Bird Feeders and Bird HousesOutdoor ProjectsProjects

Bat House

Bat HouseI’ve made a lot of bird houses and feeders over the years and they’re always fun projects.  This bat house project was a bit of a redo for me.  I made one several years ago, but alas it fell apart over the years.  This time I found a plan from a book titled: Birdhouses & More by A.J. Hamler.  It’s a good book and the author does a great job of keeping things simple.  This plan was no different and was extremely easy to follow.  The bat house was made entirely out of cedar wood.  Cedar is an excellent outdoor wood and should hold up for many years.  The cuts and the joinery are fairly straight forward; nothing tricky to this one.

Bat’s are great if you can attract them.  Each bat will eat around 1,000 insects an hour..!  I’ve made this bat house in the hopes of finally attracting some.  If you make one of these be sure to post a picture of it over on the WoodLogger Facebook Page.  I’d love to see how yours turns out.

 

 

Material List

  • (1) 1″ x 12″ x 6′ – cedar
  • (1) 1″ x 6″ x 6′ – cedar

Milling & Assembly

Bat HouseBat House Rough Cuts To get started on the bat house.  I cut cedar boards to length (front is 22-3/4″ in length x 11-1/4″ width, back is 32″ x 11-1/4″)following the cut list from the plans.
Bat House Rough Cuts The basic structure of the bat house is a simple box with an opening on the bottom for the bats to crawl in and out.  The back of the house is a longer board which is used to attach to what ever you have.  In my case I have a mini barn in my back yard.
Bat House Assembly I rough assembled the sides (cut to a length of 2-1/2″ x 23″) to the top back and front to ensure a good fit.
Bat House Assembly For the assembly I used an externally rated wood glue.  I left about a 1 inch gap in the bottom for the bats to crawl in and out.
Bat House Assembly To secure all the boards I used an exterior rated glue and 1 – 1/2″ brad nails.  If you have regular nails or screws that would work just as well.

 

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Items Used to Finish this

6 Comments

  1. Hi Daris — Glad you enjoyed the bat house project. Best of luck getting bats! I put one out on my small shed, and they seem to like it. Of course, we live next to a huge open field so there’s lots of bat chow around here — they never go hungry.

  2. I’ve watched your video, very intuitive and easy to understand. But i have a question! What are the Bats to hang from ?

    1. I always read do NOT put screen inside. The rough cut cedar is enough for them to grab onto. OR run the inside across a bit.

  3. The houses I have made in the past call for window screen inside on the back to give them something to grab onto. The houses should be mounted on a solid structure such as a house or shed. They do not like the motion of houses mounted on trees. I made 4 of these for our Lions Club property in Enfield Nova Scotia.

  4. Use rough-cut cedar or use a saw to scratch up the surface. There’s no need to add non-biodegradable components except nails or screws

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