Dogs flaps
The replacement dog flap I put in last weekend has broken already, in spite of my trying to reinforce the place it (first) broke on the last one with aluminium mesh glued to the plastic.
It's one of these: http://www.petdoorsonline.co.uk/spares/700large_pic.jpg
If you fling open the flap with great speed and force, the bit labelled "U-shape" hits bits of the flap frame that hold in the round bits that stick out, and apply a bending force. Snap.
A wider flap won't fit in the door (half of a double door - there are already spacer bits of wood because it doesn't fit within the panel bit). (Not that it needs to be wider, but it limits what taller ones would fit.)
Moving the same door further up would reduce the tendency for the flap to be flung so hard, but make it harder for smaller dog and cats to use the same flap, as would making my own sturdier (aluminium?) replacement part.
These don't have the U-shape will (I assume) be as drafty as the existing one was with the U broken.
These look very tough, but ugly and hard for cats to open (and are American, so I'd need to pay shipping).
Any suggestions? Maybe two flaps for different size animals?
[EDIT: Sticking a conservatory outside that door and having a drafty flap into that from outside and another drafty flap into the main house would have some advantages (assuming we avoid the problems the incompetents at Everest have been causing a friend), but would be Not Cheap, and block a pathway making it impossible to get e.g. a wheelbarrow from back to front garden.]
It's one of these: http://www.petdoorsonline.co.uk/spares/700large_pic.jpg
If you fling open the flap with great speed and force, the bit labelled "U-shape" hits bits of the flap frame that hold in the round bits that stick out, and apply a bending force. Snap.
A wider flap won't fit in the door (half of a double door - there are already spacer bits of wood because it doesn't fit within the panel bit). (Not that it needs to be wider, but it limits what taller ones would fit.)
Moving the same door further up would reduce the tendency for the flap to be flung so hard, but make it harder for smaller dog and cats to use the same flap, as would making my own sturdier (aluminium?) replacement part.
These don't have the U-shape will (I assume) be as drafty as the existing one was with the U broken.
These look very tough, but ugly and hard for cats to open (and are American, so I'd need to pay shipping).
Any suggestions? Maybe two flaps for different size animals?
[EDIT: Sticking a conservatory outside that door and having a drafty flap into that from outside and another drafty flap into the main house would have some advantages (assuming we avoid the problems the incompetents at Everest have been causing a friend), but would be Not Cheap, and block a pathway making it impossible to get e.g. a wheelbarrow from back to front garden.]