How do you get rid of a cat flap?

Blue160

Blue160

Blue160

Soldato
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As per the thread title really :)

The previous owner of our house had cats, so there's a cat flap in the back door. This would be fine except that my one year old son has reduced the mechanism to a pile of broken plastic. It's more of a cat hole now which obviously isn't ideal!

Is there a way of blanking off a cat flap? The door is a plastic one. I'd very much like to not have to buy a new door!
 
Thanks for the reply.

I've got no idea how to get the trim off, but that would seem to be the ideal solution if it's possible. Pulling the door apart scares me though!
 
If you can't remove panel then look at a upvc door skin, you can get them in 1.6mm & 2.5mm thicknesses, you may have a local plastic merchant who sells plain flat upvc sheet & you can cut you a couple of panels to size.

You need to fill in the hole first, with ply or something similar before gluing panels in place, then sealing edges with silicon.
 
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A cat flap is usually just held on by 4 long screws in each corner that hold the inside bit to the outside bit. It might be cheaper just to put another one in (and stop your 1-year old messing with it!). A quick look on Argos shows them as between 10 and 25 quid - chances are it's one of those. There's not a lot of models of cat flap around.
 
Replacing the cat flap seems like the answer best matching my DIY skills! Not sure how I'd stop the urchin messing with it though. It's at just the right height for him to fiddle with.
 
On the inside around the panel will be a 4 beading strips, these can be eased out with a chisel, out comes the door panel, measure, order new panel and reverse instructions, use a rubber mallet to securely relocate the beading really simple job if you dont want a cat flap.
 
The beading strip being the black rubbery bit about 4mm thick around the edge of the panel? That sounds simple enough......
 
Yes the black rubber strip is attached to the upvc beading, where the beading and the frame join should have enough room to squeeze a chisel in, little leverage and it'll pop out.
 
Ok I've looked up a few YouTube videos of how to remove the beading and I think I understand what to do. I'm going to attempt replacing the panel later in the week. Thanks for the input everyone :)
 
I just replaced the plastic panel, when i left my house. Couldn't even tell there had ever been a cat flap in the door :) just pop the trim off and put in a new panel, 5 min job.
 
Thanks for that doofski. That's given me a bit more confidence that I'm not about to wreck a perfectly good door :)
 
Forgot to add the door was UPVC. You can probably get spare panels from B&Q or your local double glazing shop.
 
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