Bat House Forum

[Dave Miller]

I've been thinking about my next bat house design and I would really like to make all the slats removable, probably as one assembly. i.e. the slats are all connected to each other but not to the shell of the house. The slat assembly would be held in place by a couple of screws or something. This would allow you to remove the slats for a thorough cleaning. Also in my case it would allow me to inspect the attic space to see if it has been used.

Has anyone done this? If so, do you have any drawings or photos?

[cloudman75]

Dave,
I built my last house with removable baffles as a unit. It is a small 5 chamber. It is about 24 inches high and 12 inches wide but 6 inches or so thick. I just used scrap materials on hand. I don't have any plans or photos during construction.
I built it in 2008. Here is how I built the baffles. I cut them to fit inside the house. then I placed one flat on the floor and attached 1x1full length spacers to it on the sides. Next I attached another baffle, then more 1x1 spacers until I got the number of baffles needed.
I slipped the baffle unit inside the house and attached it with screws from the sides of the house. I used three screws each side. The screws were attached to the 1x1 spacers and I predrilled them to avoid splitting .I made sure that the screws were not extending inside to injure the bats. I have mentioned the removable baffles in a post but could not find it . I have never removed the baffles, but they have not given any problems that I am aware of to date.

Frank

[Dave Miller]

Thanks Frank. Your method is what I was thinking. What are your baffles made out of?

[cloudman75]

Dave,
Four of the baffles are 1/4 inch plywood, one was OSB. No particular reason, I just had no more plywood.
I used screening on the plywood, nothing on the osb. I have had only limited use of this house as it is a cold weather house
with no ventilation and painted darker than normal for my area. When it gets hot here the bats vacate this house. They use it in winter and in early spring. I have come to an opinion that one house design cannot satisfy the requirements for
all months of the year. Therefore I provide two options for the bats and they have used them like I had envisioned.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Frank, I agree with you that more than one design is needed throughout the year..........my big browns seem more fussy about this.........maybe because they are active longer at different weather conditions........

I too am going experiment more with removable baffles...........Actually, what I want to do is construct a fairly large bat box, maybe 2 feet wide by 3 feet tall out of all one and two inch lumber in separate components. The baffles will just be rough sawn one inch boards, no saw kerfs, no scoring...........

I will probably make a one piece back, a front, 2 sides, a ceiling, a roof and 2 interior baffle sections for a total of 8 componants. This would make a 3 crevice box. An entire box this size would probably be about 100 lbs. By building it in 8 separate pieces it could be easily put up and taken down.

I hope to do this in the next month and post some pics on here...........I have not posted any pictures on here in quite awhile.........have been putting them on facebook!

[cloudman75]

Thanks for the reply. It gives me confidence to have someone with your experience agree with an opinion of mine.
It really is rewarding also when the bats prove an opinion. BTW, my old potato box recycle into a bat house is very close to what you are planning to build. I am planning to use wood post construction similar to what you built once in a post. Mine will be much lighter construction to keep everything lighter weight. It may prove too flimsy. However, I tend to overbuild
so this one will be an experiment. I do plan to build the baffles as a unit and also leave a big space in the box so that only the sides are available for the bats to roost. I also may have a slanting horizontal board for the pups to play on with less danger of falling.

Frank