Thanks for your input Paige, and thanks for linking to that other thread. In the cat room there will be shelves on all walls. I have a bit of a height constraint in some of the corners and over the windows. If I add shelves in those locations, I have to get within about 1ft of the ceiling. I was worried that might be a little restricting, but I read in your other thread that Taj doesn't seem to mind being that close to the ceiling. That being the case, I may move the higher window shelves in my design up to above the windows and add a shelf above the closet and door to get all the way around the room. I'm also playing around with the idea of adding a long beam (8ft or 12ft) that can be located in various places to bridge the room in different ways. I was thinking of putting some eye bolts on the ends and then doing the same on some of the shelves and structures around the room. That way I could move it around from time to time, make it horizontal, put it on a slant, connect different shelves, etc. to add some variety.
For now my plan is to carpet all of the shelves. My thoughts are to trim the shelves with a small moulding that will be ~1/2" higher than the shelf itself. Then I will cut carpet to fit, and the moulding should conceal the edge of the carpet as well as keep things in place. If necessary i'll add some velcro under the carpet to keep it in place better while still keeping it removable.
Once the cat room is done i'll start working on some of the other areas of the house. I don't think ill be able to get all the way around every room, but I have at least something planned for most of them.
I know that pine oil and the phenols in pine are dangerous as well and have shown to cause respiratory problems in small animals when used as bedding and I read an interesting article on rabbits that showed elevated liver enzymes when using pine bedding also. That said, pretty much all dimensional lumber and plywood is pine. I'd never considered avoiding pine lumber as a construction material. I'm certain some of the cat tree manufacturers are using pine 2x4 and plywood for cat trees as i've torn a few of them apart(well, my bengal did). Interested to hear anyone's thoughts. Do those of you that have made cat shelves/trees/walks/etc avoid pine plywood? I really dont want to have to deal with trying to make sonotube strong/durable...
