Insulated dog houses

Just a little heads up for people living in frigid temps and have dogs wintering outside. Last year I spent about $400 building this fuckin pet palace totally insulated all the way around with R18. Probably weighs between 300-400lbs. Shoebox style with removable top for easy access. I was impressed with myself. Fast forward to this year and I’ve got twice as many dogs and less time to build shit. I started to think what could double as a dog house. Well, the answer to all my problems….commercial chest freezers. I put an ad on Facebook marketplace looking for broken chest freezers. 3 people contacted me. I cut out a 18x18” hole, framed it out, added a few flaps for a door and voila!!! Best sub zero dog house on the market. Removable top for easy access too, lol. In all seriousness it’s -30 windchill here today and the hounds are probably about 70 degrees in there houses. Light easy to move. Pissed I didn’t think of it sooner

 

I made mine insulated years ago …. I used 3/4 “ ply inside then 1” kingspan then a 1/2 “ outer layer … all 6 sides insulated too !

 

Chest freezers. That’s the move. lol. If I didn’t have to cut through the coolant lines it would be awesome to be able to plug in during the summer heat ‍♂️

 

lol- as soon as I mention they winter outside, I’m villainized.

 

I agree with slim , people would use that against you … although they might work your yard would look like a junk yard …. Get some knocked up out of ply and kingspan

 

I just use R13 rolled insulation in between the dog house walls and floors or 2" insulation board, whichever is cheaper at the time.
I'm in a top 10 snowiest cities of the US ( the top half of that list most years ) and I've never lost one due to the cold in almost 3 decades. Never had much of an issue at all keeping them warm. It cost me under 200$ and I have one out there that is still being used today that's around 16 years old so built right and they'll last longer than the dog using it.







Post a picture of the finished house if you decide to try and make it. Maybe it won't look as bad as everyone thinks but it does sound possibly unsightly and like it could make a modern day Karen call up them people, Especially if you have any neighbors who can see them with the dogs using them as houses. It seems like it could be spun by people you don't want visiting your yard. Don't get me wrong, I totally get the concept and theoretically it probably would work great but without seeing finished product it's hard to say.. People have a real problem with dogs being outdoors these days without using a freezer for a dog house, might complicate your life by going outside of the box. I'd just go with plywood and 2x4s like the norm. Less attention, which in today's world, vital for longevity.

 

Yea,

 

The few houses I made look very similar to yours but about twice the size. Same idea with the straw, and wind divide. I built them two years ago I guess now and prices were through the roof. Like $400 to build it. I totally get where everyone is coming from being unsightly. Fortunately/unfortunately I live in one of the poorest counties in NYS and anyone who has seen the Yukon shelter as I like to call it, loves them. Legit 3 inches of foam insulation- stays toasty in any temps. Also- Ive got 25 acres so no one knows nothin. I was more just sharing in case anyone was having trouble housing their dogs sufficiently without breaking the bank. I’d post a pic AGK but I still suffer from the same affliction as before- file is too big or some nonsense

 

If anyone needs to know how to solve that photo size upload issue here is what I do:

Camera phones take huge sized photos in terms of file size. All you have to typically do to fix that problem is to screenshot the photo then you can crop out your phone's notifications bar on the photoshot picture. Then upload it. Both dramaticly reduced the size of the file. I have to do it every time I post a picture, it's really easy though it is a little inconvenient. Cell phone camera photos are humongous.

 

The divider got added later after they would leave the door flap on. Gets too hot. I’ll take some pics of the Yukon shelter and post tomorrow.

 

I mean.... takes 1 Google search to pull up plenty freezer/fridge to dog house pics.... this isn't some new found concept..... hell there's a "company" that turns old fridges into dog houses.... I can ride up to the feed store and buy a insulated dogs house(not with the partition just off set door) for under $200 that will pass any unwanted visitors inspection and outlast most wood houses.... housing a dog isn't too complicated its been done for centuries lol

 

This is all very true. I guess I just didn’t think to google search “freezer dog house.” Listen man, I get impressed with myself when I use a sandwich bag to squeeze my daughter’s yogurt into her squeezy instead of using a spoon. Side note- if you do use the freezer- wear a mask. Didn’t think about Freon running throughout the hole entire exterior

 

Great job AGK but you dont seem to have insulation in the roof ? As we know heat rises so will go straight through the roof like in our own houses … mine are similar but i only used 1” kingspan but i did the floor , sides and the roof

 

The freezer idea is great. As stated, can likely pick them up cheap/free and if you google them, they don't look bad at all.

While its not that much labor to build one of the insulated wood houses, can't argue with working smarter and cheaper.

 

Depending on what kind we're talking about, some would look better than a regular dog house would. This is my deep freezer :



That wouldn't look bad at all in my kennels. Would look better than their houses look as far as appealing to the eye.

 

I went about twice the size, but I think my mutts are about 3x the size of yours, lol. Two for in comfortably. I’ve also noticed housing littermates together outside seems to reduce their aggression towards one another. Inside they’ll get possessive about certain areas of the house. Outside remains neutral so none of the “littermate syndrome” bullshit to deal with. Not that I really believe in it much anyway. Not that I believe in the syndrome. I think the issue is more of the dogs being the same age. That’s another story