How to Build a Cat Tree Out of PVC

Multitiered cat trees provide a cat with a toy to play on, and also a place to lie down and sleep. Designing and building a tree is a simple process, and can save you money, as many commercial cat trees are far more expensive than the costs of the components needed to build one yourself. PVC is an excellent material for constructing the towers of your tree, as it is strong and cheap.

Things You'll Need

  • Plywood, 1-inch thick
  • Yard stick
  • Pencil
  • Saw
  • PVC pipe
  • Liquid Nails glue
  • Carpet
  • Utility knife
  • Staple gun
  • Staples
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut a piece of plywood in the desired shape for the lowest level of your cat tree. If you will only be using shapes with straight edges, a hand saw will suffice. However, rounded cuts will require a jigsaw.

    • 2

      Cut pieces of PVC pipe for the legs extending up from the bottom tier of your cat tree.

    • 3

      Cut a piece of carpet to wrap around each piece of PVC cut in step 2. The swatch of carpet will have to be as wide as the tube is tall, and as long as the diameter of the pipe multiplied by pi (3.14).

    • 4

      Glue the carpet to the pipe using Liquid Nails glue. Be sure that the soft side is facing out.

    • 5

      Place some carpet face down on the floor, and place the plywood in the center of it, also face down. Cut a swatch of fabric around the plywood with the utility knife, with a three-inch border between the wood and the line you cut.

    • 6

      Fold the carpet up and around the plywood, then secure it down using the staple gun. The three-inch border from step 5 will ensure the carpet can wrap entirely around the sides of the plywood and reach the bottom of the plywood.

    • 7

      Turn the plywood over, so the fully carpeted side is facing up, and cut a circle out of the carpet in the shape of the PVC pipe in each location a pipe will be placed. This will allow the pipe to be secured directly to the wood for a better hold.

    • 8

      Glue the pieces of pipe extending to the next tier into the respective circles cut out in step 7.

    • 9

      Repeat step 1 through 8 for each additional tier you build, securing the new tier to the tops of the pipes from step 8. Be sure that each tier is properly supported by pipes. An easy way to ensure each tier is properly supported is to progressively shrink the size of your tiers. You can test every new layer by applying downward pressure around various points on the tier, similar to the weight of a cat.