World class track athletes lifting hard and heavy. "There is a price to pay for success" Jump Shrug + Hang Clean
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Article by Richard Hobbs

If you're planning on building your own dog house, it's really important to look for insulated dog house plans.

That's because your dog is going to need some protection from the elements in both cold and hot weather. If the dog house is well insulated, it'll keep him warm in winter. Just as importantly, it'll help keep him cool in summer.

If your plans have good insulation, and the house is a good size for your dog, that's probably all you're going to need to keep him at a comfortable temperature, unless you live somewhere really freezing, in which case you'll need to give him access to some protected area of your house in any case (such as the garage or basement).

So, how does it work? Insulation works on the same principle as your dog's coat - trapped air. Heat and cold travel more slowly through air than through solids, so little pockets of air create insulation.

Good natural wood is itself insulating, because it's less dense than metal or most plastics. However, it's a good idea to build extra insulation into your dog house. Good dog house plans will include instructions for that.

Basically, you'll be building your walls in two pieces: usually a thicker outer wall, made from solid natural wood, and a thinner inner wall, perhaps plywood or hardboard (but never pressure-treated wood, as this is toxic). You join them to the floor and roof in such a way that there's a small gap between them. The air between them is trapped, and this creates insulation.

That may well be enough insulation for your climate, but if you want more, you can put a layer of insulating material between the two pieces of wall. This could be foam board, foam spray, or some kind of improvised material like old carpeting or rags. Do make sure the cavity is well sealed, or you'll end up with soggy insulation!

The simplest way to create your double layer of wall is usually to start by making a strong frame for the dog house, from 2"x2" or similar, and then attach one layer to the outside of the frame, and the other to the inside.

When you're looking for dog house plans, check that they state clearly that they allow for insulation. But there's one more kind of insulation which is important, and which you might not think to look for - and that's the floor.

I'm not talking about putting insulating material in the floor (though of course you can if you want), but rather about raising the dog house up off the ground. Good plans should include this feature. The air underneath the floor acts as insulation, and stops the cold seeping into the house from the earth. It also helps prevent rot, and stops water pouring in through the door when it's wet.

You can raise a dog house off the floor with some bricks at the corners - but really good plans will have the raise built in, as part of the frame.

About the Author

Richard Hobbs has been a dog lover all his life, and a keen DIYer for over 25 years. For more great information on insulated dog house plans, visit www.makeadoghouse.com.

Advertisements like "Reduce your electricity bills!", "Lower energy costs", etc. are very common in the present days, but one hardly pays attention to such ads. I used to get many such mails in my inbox and I just used to trash them. One day I heard about this product called Power Blueprint.

For me, it was just another spam email and I brushed it away as usual. Sometime later, there was a program on television where they explained how a middle aged family had saved considerable cost by trying this product. This increased my curiosity and I began searching for it on the Internet. As I read more and more about Power Blueprint, I should tell that my thoughts about it entirely changed.

As far as I knew, all these "energy saving" products function on the idea of storing sun-rays and converting it into electricity which require your home to have good exposure to the sun or decent wind. But Power Blueprint was very different in the sense that it helps you create your own generator for your house. I quite liked the idea and the fact that it costs only 49 bucks made me more interested.

But folks, using Power Blueprint is one of the best decisions I have ever made in life. Power Blueprint works on the theory of magnetic attraction and repulsion. Put in simpler terms, when 2 magnets are brought closer to each other, two poles will attract each other and the other two poles will repel each other with a force. Power Blueprint uses this magnetic force to generate our own free electricity at house. The manual is all about how to create a magnetic generator in few hours. The explanation was very easy and simple that I was surprised at the amount of time it took to build the whole generator. I had before myself a new non-polluting, almost noiseless magnetic generator!

I waited for two more months to see the results, and they were in front of me to believe. Though my bills had not come down by 80% as informed, there was a great reduction in my bills. In the last 2 months, I have practically taken back the investment price of Power Blueprint. And it continues to work, without any issues, noiseless, in any climatic conditions and its non-combustible.

Well, you might think that this review is all a marketing hype to promote the product. But, I bet that's not the case because I am writing this review after having had a first-hand experience with Power Blueprint and I have seen it work and yield results the same way it claims. So all those people who are constantly worried about their increasing electricity bills can try out this product and the rest is for you to see. Easy to understand steps, low material price, quick installation and then your new magnetic generator does the rest of the job in saving money from your wallet!

They also give great after sales service. So I would strongly recommend this effective product for all middle class income families!