Bat House

I’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

	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.