Bat House Forum

[Terry Lobdell]

This is a 4 crevice box built out of all one and two inch material. The back is all 2" stock with each board gapped for ventilation/access......hopefully this may attract some big browns..

[Terry Lobdell]

This shows the 2x6 french cleat at the top of the pole all ready for the bat house to set on......I probably should have used a 2x8 for this big of a box though........I compensated by using extra angle brackets for reinforcement once I had the box up on the pole.

[Terry Lobdell]

Here I am mounting the bottom half of the pole extension which will hold a block and tackle system to lift the box.

[Terry Lobdell]

Setting the top half of the pole extension in. The top half sets and locks into the bottom half. Two pieces made it easier to transport and carry up to mount onto the pole.

[Terry Lobdell]

Block and tackle system in place.......the lower double pulley is not visible here......it is attached to the box setting on the ground........

[Terry Lobdell]

Raising the box.......this guy happened by and wanted to help........

[Terry Lobdell]

The 2 double pulleys really made it lift easier!

[Terry Lobdell]

Setting the box onto the french cleat.......

[Terry Lobdell]

Attaching some angle brackets for extra support.

[Terry Lobdell]

The scaffolding was a pain to haul to the site but it made the job a lot easier.....I have plans to make a lighter set of scaffolding next time......

[Terry Lobdell]

I was praying my cordless drill didn't die before I was finished. I think I am going to invest in an old fashioned brace as a back up for sites where there is no power. I did use a lot of coated exterior deck screws with hex heads mounting this box. A ratchet worked very well to turn turn the hex head screws in and conserved the battery in my cordless drill.......

I won't build any boxes this big on the ground again........my thinking was it would be easier to construct it entirely on the ground but at 130ibs it was too heavy and awkward to wrestle around with. Building one this size in components then carrying them up one at a time is much easier and safer....the only thing about that is there is lots of screws to drive which means a need for 2 or 3 battery packs or power to recharge them.....

Here is a link to a bat house I built last year from 8 components almost as big as this one. I'm guessing it weighs close to 100lbs.
old-tires-for-bat-house-exteriors-t890.html

[William Bagwell]

Wow! You were not kidding about raising a BIG bat house.

Oh, wonder how many youngsters these days will have no idea what kind of "brace" you are referring to.
--
William

[Terry Lobdell]

William, you are right.......I tried to buy one at a hardware store recently and they didn't have any.......I used to have a decent one from sears but lost it somehow.......I looked online and good ones are very expensive.......I'll have to get one at some though......

[po boy]

Looks great Terry,


You are braver than I am!!!










Jerry

[cloudman75]

That's what I call a big bat house Terry, and it looks great.Nice photos also. I am the owner of a brace and two bits that belonged to my Dad. Back when we did not have one we heated a piece of iron stock in the fire and burned some holes in wood. That was the good? old days?
How many bats do you think your house will hold? With its mass it should retain heat on cool nights after a sunny day. Also I get the impression that you have an unlimited supply of wood at your place. Is that correct? That was a heavy duty scaffold.
I am taking a few days vacation next week and I hope it is spring when I return. I'm ready for a lot of bats in my new houses. So far they are using the old houses for the most part.
Who took the photos when you were on the scaffold? Did you use a tripod? Anyway they are excellent.

Frank