Bat House Forum

[Terry Lobdell]

William, popular is very good for interior baffles.......perfect texture.....easy for them to grip......no splinters......

[flyin-lowe]

Well it is all done but the painting (and hanging which might be the hardest part). I had the day off today and got it finished. I think it turned out pretty good, especially using rough cut and hand me down lumber. I ended up buying 2x8's for the side pieces and a 1x10 for the roof. The rest of the exterior is rough cut pine, and some poplar barn siding. I really liked the way it looked before I started priming it, a very rustic look. However it doesn't get warm enough in Indiana to keep one light colored. I don't have the roof attached yet as the guy who will be hanging the house is going to wrap it in aluminum. I am going to try to get 4 coats of paint on it this week and get it hung next weekend. I will have to see what his schedule is like.
I sealed all the interior joints very well as I assembled it because I knew the rough cut lumber would not be totally square. However it came out better then I thought. I sealed all the exterior boards as well.

It is hard to get an idea as to how big this thing is by a picture but to give you an idea it is laying on a 36 inch interior door.

Here is a pic from the bottom.



From the top.


Top, other side.

[Terry Lobdell]

That is a real nice looking bat house! I look forward to pictures of it mounted!

[flyin-lowe]

I have it painted and I think we are going to try to get it up this weekend. The last thing I have to do is paint a bat emblem on the front. Here is what I am going to do. My friends last name is Clark. My wife was an art student in college and I am having her spell his last name and the letters look like the bat man emblem. I think it is going to look good.

[flyin-lowe]

Here are the last pictures before it goes in the air. The roof isn't attached yet until it get wrapped, but this will give you an idea. The final exterior dimensions are 50" wide and 89 inches tall. No idea of the weight or if I have a way to weigh it. I also snapped a picture of the rough drawing of my bat emblem with my buddies last name drawn in, what do you guys think????

Does anybody know why when I post a pic directly from photobucket it cuts them off on the side. I am new to that site but it only does it when I post pics onto this forum. I am not sure.

[Markcuda]

Great job, keep the pictures coming.
My pictures do the same thing, get cut off a bit

[William Bagwell]

Love the emblem with the embedded name!

I have weighed bat houses by stepping on set of bathroom scales twice. Not sure what you can do if it is too heavy for one person to hold. And you might need a very brave helper just to read the scales.

You mentioned two poles in your other post, are you going to run a couple of boards between the poles and mount the house to the boards?

William

[po boy]

To weigh the ones I built, I just stand the bathouse on its side on the scale... Of course it needs to bed balanced..

[flyin-lowe]

I am not 100% sure how we are going to mount it yet but we will probably run two boards on the poles and mount the house to the boards. Actually we might mount the boards to the back of the house first and use a winch or hoist to lift the unit up and then attach it to the poles. I am just guessing but I would say I know it is over 100 lbs but not real sure after that probably around 125. Here is a picture of the finished product.
In case you are just tuning in my friends last name is Clark.

[Terry Lobdell]

Great pictures! That is a really nice box!

[BrackishBatter]

Very nice indeed! That is one monster box.

I've always wondered, and it comes to mind again as I see how tall your house is: Do bats, piled head to toe in thos tight spaces, urinate and defacate on each othe all day? Is the bottom just the absolute worst seat in the house?

Anyway, take care when mounting and post pics. Great job

[Markcuda]

Scott, how about a update?