How to Build a Cat Tower from Scratch

By Connie F. Toombs
Updated on March 6, 2023
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by Adobestock/zoeydsngwrtr

Learn how to build a cat tower from scratch with diagrams, materials, plywood, and carpeting instructions.

My cats, Dusty and Zing, spend hours climbing, scratching, and playing hide-and-seek in my house every day. They amuse themselves on — and in — their own 5 foot-tall, carpet-covered kitty condo. Their favorite place to nap is in the penthouse.

The kitty condo takes only a few hours to build. A saber saw or jigsaw makes cutting the floors and doors easier, but you could do the job with hand tools. Material requirements are small too: a 5 foot cardboard tube between 14 inches and 16 inches in diameter, about 3 yards of scrap carpet, and 16 square feet of 5/8 inch or 3/4 inch plywood that’s at least 2 feet wide. To assemble the kitty condo, you also need construction adhesive, carpenter’s glue, a generous handful of U-shaped tacks, and a 1/4 inch by 1-1/4 inch bolt and T-nut.

Cardboard Tubes

There are at least two good sources for cardboard tubes. Sonotube, a cylindrical form used for poured-concrete piers, is available from concrete contractors, but the minimum purchase is usually 10 feet to 14 feet . At about $4 per foot, you’d have to find friends to go in on the purchase, or sell one or two extra kitty condos, to justify the expense.

Cardboard barrels, used to hold sweeping compound, are an alternative. You’ve probably seen at least one such empty barrel serving as a makeshift trash can. It may take a couple of dollars to pick up a pair, but that’s still less expensive than buying 10 feet of Sonotube. Be sure to get the smaller size, which is 15-1/2 inch in diameter and anywhere from 19-1/2 inches to 25-1/2 inches tall. The barrels should be stripped of their metal and glued and duct-taped together.

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