As many of you know, we brought Joc (pronounced “joss”, short for Jocelyn) into our lives back in August.

Since that time she’s lived in the tent or the trailer with us. When we moved into town, she stayed on the property and for a while we were going up there mornings to let her out of the trailer and feed her and evenings to put her back in the trailer and feed her.

This worked, but it wasn’t really an optimal solution – especially when the heater stopped working due to a blown fuse.

I’d been meaning to build her a dog house for a while, but hadn’t really made time for it so I decided it was finally time.

I planned out a basic structure 48″ wide, 64″long with 30 1/2″ high walls ¹ and a 5 in 12 pitch roof. The dimensions are all external and are designed to give me a good, clean 16″ on center layout for studs and sheeting. I had left over 2×6’s from the house framing so I built it with those. It gives inside dimensions of approximately 37″x55″ (which turned out to be a bigger space than I’d realized it would).I bought materials (wall and roof sheeting, insulation, extra lumber for ridge beam and fascia, and treated wood for the floor joists) and built the floor, walls and rafters in one day.

The floor is pressure treated 2×6’s with rim joists running the long way and joists on 16″ centers with 3/4 OSB on top.The long walls are tied to the short walls with overlapping top plates and I used 2 stud corners so that I could get insulation in and use less wood. I framed an 18″ wide by 24″ high opening and used a left over piece of 4×6 as a header.

There’s a 24″ overhang in front, over the opening, and an 8″ overhang in back. The other overhangs are pretty small – mainly just to keep the water from dripping down the walls which are sheeted with 3/8 OSB.The rafters are at a 5 in 12 pitch and butt up against a ridge beam The ridge beam is supported by a single 2×6 stud on each side to help keep the ridge from dropping and provide a nailing space for my gable sheeting. The ceiling is a cathedral style (following the underside of the roof – not flat) and the roof sheeting is 5/8 OSB.

Since it’s a pretty basic structure, I decided to build it with barge rafters, lookouts and a real fascia because it’s a technique I didn’t use on my workshop. All in all it worked well. I feel capable of doing it that way again on a bigger structure. I still find it pretty amazing how much I’ve learned about framing in the last 8 months or so.

It’s insulated with R-19 fiberglass insulation and we’ll get a vinyl door to help seal it.Right now, it’s just got tar paper on the roof for water proofing. Once the snow melts and the roof dries out I’ll be able to put shingles on. Since each side isn’t very big (only about 30″ by 96″) I was able to use full sheets and there’s only a small opening at the ridge.

The front of the dog house with the “people house” in the background. The triangular wedges were leftover from construction and I used them to level the floor.

Another angle. The large overhang in front should help to keep the entry dry and provide somewhat of a shady spot in the summer.

Looking inside – before I insulated.

[1] Since I’ve got a 24″ tall opening, a 3 1/2″ high header and a double top plate, building a 30 1/2″ wall means I don’t have to put any top cripples in above the header.