Custom Litter Box

[Skotty]

Because someone wanted to see it, here it is:

It's disguised as a workshop bench in the garage.

To provide a little history, my cats prefer using litter box on the 1st floor, but for years we have been troubled by having no good place on the 1st floor to put the litter box. This finally solves that problem. It's based on a workshop bench we got from Harbor Freight, modified to be fully enclosed underneath. The passageway is custom built as well (tried a cat door, but it just wasn't working out) and it remains open, so it's an air conditioned space. I intentionally installed an outlet, bottom outlet switched, so I could add a night light and a switched "bathroom" exhaust fan. Cabinet doors are there to open it up for cleaning, and I made them locking (don't really want curious folks just opening it up at random).

The extra footings at the bottom serve several purposes -- 1) it raises it so the floor of the litter box is at the same height as the house interior floor; 2) it levels the table (my garage floor has a slight slope to it); 3) it provides space underneath for litter supplies and misc. storage.

I'm pretty darn happy with this thing, and the cats like it too.

 

[Pkmmte]

Wow, that's a very clever litter box placement! How difficult do you find periodically cleaning that litter box?

I've been house shopping lately and I keep wondering where I'd place a litter box without sacrificing aesthetics. This is very inspiring!

 

[ceekz]

Because someone wanted to see it, here it is:

I'm pretty darn happy with this thing, and the cats like it too.

Genius.

 

[Oyster Bait]

Slick!

 

[Roentgen]

Because someone wanted to see it, here it is:

It's disguised as a workshop bench in the garage.

To provide a little history, my cats prefer using litter box on the 1st floor, but for years we have been troubled by having no good place on the 1st floor to put the litter box. This finally solves that problem. It's based on a workshop bench we got from Harbor Freight, modified to be fully enclosed underneath. The passageway is custom built as well (tried a cat door, but it just wasn't working out) and it remains open, so it's an air conditioned space. I intentionally installed an outlet, bottom outlet switched, so I could add a night light and a switched "bathroom" exhaust fan. Cabinet doors are there to open it up for cleaning, and I made them locking (don't really want curious folks just opening it up at random).

The extra footings at the bottom serve several purposes -- 1) it raises it so the floor of the litter box is at the same height as the house interior floor; 2) it levels the table (my garage floor has a slight slope to it); 3) it provides space underneath for litter supplies and misc. storage.

I'm pretty darn happy with this thing, and the cats like it too.

awesome! And I don't even have a cat!

The nightlight is motion sensitive or something? Would be very cool if you could somehow link it so that the sensor triggers both the nightlight and fan to go on until the sensor senses nothing for a period of time (if it's not already set up that way) and automatically shut off. Very impressive! Love how the cat also made it into the picture. Explains everything just with his presence.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

This is a great idea. My wife was just talking about wanting to rescue a kitten this morning, and my main issue was litter box placement as we don’t have a great spot for it. I have a similar arrangement of my garage/house, so I think I could set up something like this in my garage to limit the smells and keep things contained but attractive. It’s like destiny.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

I guess technically it violates fire code on my house to cut through the fire resistant drywall and shear wall on the house/garage fire buffer, but I would just keep the leftover bits and put them back/close the opening, in the event I sell the house. The home inspector wouldn’t like it. Plus I’ll have a garage full of 2 or 3 electric cars hooked up to chargers and those never catch on fire, so what could go wrong? Ha. Still like this idea. Code is more of a guideline than a requirement.

 

[Reid]

Looks great!
We have something similar; my father-in-law built a 2 story outhouse just outside our kitchen, with a cat door. The cats can hang out on the top floor and watch the backyard from the mesh screens; the litter box is downstairs in a home depot 24"x36" concrete mixing pan. We have 2 cats; I try to clean it once a week, but let's be honest, it's more like 1x a week. Been great for years.

 

[Ormond]

I had friends with a similar passage to the garage for the cat box.

I have an extra bathroom and place the litter box in the shower. Since the box is in the house, the box gets cleaned at least three times a day. My cats like a fresh litter box.

 

[Skotty]

Wow, that's a very clever litter box placement! How difficult do you find periodically cleaning that litter box?

I've been house shopping lately and I keep wondering where I'd place a litter box without sacrificing aesthetics. This is very inspiring!

I find it to be quite easy to clean. The opening is big, so scooping the litter is no problem, and if any spills, it spills on the garage floor, so easy sweep clean up. As you might guess, the tray is removable, so I can just pull it out completely when I want to do a full litter change out or wash the tray.

I was wondering if I would have issues with the cats trying to escape while I clean it, but so far that hasn't been an issue. They just look at me funny through the opening, just like in the picture.

 

[Skotty]

awesome! And I don't even have a cat!

The nightlight is motion sensitive or something? Would be very cool if you could somehow link it so that the sensor triggers both the nightlight and fan to go on until the sensor senses nothing for a period of time (if it's not already set up that way) and automatically shut off. Very impressive! Love how the cat also made it into the picture. Explains everything just with his presence.

The night light is light activated, which means it's actually on most of the time (whenever the doors are shut), but it's LED and not that bright, so it's not using enough energy for me to care enough to change it. I currently have the fan on a timer switch, so it will turn off automatically after X minutes, but it does have to be manually activated. The fan doesn't get used much, as the litter location is now ideal and smells rarely infiltrate into human occupied territory. I have used it a time or two though. I wonder if there is a stink sensor I could hook it up to. :-D A methane sensor perhaps? It does just move the stink to the garage, but I'm fine with that, as I don't usually care and opening the garage door clears it pretty quick.

 

[RDoc]

We've had one the the older litter robot automatic litter boxes for years and can very strongly recommend them. They really are self cleaning and make the whole process much nicer both for the cats, because the litter is always clean, and the cats' owners (servants?).

Litter-Robot III Open Air | Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Box

 

[Skotty]

One caveat of this solution is that I think it's important not to actually use the work bench as a work bench. I hang stuff above it on a peg board, and stack stuff on it, but I don't want to potentially scare the cats away from their litter by actually doing workshop work on it. I have a separate workshop table for that.

 

[Reid]

I don't think the cats need the light

 

[Skotty]

Another pic:

Based off of this workbench: 60 in. 4 Drawer Hardwood Workbench

 

[Skotty]

I'll throw in a pic from the other side of the wall as well...

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Looks awesome, nice matching trim. I like how the kitties have to wipe their feet both inside and outside the box. Really keeping things under control!

I think if I ever have to implement this type of arrangement, I'd probably include a (very quiet - don't want to frighten the kitties) normally ceiling mount fan mounted to the wall (I'd have to check if they're rated to be mounted sideways, might not be), hardwire it to a Lutron motion sensor, and duct it out the side of the house like a standard bathroom fan. It would be a little tricky in my case but I think it might just be possible. I could see this strategy being a complete failure for the more sensitive kitty.

There are also plug-in type devices which will activate an attached corded lamp/fan. However, they may not coexist with your nightlight; might not be enough room on the outlet to plug in both at the same time. And it may terrify the cats.