interior dog door

[larknm]

DH and I and 4 dogs (3 big, one middle size) and 1 parrot live in a 600 sf house. We bought it with old age in mind, in that it's walking distance from 3 markets and the Farmer's Market, to the town plaza, a health clinic and so on. It's an old adobe house in the oldest part of Santa Fe ("the barrio") where the last of the big heroin problem has been cleaned up in the past year (yeah!).

The house is drafty, as old adobes tend to be, and all we've done to ameliorate that hasn't really worked --like insulation in the ceiling. A big problem is the whole bathroom floor is over a crawl space. It's also all electric, because when we moved in I was allergic to gas. So heating is expensive. We use small electric space heaters. We have 12 solar modules for heat, but they only work when the sunlight is actually shining. So winter heating cost causes us to close off the living room (front 1/2 of house) from the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom all winter. Part of what's going on here is my immune system is affected by Prednisone, and our parrot will die if the temp gets below 40 or probably get sick if it gets near there.

The problem is, then we have to get up at night to let one or more of the dogs out to the living room, where they can go out the dogdoor to the yard to pee and poop--two of these dogs are old and can't last all night. Then they need us to let them back in the bedroom. Last winter I didn't get enough sleep. DH said he would do all this, but he sleeps a lot heavier than I do, and gets mad if I wake him up for it. So we will put a dogdoor into the door between the kitchen and living room. We've looked at Habitat for Humanity's Re-Store for a door but the door we'd be replacing to put the dogdoor in it, would have to be an off-size. They have some, but would have to be sawed off at the top or bottom and the hinges probably aren't in the right places. Our carpenter friend who would do the work says that makes it more expensive.

We think if we put the dogdoor in the existing door, it will detract from the house when we go to sell it, that this is just too odd a look. The house, while a bit shabby though well cared-for is kind of charming in its architecture indoors. That's part of why we bought it, besides its proximity to services we use.

ANY take on how you as a buyer or any imaginary buyer would be affected by an in-house dogdoor?

[iris lilies]

If you have an original door to the house, save it so that you can put it back when you place the house on the market. Do not crap on an old, original door. Put your dog door into something temporary.

Doors are incredibly important to me as a potential buyer of fab old adobe homes. But that's me. I do regularly surf Realtor.com for adobes near downtown SF, does that count?

And it reminds me when the new owners of the victorian house up the street from me cut into their walnut stormer doors to set in a mail slot. Ouch, that still hurts me when I walk by that house and see those old doors 6" thick, pristine and untouched for 140 years and made from old growth of the King's forest, now pockmarked with modern crap.

As an aside, it's funny that "the barrio" has been used twice on this website today, and I used it earlier in the week on the MMM site. Things come in 3's...

[Teacher Terry]

I would not put a hole in the old door. I would do what Iris Lilly suggests. I have owned many old homes & that would be a problem for me.

[rodeosweetheart]

Yes, do the temporary door thing, and when and if you show the house, make a written note that the old door is available and you will replace it.
We have a dog door now in backdoor, and we love it, so for us, it was a selling feature. Oh, and we have an interior dog door that is a cat door, between mud room and kitchen, in the original door, and I love it, because the cat can go into the mudroom, but the dog can't, which works at certain time of day.

Come to think of it, our last cottage had an interior cat door, too!

Animal lovers will probably like it, and may not want the old door back.

[Teacher Terry]

we are animal lovers & have 4 dogs but I do not want the little dogs out without supervision. Also I hate original things tampered with when I buy an old home but I could be in the minority)

[Gardenarian]

I agree with the temporary door. We have a sliding glass door with a dog door insert - it has been great! No more accidents or getting up in the middle of the night for the dog.

(I'm getting old, so I still get up in the middle of the night - but for me, not the dog

[bae]

Go with the temporary door approach, get something cheap from Home Depot or a recycle center.

Or hang a tapestry/blanket/curtain across the entrance at night, leave the door open, leave enough room so dogs can get under.

[larknm]

Thank you all. I think you're right and today DH and I went and got a door that's the right width to replace the one that comes with the house, and our carpenter friend will saw off part of the bottom and the hinges will match. The door was $24 with a coupon from a local paper, the regular price was $30. Very nice door, and solid wood, which is what I wanted.

[Sonora Shepherd]

When we bought our house there was a doggie door in the bedroom to a patio outside and also a "cat door" with a ramp to a litter box in the garage. It did not deter us from buying because we loved the house and lot. We had both doors closed off with sheetrock and textured and repainted the bedroom.

[Gardenarian]

Wow, larknm, $24 is a great deal for solid wood! I hope it all works out.