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Removing cat flap

W

Windows

Old Oak
Joined
Jan 25, 2022
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Cumbria & West Kent
I want to remove the cat flap from this door

IMG_4209.jpeg

Any advice for adding a panel back to fill the hole without taking the door apart?

I guess a panel flush to the sides held in by moulding (and/or fixings hidden by the moulding) should work?
 
I don't think the answer will be clear until you take the plastic bits off. If that reveals square edges to the moulding and bits of the original panel all around, you might get away with glueing squares of thin ply on each side.

If you don't want the extra horizontal rail, it might yield some of the right moulding to match missing bits.

A lot will depend on how particular about the final appearance of the door and what tools you have to match the mouldings.

If you can make or buy some moulding that looks close enough, I think it will probably be neatest to remove the extra horizontal, saw off the long vertical mouldings (possibly on the other side, where they might have been planted on) and insert a new panel to match the ones on the sides.

A photo of the other side would help.
 
Where is the location of the door in your home Windows?
Is it a rear or side door, how pretty does it need to be? If it is a high visual door if so I would also give it a good scraping and sanding to get rid of the paint drips.
 
It’s the back door. We’re country so, it’s the most used, but doesn’t need to be perfect.

Looks like this with the cat flap removed and a bit of a scrape. Inside looks the same.
IMG_4212.jpeg

I’m going to take off the bit of moulding and panel back to the horizontal then use plywood and the mouldings I’ve been using for my internal glazing to hold it in place from both sides. Should be good enough. The mouldings look like the ones on the door already, but size just slightly different so can’t butt new to old.
 
Dimension of replacement panel 175 mm x 217 mm x 6 mm
(6 mm is the thickness of the panel I removed)
First blood to the chisel
 
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I attached the moulding with 20 mm pins and drilled pilot holes for them using a pin that I’d made headless as the bit. Since I use different pins in this way quite frequently, I recently bought a couple of cheap (£7 for 2) hex shank chucks to hold the pins for quick swaps:

IMG_4204.jpeg

(Pictured with a headless 40 mm pin to give a sense of the size)

These are really poor quality! But they work fine for this purpose.
 
Anyone remember this:

arry went to ampstead
arry lost his at
arry’s mother says to arry
arry, where’s your hat?
It’s anging on the ook in the all

I don’t know the origin, just something my parents used to say. A music hall number? TV comedy sketch?
 
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Talking of bloody chisels, I mentioned that I cut myself on it yesterday. Side of my finger against the side of the chisel. Not deep, just a bit annoying. As on previous occasions, I probably didn’t fully notice until minutes after it happened. Are you supposed to blunt the sides of a chisel or something or just be careful? I’m very conscious of the end of the chisel, but in the heat of battle, I don’t (yet?) pay attention to the side. It’s not an unexpected impact, it’s where I’m kind of guiding the chisel with my left hand during paring while the right hand is pushing. I could wear a glove on my left I suppose.
 
I placed the vertical moulding first and scribed the horizontal moulding. Probably should have done it the other way round for best water protection. Used dec caulk to fill any gaps. Screwdriver removed the excess.

For scribing I straight cut a 5 mm piece off the end of the moulding and traced around it on the flat back of the end of the pieces being scribed.

Used small flush cut saw for the straight and coping saw for the curve. I’m not great at using the coping saw. The results aren’t terrible and caulk hides all sins, but would appreciate any tips. Probably just need more practice. I only use it for scribes and have probably still only done about 12 total.
 
I watched an older Italian man about 35 years ago cope all his skirting board joints. He was very fast and said at first it was difficult but after coping fifty joints you get very proficient. Practice makes perfect.
 
Just in case you don't know this tip for coping mouldings... First, cut a plain mitre. Then use the coping saw to cut along the line where the mitre intersects with the front of the moulding.

That's hard to describe and really needs a diagram or a video!
 
I’ve probably done 1000s the way Andy describes, I used a fine scribing blade in the jig saw for the scribing cut, straight cut was cut on the mitre saw.
I also had a few shaped rasps to fine tune the moulding scribe.
Most importantly when doing skirting….remember to look after your knees!
 
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