Bat House Forum

[kent borcherding]

I have been building some bat houses using either doug fir or black locust , prefer 2" doug fir and 1" black locust.

These bat houses should be very long lasting 40 - 50 years or more.

The next group of bat houses to be built with black locust going to brush the exterior surfaces with " Armorall " instead of priming and painting.

The " Armorall " helps shield wood from the suns uv rays. Some carpenters that build decks have been using " Armorall " on black locust decks.

Cost of black locust at mill run is $1 board ft. , usually I buy 1" rough stickered for less than $2 bf.

Black locust is very very dense , a freshly cut tree is around 28 per cent moisture , if you sticker it for 3 -4 months and air dry it will be around 12% moisture.

The reason I like locust density wil hold the internal temps in the bat houses higher at night , long lasting , and low maintance .

[Terry Lobdell]

Very interesting Kent, I've never worked with black locust but it is used for fence posts here in Pa. a lot. Do you have to drill it before nailing? How long does the armorall last?

[kent borcherding]

Terry,

Lumber and tree peolple have told me black locust was originally planted for use as fence posts because the woods resistance to decay.

Some places Russian olive was planted with the locust , Russian olive is a dense , strong , decay resistant wood also.

I always drill pilot holes and use screws to put bat houses together , and put caulking on the screws before scewing them into the bat house wood.

The caulk on the screws helps prevent moisture from following the screw into the wood and causing wood decay.

Still a question on how long Armorall will last ?

I will probably take several lengths of black locust wood and brush one coat of Armorall on them.

Will number the pieces -one will only be Armoralled once , one will be rebrushed 2-3 times the first year and thats all , one will recoat once a year for a couple of years.

Once or twice a year will cut a piece off of the locust to see how much or if the Armorall has penetrated the wood .

Within 2 -3 years decide which works best.

Usually when trying new designs , methods of construction and different woods for bat houses , I always take one of the houses apart in five years to study it for weak spots.