Best way to cut a catdoor-sized chunk from a glass french door?

[Angie Bonser-Lain]

I'm kicking the idea around of building an outdoor cattery with a enclosed tunnel running to it. 

Unfortunately, I have 4 areas I could run the tunnel from; My kitchen sink window, my dining room window, inside the masterbed closet, or our back door (a faux 10-panel glass french door). Since I want the cats to stay away from the surfaces by the windows, that leaves either breaking a hole through my bedroom closet, or cutting a hole in the stationary-side of the door.

What would be the best way to cut a catdoor-sized hole into the glass french door? The door comes apart, and the large glass panel can be removed. The edges of the hole would be covered by the removable 10-panel frame.

[Martin Bogomolni]

Thinking sideways for a moment -- is cutting the wall -next to- the
french door a possibility?

In Santa Cruz, there is a no-kill shelter house, where cat-runs run up
near the ceiling, and the cats basically run through the house like
hamsters in habitrail, except instead of tubes, there are carpeted
ledges.

-M

[R J]

Those doors are usually.one large pane of safety glass, so I don't beleive that you can cut them?

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[Elliot Hallmark]

It would have to be a circle.  AFAIK, it is not possible to cut glass not all the way across.  It would eventually start to crack at the end of the cut.

[Elliot Hallmark]

yes, tempered (ie safety) glass cannot be cut.

[Elliot Hallmark]

If you are just removing one little pane of 10 (as in the picture you posted), then you don't need to make any cuts.

[Angie Bonser-Lain]

The wall directly to the left of the door is solid brick, with about a 6" wall behind that (built-out of a cast-iron stove). The wall directly to the right is under the dining room table (small house, very cozy).

[Angie Bonser-Lain]

The panes are not separate. The door is one large pane, with a removable "frame" to look like individual panes. I can remove that grid, and would have a solid glass door. 

[Martin Bogomolni]

If you replace the entire pane with non-safety glass ... then it could
be cut. It's not cheap, and you lose the nice pane that's already in
there. Ick?

Plexiglass is also an option, but it's easy to scratch, and expensive.

-M

[Joe Cline]

I had the same issue, but with dogs wanting to allow them in and out. I decided the best option was to buy another door on CL for cheap and chop a hole in it. Then when I go to sell or want it to look "good" again, I can put the original door back.

-M

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[Danny Miller]

Look for an etching in the corner.  It will identify it as Tempered or Laminated Safety Glass.  This is important.

Tempered glass cannot be cut in any way, even a waterjet cannot cut it.  The process is not the issue, the end state where the envelope of tempered outer surface is not contiguous around the entire piece is not a viable state.

However, not all safety glass is tempered.  A lot of it is laminated safety glass (like a car windshield, there's a layer of plastic between 2 layers of glass), which CAN be cut with a waterjet.  There's a WJ up at Techshop which can do this.  If you're gonna do this you'd probably need a round or oval hole, an interior corner will crack, and the portal should either be an interior cut which doesn't get more than a couple inches from the edge OR a total arch that leaves "footings" on either side of at least 3"-4" width.  They have to support the weight of the glass above.

It is possible to cut laminated safety glass with a hand tool, but it's limited to straight lines, and straight lines won't do what you need.

Do NOT replace that with ordinary annealed plate glass.  It's dangerous and probably a violation of the building code.

What you could do is order a new piece of glass, either laminated or tempered.  I can recommend Binswanger Glass in town.   What you'd do is make it shorter so it ends underneath the "faux" pane separator grid.  You will need to build a true framing member there to support the weight of the glass above.  Then below, use acrylic or plywood or whatever to make the cat door.  This way the new glass is a standard rectangle and Binswanger will make that easily.

Either way, you must reglaze the glass mounting.  You can't cut it in-situ unless it's laminated safety glass and want to try to cut a portal or arch out of it with the waterjet inside the pane.  It's "possible".  There's a "better than 50/50" chance this would work.  But it stands a real chance of breaking the glass, so be prepared to buy and glaze new glass.  It also stands a remote chance of breaking the frame.

Danny

[Steve Baker]

Maybe you need some lateral thinking.

Cats climb pretty well...can you go up and over - or perhaps down and
under? A literal tunnel down through the slab and out (Yes, there are a
million problems with that!) - or go high and give them a way to climb up
there.

(OK, that's more vertical thinking than lateral!)

-- Steve

-- Steve

[David Mitchell]

Just FYI, a new pane of glass for a door just like yours (mine) cost $400 to replace when it breaks.

[Angie Bonser-Lain]

Yikes! Perhaps busting through my wall is the way to go.

Good info here though. Cutting a circle rather than a hard-edged square makes since now that it's pointed out.

[Martin Bogomolni]

Yep .. and busting through the wall isn't -that- hard.. you just have
to find the right place.

[Angie Bonser-Lain]

My studs are 24" a part, so it's pretty easy. Patching the exterior if the time ever comes might be interesting though. I guess take the (faux-wood cement board stuff) off as a full panel and replace with a fresh panel, paint, and done.

[Martin Bogomolni]

Just for fun --->

http://www.instructables.com/id/RFID-cat-door/

(commercial one)
http://www.wag.com/cat/p/cat-mate-elite-selective-cat-door-with-rfid-113407

hee hee

[Danny Miller]

Glass itself isn't that expensive.  IIRC cut-to-size laminated safety glass was $9.50/sq ft.  They MIGHT be using a waterjet that could cut a cat door into it if you ask.

Glazing is somewhat difficult, and the weight of the glass itself may require 2 people to handle.  But if it's a wood-frame window, the glazing operation is fairly straightforward.

Danny

[Elliot Hallmark]

If the glass *is* cut-able, you could cut the whole bottom off.  I guess you could then cut that bottom piece in half and replace half of the glass, but idk if that would support the pane above it.  You may need to replace the half of the bottom that isn't cat door with something that can support the pane above it.

On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 2:07 PM, Steve Baker <st...@sjbaker.org> wrote:

[Michael Burek]

I'd say to try and cut the wood edge of the door. Cats can squeeze through smaller holes.

Or take out the big pane of glass and put some wood panel on the bottom half of the door (with a cutout for the cat), and then smaller glass on the top half. That way you have less glass to buy.