I am a homeowner and I am looking to have my cat use the garage for the litterbox. I came across two products online that offer fire safe pet doors, I would like someone with some experience to share their thoughts on whether they are viable and safe as claimed by the sellers. Unfortunately, this forum post does not let me paste the links to the two vendors. If you search online for “fire rated pet door” or “litter garage”, you will see them.
The first one is really convenient and easy to install, but I don’t know what it does to fire code requirements. I live in Northern California. I don’t know which local authority to contact to get certification that these are approved products for use in our home.
I am open to any suggestions or product solutions.
Any inputs/thoughts would be appreciated.
I am NOT a seller or marketer, just a homeowner looking for a good solution for my cat. Please help!
If a product is Listed & Labeled as compliant for a certain standard, then it (most likely) meets the requirement.
Show the choices to your local fire department or City/Town building official, and get their opinion. Your local permitting office may be able to offer advice.
By and large, we mostly see standard pet doors cut into the garage entry door, as no one ever considers the implications.
Thank you! This is one of the products I had come across and mentioned in my post. Does anyone have any concerns with this and do they feel it would still be safe and secure from a fire protection perspective? At least these guys clearly state the UL certification for their product.
The other one (litter garage dot com) don’t explicitly say their product is fire safe, they state this on their website: “The Litter-Garage does come with a UL approved fire-damper which provides light and air to the box while maintaining most fire code standards. However make sure to check to check your local building and fire codes.” Should this be enough for me to comfortably purchase their product? I emailed them and asked for specifics of the UL approved damper but haven’t heard back.
This one is considerably cheaper than the other one, and does not require an additional cage in the garage, so I am tempted to get it, but I need to be sure it is kosher from a fire safety perspective.