are a type of pet door and they come in a multitude of varieties. There are more ornate built-in ones, electronic doors, tunnels, and cheap ones that can be installed into doors and screens alike. It will be the latter of these that will serve as our main focus.
Cat flaps, like any pet door, are easy enough to install into a screen door. While there are many different brands out there, most of them typically follow a certain form and require the same basic tools.
What Tools Will I Need?
According to Pristine House Cleaning, a handyman in Las Vegas, you usually don’t need anything unusual when installing one of these doors. In fact, things like a spline tool and razor blade might already be included in your pet door kit. You will also need a screw gun and screwdriver with a Phillips tip and head respectively.
If you are using a sliding screen door, you first need to choose which corner you’re going to put the cat flap on. From here, you need to remove the flap from the container and undo the screws probably binding it together with a screwdriver.
What Are the Steps to Install the Cat Flap?
Depending on your style of cat flap, there might be a corner bracket included. These corner brackets typically snap together and have small fins around the perimeter to attach to the actual frame of the pet door. This bracket is usually put in with a small set of Phillips screws.
Don’t go crazy with the power. In fact, if you can put it on a lower setting, all the better. When pushing the screws in just apply light pressure so not to strip anything, and make sure to keep it straight.
After the corner is put in, take the cat flap frame out of the package. You’ll probably have to unscrew it to get the accessory pack, along with undoing the spline from around the perimeter. From here, use a Phillips screwdriver to reattach them together with the associating screws. Cut the screening with a razor knife, carefully following the perimeter of the hole of the cat flap.
Using the spline, or creasing, tool that came with your kit, pre-crease the screen into the pinched piece of plastic where you got the spline out of. After this put the spline in with your hand. Once it is in place, carefully push the spline in with your creasing tool.
I Have a Wide Screen Door, Do I Need to Cross Brace?
Most likely not, as these cat flaps are typically ergonomically designed to absorb some of the impact. This is done as the flap itself takes much of the impact and redistributes it by swinging back and forth.
Can I Use This Cat Flap for My Dog?
It depends on the size of your dog. If you have a larger one, it’s best to get a door that is a bit more suited to them. Smaller dogs like Chihuahuas, Malteses, and Yorkshires should be able to use these flaps with little problem.
These flaps can be useful for your cat to get in and out of the house when it needs to. Installing one of these into your screen door is typically a no-fuss process that only requires tools like a screwdriver, screw gun, and razor blade.
