We are a 4-cat home and have an uncountable number of amusements around the house for our cats. Or, maybe they are amusements for us? "Cat walls" are our latest project.
Hands down, this pre-planned and integrated system was easier to plan for and install than my creative effort to link up individually purchased steps and shelves from Etsy. I definitely recommend a CatastropicCreations system. With a helper, it took me 3+ hours to unpack the box, understand the directions, be sure I had it laid out correctly to (mostly) hit the studs, and mount it to the wall.
If you want to add custom parts elsewhere, use this catwall as your centerpiece and then add steps from the edges out to the other individual pieces. Out of view to the left of my picture: steps to get to the next wall, which has perches at two windows and a comfy bed in the middle of the wall -- and none of those individual pieces were as easy to install as this system from CatastrophicCreations, for sure.
This system is rigidly designed for 16" studs, although the company has for solutions for studs at different widths. Be advised that studs are not always exactly where they "should" be, sometimes requiring some creativity. If you need to put a few screws into the drywall use heavy duty wall anchors.
I ordered on a Sunday and received the item on Friday (for my area of the country). I had a small parts issue with my shipment, I don't know if they omitted two small pieces or if they somehow went AWOL when we unpacked, but CatastropicCreations was polite and responsive by email and shipped replacements. Good service!
My only criticism: the instructions are only by a drawing could have been a little better with an additional bit of text. However, once you figure it out for the first few pieces, it's all the same after that. Here's my short version:
- each support bar gets three screws:
- two SHORT screws through the top holes, drilled in at a slight downward angle, and
- one LONG screw that goes from the bottom at an upward slant
- Suggestion for how to proceed: put in one top (short) screw, level the support bar, then put in the other two.
- installing support bars left to right: the distance should be exactly 16" if your studs are right. Just measure and drill. Even if your stud alignment is not perfect, because the distance between the grommets on the canvas is 16", you must do 16" left-to-right.
- up and down - NOT 16" because of the way the canvas is screwed under the wooden bars, taking up slack. To go "up," mount the fabric on the bottom bar; temporarily mount it on the new upper level bar; and hold the upper bar against your stud line to find the placement. Should be about 13-3/4" above the other support bar. Then it's purrfect!