Am i too crazy to use this for a cat house?

[Todd Trebuna]

I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all. It really just depends on what your budget and desire will allow. The best thing about woodworking is using it to solve practical problems. Not all of us are busy constructing beautiful pieces of fine woodworking. My last two projects were squatty potties. One from Poplar scraps and one from pine. Both are painted. I had the scraps and didn't realize that Poplar was going for 8 dollars a foot at HD. That squatty potty would have cost me 80 dollars!!! Instead it cost me 15 in pine. If you've got it, use it.

[Chris Hachet]

I’m building a patio cat house for my tubby cat. I picked quarter-sawn white oak boards for rot resistance - live in upstate ny. After gluing-up the top, I’m having 2nd thoughts... should I use something nice like that for what will be sitting in a snow and rain for most of the year? It’s made of a single board, book-matched pieces and I didn’t apply the finish yet. Tell me I should give it to my cat .
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I built a mailbox for friends out of QSWO, its holding up great. it still grows on Trees....Billions of board feet of QSWO never get harvested and rot in place every year.

[Chris Hachet]

It's up to you but I couldn't make myself use that for a cat house. Not after seeing how nice the QS panel looks.

On the contrary, it's getting used for something the cat will enjoy...

[Joshua Murphy]

Anything less than riftsawn will offend your cat's sensibilities equally.

Despite some comments above, I find that white oak is pretty weather hardy, and QSWO is very dimensionally stable. My house growing up came with a 30 year old painted white oak fence and exposed patio swing that held up for a long long time. Looking back, I wonder if what finally did them in was teenage me repainting it poorly with cheap latex that bubbled up and let water get trapped inside with no path to dry.

I have a one-pallet fence outside my office window concealing the compost pile in the back yard. It's made of white oak. It's only heat treated and was supposed to be a short term solution, but has been standing with the bottom in direct contact with the earth for about 5 years. It's totally grey now, but as solid as the day I got sick of looking at the compost pile out my window and put together a "temporary" fix. I can climb it like a ladder.

Keep in mind that cats will spray an outdoor house with urine, and if not really sealed, that QSWO will stain in ways you will never be able to undo without a trip to the thickness planer. Might as well ammonia fume it first.

The cat won't care what its house looks like, but chances are you will. Make something you like to look at, regardless of what materials you use. That QSWO looks like it's made of tiger skin. Very pretty.

[Steve Demuth]

QS White Oak is incredibly weather hardy, as long as not in ground contact or otherwise continuously wet. I've got 40 year old white oak fence boards, and while heavily weathered, they are still structurally sound - they may have lost 3/16" total of the original 1" structural thickness to weathering in that time.

But they are not pretty unless you like dark grey pealing crumbles. Painted with a quality marine paint QS WO finish will last for 5 - 8 years with almost no maintenance. Marine varnish finish on QS White Oak will last 2-3 years if water doesn't sit on it, and not in direct sun, before the grey weathering starts to peal the varnish off.

All experience above based on upper midwest conditions. No doubt mileage will vary depending on your region - rainfall, humidity, freezing, solar intensity ...

BTW, the QS White Oak fence boards when salvaged are wonderful wood for specialty projects and picture frames. Peal the weathering off in a planer, down to where 90-90% of the surface is solid wood, and it's gorgeous. Deep caramel color, with streaks of dark weathering. Very nice specialty look.

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