Gambrel roof- cubby

[massimofinance]

Our house is a 2 story, with a gambrel roof. What I want to do is cut a small cubby into the empty space in the gambrel roof “dead space” to create an area for the cat box. I believe there is dead space on the second floor between the interior wall and the exterior roof from the second floor to a height of up to 18-24”. The inside box will be about 18x18”, give or take and I’d make it so it sits on rails for easy cleaning.

Here is a photo of the outside and what I’d like to do on the inside for context.

Any advice? I plan to use my multi tool to cut a small hole in between the studs to make sure there is no electrical wires inside the interior wall studs. There should be no plumbing in this area as well.

Thanks.

 

[tpenfield]

The house will stink and it will be difficult/impossible to get the smell out. I think a better bet is if you can make something similar on the outside of the house that the cat can access through a pet door.

We have an area in our summer house that was used for the cat . . . 12 years later you can still smell the cat-box odor even after cleaning the floor multiple times, etc.

 

[Scott Danforth]

If you plan on using the crawl space area for a cat box. line it with PVC, not wood or drywall. that way the cat urine will not soak into the wood and you would be able to keep the ammonia smell from saturating porous surfaces.

additionally, most dead spaces like that may or may not be well insulated. plan on insulating the cat enclosure. you may need to add AC to it.