How To Transform a Kennel Into a Pooch Palace
How do you transform an old dog kennel into a pooch palace?
Is your dog's kennel in need of an upgrade? With a few tools and this guide you can keep your dog safe and dry against the harsh Australian climate while making the kennel look considerably better than it did.
The job runs in five stages: clean it, repair the timber, lay a vinyl floor, sand and paint, and fit a name plaque. The product choice changes at each stage because the exposure changes — the structural repairs are outdoors and take weather, the floor is indoors and needs to take paws and moisture, and the plaque sits on a painted exterior face. Getting those three right is what makes the difference between a kennel that lasts and one that needs redoing next winter.
What you need
- Selleys Sugar Soap
- Selleys Aquadhere Exterior
- Selleys Kwik Grip Horizontal
- Selleys Power Grip
- Bucket and cloth for cleaning
- Vinyl flooring of your choice
- Dulux Weathershield Exterior Paint
- Paint brush and rollers, clamps, dowels, sandpaper, tape
- Replacement timber and a name plaque
How to transform the kennel
- Mix ½ cup of Selleys Original Sugar Soap into ½ bucket (5 litres) of water and give the kennel a clean. This is an important step for removing dirt and grime in preparation for painting later in the process.
- Replace any loose wood or small missing pieces with newly cut pieces and glue them with Selleys Aquadhere Exterior. Wipe out any excess glue with a damp cloth before clamping the newly adhered sections. Keep them clamped for 1 hour and rest for 24 hours for best results.
- Cut your vinyl to size and adhere it as the kennel flooring using Selleys Kwik Grip Horizontal. Completely cover both the vinyl and the floor with the adhesive and keep them apart until the glue is touch dry — approximately 20 minutes, no more than 40. Use dowels to keep the vinyl separated so you can align it to the perfect position, then remove them. Use a roller to make sure the surfaces have come together and to remove all air bubbles.
- With all the glue dry, sand the kennel to prepare it for painting. Wipe it again with sugar soap to remove the sanding dust, then apply your preferred exterior colour with a brush or roller.
- Install your dog's name plaque on the front. Using Selleys Power Grip on the plaque, press it firmly into position and apply tape to keep it in place for three minutes — practical strength is achieved in 12 hours.
Why each product is the one for its stage
Aquadhere Exterior for the timber repairs
Selleys Aquadhere Exterior is an industrial-grade cross-linking PVA that produces bonds stronger than most woods, and it is weatherproof — which is why it is specified here rather than the interior grade. Its published clamp times are 30 minutes for softwoods and 1 hour for hardwoods, followed by 24 hours before the joint is stressed. The project's "clamp for 1 hour, rest for 24 hours" is the hardwood figure, which is the safe one to work to if you are not sure what the kennel is made of.
Two limitations matter for a kennel:
- It is suitable for exterior use in non-structural applications and is not recommended for joints under constant high stress. Patching a loose trim board is fine; rebuilding a load-bearing corner post with glue alone is not.
- It is not suitable below the waterline or for continuous submersion. A kennel that sits in a puddle every time it rains will work on those joints in a way the product is not specified for — raise it on bearers if you can.
One more thing worth knowing: keep iron and steel out of the wet glue line. Contact with nails, fasteners or steel tools can cause brown or black staining as the glue reacts with rust, and on a kennel you are about to paint that will show through a light colour.
Kwik Grip Horizontal for the floor
Kwik Grip Horizontal is a solvent-based flexible contact adhesive designed for broad, close-fitting surfaces, and it bonds instantly on contact. Its published open time is 20 minutes and no more than 40, and full strength is reached at 24 hours. It is also rated for heat resistance to 130°C — a kennel floor in an Australian summer never gets near that, but it is the reason the adhesive does not soften and creep on a hot day.
The dowel trick in the instructions is the key technique. Because the bond is instant, you cannot slide the vinyl once it touches. Laying dowels across the floor, resting the vinyl on them, aligning it, then pulling them out from the centre outwards lets the sheet land progressively and straight. Then roller it — contact adhesives need pressure to complete the bond and to push out the trapped air that would otherwise become a bubble under a dog's feet.
Work outdoors or with the kennel well ventilated. Kwik Grip is a solvent adhesive and the vapour needs somewhere to go, and the kennel should be aired out thoroughly before the dog goes back in.
Power Grip for the plaque
Selleys Power Grip is a flexible all-purpose adhesive that sets in 3 minutes and reaches practical strength in 12 hours on porous surfaces such as timber. That maps exactly onto the instruction to tape the plaque for three minutes and then leave it.
Its limitations are worth reading before you use it on an outdoor kennel:
- Not suitable for polyethylene, polypropylene or PTFE. If the plaque is moulded plastic, check the material — Selleys All Plastics with its primer pen is the product for those.
- Not for permanent water immersion. Fine on a painted vertical face under an eave; not for anything sitting in water.
- It yellows on direct exposure to UV. On a north-facing kennel wall in full sun, keep the glue line hidden behind the plaque rather than letting it squeeze out around the edges.
Because the plaque goes onto a painted surface, the bond is only as strong as the paint's grip on the timber. Fix the plaque to sound, fully cured paint, and if the paint is at all flaky, sand it back to something solid first.
Getting the order right
The sequence is not arbitrary. Clean before you repair, so the glue meets clean timber. Repair before you sand, so the fills and patches get sanded flush with everything else. Sand before you paint. Paint before you fit the plaque, so you are not cutting in around it. And leave the plaque until last because it is the only step that has to bond to paint rather than to timber.
Sugar soap appears twice for the same reason it does in every furniture project: the first wash removes grime so you are not sanding it into the surface, the second removes sanding dust so the paint can key.
The ratio quoted — ½ cup into 5 litres — is for standard Selleys Original Sugar Soap. If you have the Super Concentrate, the same ½ cup goes into a full 10 litre bucket.
Before the dog moves back in
- Let the solvent-based adhesives air out fully. Kwik Grip and Power Grip both give off solvent while curing, so leave the kennel open and ventilated.
- Give the paint its full recoat and cure time per its own instructions.
- Wait out the 24 hour figures: Aquadhere Exterior needs 24 hours unstressed after clamping, Kwik Grip reaches full strength at 24 hours, and Power Grip reaches practical strength at 12 hours on timber.
- Check there is no exposed glue line the dog can chew, and no vinyl edge lifting where a paw can get under it.
Common questions about upgrading a dog kennel
What glue do I use for outdoor timber repairs?
Selleys Aquadhere Exterior. It is weatherproof and bonds stronger than most woods, unlike the interior grade which is not waterproof.
How long do I clamp the timber repairs?
Thirty minutes for softwoods and 1 hour for hardwoods, then leave the joint unstressed for 24 hours. Cold, damp conditions or dense timbers need longer.
Can I glue a structural part of the kennel?
No. Aquadhere Exterior is for exterior non-structural use and is not recommended for joints under constant high stress. Use mechanical fixings for anything load-bearing.
Why can't I reposition the vinyl?
Kwik Grip is a contact adhesive that grabs instantly. Lay dowels across the floor, rest the vinyl on them to align it, then pull them out from the centre.
How long do I wait before joining the vinyl?
Until the glue is touch dry — approximately 20 minutes, and no more than 40.
How long until the floor is ready to use?
Kwik Grip reaches full strength at 24 hours.
How long do I hold the plaque?
Tape it in place for three minutes. Power Grip sets in 3 minutes and reaches practical strength in 12 hours on porous surfaces like timber.
Will the plaque glue survive outdoors?
Power Grip is not for permanent water immersion and yellows on direct UV exposure. On a sheltered painted face it is fine; keep the glue line hidden behind the plaque.
The plaque is plastic and won't stick — why?
It is probably polyethylene or polypropylene, which Power Grip is not suitable for. Selleys All Plastics with its primer pen is designed for those.
Is any of this harmful to the dog?
Let everything cure and ventilate the kennel thoroughly before the dog goes back in. Kwik Grip and Power Grip are solvent adhesives, and the paint has its own cure time.
Why does the timber have a black stain around the new glue line?
Aquadhere reacting with iron or steel — nails, fasteners or steel tools in contact with wet glue cause brown or black staining. Keep steel away from the wet joint.
What other outdoor projects use this approach?
See maintaining outdoor timber and decks, how to install a vertical garden and the rest of the upcycling section.
What glue do I use for outdoor timber repairs?
Selleys Aquadhere Exterior. It is weatherproof and bonds stronger than most woods, unlike the interior grade which is not waterproof.
How long do I clamp the timber repairs?
Thirty minutes for softwoods and 1 hour for hardwoods, then leave the joint unstressed for 24 hours. Cold, damp conditions or dense timbers need longer.
Can I glue a structural part of the kennel?
No. Aquadhere Exterior is for exterior non-structural use and is not recommended for joints under constant high stress. Use mechanical fixings for anything load-bearing.
Why can't I reposition the vinyl?
Kwik Grip is a contact adhesive that grabs instantly. Lay dowels across the floor, rest the vinyl on them to align it, then pull them out from the centre.
How long do I wait before joining the vinyl?
Until the glue is touch dry — approximately 20 minutes, and no more than 40.
How long until the floor is ready to use?
Kwik Grip reaches full strength at 24 hours.
How long do I hold the plaque?
Tape it in place for three minutes. Power Grip sets in 3 minutes and reaches practical strength in 12 hours on porous surfaces like timber.
Will the plaque glue survive outdoors?
Power Grip is not for permanent water immersion and yellows on direct UV exposure. On a sheltered painted face it is fine; keep the glue line hidden behind the plaque.
The plaque is plastic and won't stick — why?
It is probably polyethylene or polypropylene, which Power Grip is not suitable for. Selleys All Plastics with its primer pen is designed for those.
Is any of this harmful to the dog?
Let everything cure and ventilate the kennel thoroughly before the dog goes back in. Kwik Grip and Power Grip are solvent adhesives, and the paint has its own cure time.
Why does the timber have a black stain around the new glue line?
Aquadhere reacting with iron or steel — nails, fasteners or steel tools in contact with wet glue cause brown or black staining. Keep steel away from the wet joint.
What other outdoor projects use this approach?
See maintaining outdoor timber and decks , how to install a vertical garden and the rest of the upcycling section .