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Wood Plank Dog House Build

Welcome to the Dog House Times video – Wood Plank Dog House Construction Video.

This instructional ‘how-to’ video shows you everything you need to build a gorgeous, functional wood dog house. 

In my video, there are several short references to the tools I used to build the dog house or, similarly, to the plans I made to go along with the build. You can find my recommendations for tools below. The plans can be found here.

How To Build A Wood Plank Dog House Video With Farmer Jer.

Dog House Sizing

The dog house sizing is based on the dimensional charts at Dog House Times. I’ve got the charts split into two pages, so it doesn’t take you all day to load the page (there are 440 breeds, after all). Please take a look at my dog’s house size chart.

Tools You Need To Build This Dog House

Building a dog house properly requires reviewing plans like the ones I provide at Dog House Times.
A Jack Russell Terrier reviews his dog house plans. Too cute? Maybe.

You’ll need various tools to build a simple plank doghouse like the one in my video. I’ve grouped those tools for your convenience by necessary tasks. Similarly, I’ve tried to provide links to the best-priced products I found to do the job. After all, you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg, right?

If you want my dog house plans to go along with the video, you’ll need to get them. I’ve put a button below to get you to my dog house plans.

Safety First

  • Safety glasses are essential. You’ll be working with splintering wood and saws and things, so protect your oculars, folks.
  • Work gloves are also necessary for handling skids and for working with splintering wood.
  • Work boots are unnecessary, but I am happy I wore steel-toed work boots when I took the skids off my car’s roof rack. One slipped and would have broken my toes if not for the boots. Think twice and work safely.

Links to the best-priced safety gear (that I could find, if you find better deals, let me know in the comments) to do the job.

Material Gathering

  • A vehicle roof rack or trailer to carry the skids to your work site.
  • Tie-downs to secure the skids in a trailer or on the roof rack.

Links to the best-priced material gathering gear (that I could find, if you find better deals, please let me know in the comments) to do the job.

Skid Dismantling

  • Pry bar – Absolutely essential to taking skids apart.
  • Hammer – You’ll need a hammer to help with nail removal.
  • Sledgehammer – Yup, it came in handy (and it’s a tremendous de-stress tool, lol).
  • Saw – I recommend an Electric Reciprocating Saw.

Links to the best-priced skid dismantling tools (that I could find, if you find better, let me know in the comments) to do the job.

Wood Preparation

  • Electric sander (I had a sander, but a planer would have been better)
  • Electric planer (I wish I had one for the build).

Links to the best-priced wood-prep tools (that I could find, if you find better, let me know in the comments) to do the job.

The Build

  • Table saw or circular saw to cut the planks to size.
  • Electric drill to pre-drill screw holes to avoid wood splitting.
  • Electric impact or equivalent
  • Caulking gun to seal up the cracks.
  • Paintbrush for staining.
  • Rags to clean up.
  • Measuring tape.
  • Square

Links to the best-priced wood building tools (that I could find, if you find better, let me know in the comments) to do the job.

Dog House Materials

Skid wood planks often have many nails you'll need to remove. Find out how at doghousetimes.com.
Don’t forget you’ll need to remove a ton of old nails from used skids. And given they are often hardwood, be ready for a challenge. That’s why you need a strong pry bar and hammer.

Here is a list of the materials you’ll need to build the dog house I build in the video:

  • Three decent wood skids
  • One floorboard or a fourth skid
  • Two hinges with 1/2″ wood screws
  • 100 wood screws 1 1/4″ long
  • 1/2 gallon weather-proofing stain or paint
  • 1 tube of caulking

Links to the best-priced materials (that I could find, if you find better, let me know in the comments) to do the job.

The build is simple and straightforward and provides a great little dog house. You can use my dog house video to make a house that suits any small to medium-sized dog.

Large Breed Dog House

To adapt these instructions to a dog house plan for a large dog breed, all you need to do is as follows. Simply grab yourself some longer pieces of wood than a skid can provide. You will also need to improvise a larger floorboard. This method will allow you to follow my video to build your large dog house quickly. 

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