How to Insulate a Dog House
Insulating an outdoor dog house is easier than you’d think. All you need is a motivated and resourceful pet owner. There are a wide variety of dog house ideas available along with many types of insulating materials. You can use something as cheap as bubble wrap or go for the relatively expensive spray foam. The guiding principle is keeping the wind out and the heat in. Firstly, try to select a good location e.g. near the wall of your house. Your doghouse should not directly be in the wind or sunlight’s path. Make sure that you insulate every aspect of the insides.
The walls and the ceiling should be covered with insulation. Any gaps between the walls and the insulation ought to be filled up. You must also not forget about the floor. It is the part that the dog comes most into contact with. Try to raise up the kennel to avoid direct contact with the cold and damp ground. Make sure to use a flap door with insulation both on the inside and outside panels. It will conserve a lot of heat and be dog-friendly too.
Moreover, put up some nice and warm bedding for the dog to lay on. It’ll capture the heat and be comfortable at the same time. Don’t forget paneling up the insulation so that your dog doesn’t start chewing it. If all of this sounds too taxing to you, then you might want to consider checking out our list of the best dog houses for winter. With that said, let’s get into a little detail about how to insulate a dog house.
Which Materials Should You Use to Insulate the Dog House?
There is a wide variety of materials available for insulating a dog house. Whether you want to retain as much heat as possible or lower the use of an external kennel heater or heating pad, insulation is key.
Some can be used for exterior insulation while others serve for interior insulation. Some can also be used as a flap on the entrance to block the wind. Let’s run through a list of the most popular and effective insulation materials.
The pink fiberglass is among the best insulation materials on this list. It is affordable and easy to install. Fiberglass insulated dog kennels are among the coziest in town. What’s more, fiberglass has one of the highest R values in building materials (a parameter for heat insulation, High R-value = better insulation). You can also easily cut it using high-duty scissors rather than creating a mess while using a saw.
Conversely, fiberglass is quite irritating for the skin and lungs (airborne fibers). Hence, you need to wear gloves and a mask while working with it. You also need to cover it with paneling to prevent your dog from coming into contact with it. Moreover, it is easily damaged by moisture so, covering it up is important to prevent that too.
Reflective coil is the best choice for a lot of pet owners owing to its effectiveness, affordability, and user-friendliness. It is also lightweight, non-toxic, and serves as a vapor barrier. You can simply carve up a piece of reflective coil and use it as you like.
Furthermore, it can easily be used along with other insulation materials. You can simply attach it to fiberglass and then hide them behind wooden or plastic panels. Similarly, it is also used together with bubble wrap. Both materials used together add up their insulation properties (and R values). The result is a happy owner and a cozy tenant.
It is based on a concept as effective as it is simple. The wrap uses the same principle as your blanket. Air bubbles are trapped across a sheet and provide great insulation from variations of temperature across it. However, this is not your average bubble wrap. This is a specialized variety that combines the simple wrap with a layer of aluminum foil. It is specially designed for insulation purposes. However, you still have to cover it up with panels to avoid bored Butch chomping on it.
Polystyrene foam or Styrofoam is also one of the best available insulating materials for dog houses. It is cheap, easy to use and readily available. They are available in different thicknesses. A half-inch foam gives you an R-value of 2.5 and you easily fold it and double it up to give an excellent R-value of 5.
However, it is not the most durable of materials and can deteriorate quickly if exposed. It also needs to be paneled to prevent your dog from ingesting any of it.
If you’ve got a little cash at hand and want to go the posh route, get spray foam. It is easy to use and expands to fill the space. Moreover, it also resists moisture and mold growth. You just have to put up the panels along the inner side and spray in the space between them. If your kennel already has inner and outer walls, you can forego the paneling and just spray between the layers.
On the other side, there is the risk of spray foam shrinking over time. Its application also requires planning and experience as it expands quickly.
Using pieces of carpet is another innovative method of insulation and recycling. You can get them at cheaper prices if you don’t mind getting any size or print. They can be easily stapled or glued to the insides and the floor of the kennel. Some people even hang them from cup hooks on the outer walls so as to break the impact of wind. Dog flaps can also be insulated by stapling their insides with an appropriate carpet piece.
Wood is not the best of insulators for insulating a dog kennel. But you can still cut up panels for all the walls and the roof and fix them up on the insides. We’d also advise using a water sealant to improve insulation and help the wood last longer. You should use softer woods like cedar lumber because they contain a greater number of air pockets.
Wooden kennels are not necessarily bad and out of most commercial options, wooden dog houses are probably the best against plastic or worse, meshed metal wires.
Quick Insulation Basics: R-Value
According to Wikipedia, R-Value is the measure of how well a barrier resists conductive heat. The higher the R-Value, the better the insulation. R-Value can be calculated as follows: R-Value = The temperature difference between the warmer and colder surfaces of the barrier / the heat flux through the barrier.
The R-Value per unit of a barrier’s exposed surface area measures the absolute thermal resistance of the barrier.
The absolute thermal resistance is the quantity of temperature difference per unit of heat flow rate needed to sustain one unit of heat flow rate. In short, the lower the R-Value, the less the insulation works, the higher the R-Value, the greater the insulation works.
In comparison, a standard insulated house wall ranges from R-11 to R-15 depending on the insulation density used.
BITTER COLD, WINTERIZING, INSULATING DOG KENNELS
All of us who are pup parents stress out about those winter days when the air temperature and wind chill drive us humans indoors, but our dogs want to go out and play. How do we provide them with a warm, cozy spot to get safely out of the weather when they are not yet ready to come back inside? The solution: An outdoor heated doghouse.
If that sounds complicated and/or expensive, tell your anxiety to take a chill pill—weve got lots of ideas for how to heat a doghouse on a budget. From the most basic heating techniques to going all out with a solar heated doghouse, the ideas and products below for ways to heat a doghouse with and without electricity are sure to keep your furry family member warm and toasty between nipping at snowflakes as they fall, digging tunnels, and running laps to make tracks in all the fresh snow.
Its important to keep safety in mind when heating a doghouse. These are just a few basic tips:
We like heated doghouses as a warm refuge for dogs who are outside with their owners or to enjoy time in the fresh air during the day, rather an overnight solution for family pets who should be kept indoors. Remember, if its too cold for you outside, its too cold for your dog!