Catflap

A slightly miscalculated project on my behalf. A friend of mine asked if I could help with a catflap installation on his main door. Of course I said yes, I even told him, this will only take me about an hour. Rookie mistake.

When I first had a look on the door, it felt like a painted timber door.  I checked around the lock and hinges, and it felt like wood. In fact, the sides were timber, but the rest wasn’t. It was a steel sandwich door. Pressed steel panels on front and back (looks like a standard timber paneled door) and foam insulation in between the steel. Little did I know when I rocked up, measured, marked, and started to work on the door. The first surprise was that there was no sawdust when I drilled my first pilot hole. I put on a bigger drill bit and I started to realise that this won’t be finished within an hour.

I saw all the steel sheers and insulation dripping out, and I started to worry how my jigsaw would take this. As it turned out, it didn’t. I only had one steel jigsaw blade with me (I expected a timber door), which wasn’t the greatest quality, so it snapped straight away. I tried wooden blades, but they burnt out immediately. I even tried to use my multitool. I made a lot of noise but I didn’t make any progress. So I had to abandon the work and drive to the merchants for some proper jigsaw blades.

Once I was back, the work came together relatively fast. It’s quite amazing how fast you can work with the proper gear. I cut out the hole and fit the catflap in about 25 minutes. I even used a bit of silicone on the door where it stepped in, so it was all smooth and watertight. All in all, this wasn’t too bad of a project. But nobody expected a timber edged steel door. Even the owners – who had this place for a few years now – didn’t know it’s not a timber door. So it doesn’t matter how well you are planning, always expect the unexpected.