Dog Stairs

[Anonymous No.1132517]

Hey diy, I have 2 dogs which love to sit on my bay windowsill and look outside all day. 1 dog developed a leg issue and she can't make the jump onto the sill anymore. I built her some stairs out of 5/4 pine which she now uses but are they strong enough?

I'll upload some pics. What I worry about is how I connected the back stands to the stair horses: I used a biscuit joiner and just put a single 3" drywall screw at 45 degrees into the back.

What do you think?

[Anonymous No.1132518]

>>1132517
The back

[Anonymous No.1132520]

>>1132517

Instead of requiring the H support on the back you could simply screw a french cleat onto the chairs and onto the wall. Then it'll never come off for sure.

[Anonymous No.1132521]

>>1132520
*chairs = stairs

[Anonymous No.1132522]

>>1132517
>no dog elevator

I'm disappointed.

[Anonymous No.1132527]

>>1132517
should be fine OP, unless your dog weighs over 100lbs.

looks nice. sorry about your doggo

[Anonymous No.1132535]

>>1132520
True but I was hoping to keep it all wood. Not familiar with the French cleat - do I need to route out the back support for it?

>>1132522
Hilarious

>>1132527
Thanks man. Both my dogs are under 40 lbs and I love them like my own kids. They fuckin love lookin out the window while I'm at work. Barking at squirrels and cars is all they have, but when I come home they go ape. Mans best friend for sure

[Anonymous No.1132565]

>>1132520

OK, I read about this and checked with my dad who is a general contractor.

One of my requirements was to be able to move them around because we have 3 bay windows and a bed we want to help our dog into. Also a requirement is that my kids can't destroy them hence the 5/4 pine use.

.I was going to build a couple more after testing it out cause the shit they sell at places like bed bath and beyond are going to break within a year.n

Moving them around rules out the french cleat, but thanks so much for prompting me to look into it and learn about it.

[Anonymous No.1132579]

>>1132517

I had a bridge flood out, but the truss was still securely anchored. Rather than building a whole new bridge I just used 1x6 boards that I had lying around with 2x6 running perpendicular every 4 foot. I wouldn't call it a good bridge, but it held roughly 600lbs of goats without failing. I would imagine you don't have a 600lbs dog, and your stairs are much more robustly constructed than my bridge, so I am inclined to say you are fine. If you are that concerned about it moving, the simple solution is to add more weight, but personally I don't think that will be an issue.

Post your puppers.

[Anonymous No.1132643]

>>1132517
Maybe some no slip stick on things to improve traction for doggo ?

[Anonymous No.1132819]

>>1132643
And maybe some risers, just as an extra precaution. I had a dog that accidentally broke her back because she fell down some deck stairs when her foot sliped past the treads. I know it's not a huge flight of stairs, but I'd hate for you to go through what I did.

[Anonymous No.1132823]

>>1132579

Not worried about the stairs moving - the sill is barely over a 2' rise, it's just that the one dogger has a bad leg. Before I made the stairs the other dog would gleefully jump up there and get to stare out the window all day while the dog with the bad leg had to sit in the room in jealousy - especially when the dog at the window got to bark at squirrels, the mailman, etc and the other dog just had to wonder what was going on.

Dogs are sleeping now in the bedroom (same room my wife is sleeping in) but I'll post 'em tomorrow if the thread is still alive.

>>1132643
Wife says we should add something to prevent slip but I like the fact that they look all-wood. I specifically wanted to make them myself because every cheap POS on the market looked too fragile, and I wanted something that would outlast me - like I could pass down to my kid if she had a dog that needed stairs for whatever. I haven't thought about it too much, but I would want a long-term material for no-slip or something which wouldn't damage the wood of the stair when removed. Any ideas?

>>1132819
My daughter says I should add risers too. After hearing your story I'm adding weight to her argument. That really sucks man, I'm sorry for your loss. Like we all know, a dog is a man's best friend. Whenever I hear about these dogs willfully laying down their lives, like in the cases of police dogs getting shot... well, I'm a pretty tough dude but it makes me cry.