Ozark Cat Patio

biped...."One of our fellow catlovers is having troubles with her escape artist cat. It appears that she's living in a brick building with a fenced in wooden patio. My mission is to develope a catproof, fairly decent looking catio for her pet that should be named Hoodini.

I have been thinking of running my idea by you'all for quite some time. The goal is to build an sixish by 12ish foot enclousure for about fifty dollars. Since I am a lover of pvc pipe I show you the $8.00 Ozark garden gate."




biped. It's made with one peice of pvc pipe $1.29 and two metal fence posts $2.69ish. The pvc is laid in the sun and allowed to "warm" up. One end is then attached to one fence post. The fat biped climbs up on a ladder and slowly bends the pvc pipe towards the second pole. Grandma stands on ground and prays pipe doesn't break, or that the biped doesn't hit her when she falls off the ladder. Grandma holds end of pipe till biped jumps down and manuvers the end of the pvc pipe against the second fence post. Grandma "wires" the pvc to the pole to free up da biped's hands. Then biped uses those plastic wire holders



The "wire" holders can be bought at Lowesish places and are used to hold up wires around desks so people don't trip on them.

Now use your imagination on how to adapt my Ozark garden arch into an enclosure. Go back to the brick building with the wood fence. Please forgive the crudy photoshopping but hopefully you'll get the point. My shed becomes the brick building, the metal fence post is then replaced with a wooden fence.



You would need to know the exact length of the fence in order to purchase the correct amount of pvc pipe. Also you would want a test peice of pvc and a helper to determine the length of pipe needed to form the "arch" that goes from the brick wall to the top of the fence. The helper would stand on a short ladder or chair and butt one end of the pipe against the brick about eight feet from the ground. The other helper would hold the other end of the pipe against the fence. If your patio is only six feet deep one peice should work. If the patio is eight feet then you'd need to join two peices of pvc together with a joiner thingy. (about .49c). You want the pipe to arch in order to be able to walk out your patio door without hitting your head. When you find the "perfect" arch for you, mark and cut your pvc pipe.

If your patio is 8 to ten feet long you would need two peices to form the arches. Pvc pipe is 10 feet long. It can be cut with a hack saw, or if you know your measurements and can bat your eye lashes (like I can) you can get the nice Lowe's guy to cut it for you. If your patio is over 10 feet long, get back with me and I'll explain more.

What you'll be doing is building a rectangular framework on which to put some sort of shade cloth. It comes in many thicknesses and is made of almost non-distructable nylon. You can sew it on a sewing machine to form pockets thru which the pvc pipe can be passed. Or you can fasten it on with velcro or you can purchase pvc clamps that will clamp it to the pvc pipe. The shadecloth is going to be the most expensive part of the project. It blocks the sun thus keeping the patio cooler but it's porous so the air (cool and hot) can escape.

One end of the rectangle shade will be attached to the fence and the other will be attached to the building. Since it's a brick building I would suggest contacting a friendly Lowe's person as to what method to use to attach it.

There is also a way to Form end caps to make the enclosure completely cat proof.