Next time you need to cut shingles, score/cut the back side with your razor knife and the shingle will fold and break on the score for a nice straight edge without eating your blade up from just a cut or two by the grit on the top side.
You can build a catchment (beneficially copper lined) below the entrance to collect the bat guano. This natural fertilizer is a highly prized and sought after by gardeners.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, my boyfriend too. I printed your plans from the link you shared and am on the way to the hardware store to get supplies to build several bat houses. I appreciate you not using material on the inside of their home (just one less hazardous potential for them)! I think you are so adorable. Its okay...I am an older lady with sons older then you. I bet you make your parents proud! Again, thank you for sharing, and doing a great video.
The multi-screw piece of wood to make the grooves is brilliant. I will happily use that on my next box. I spent many hours using a table saw to cut grooves 1/2 inch apart on all climbing sides of a fairly large 4-chamber house.
THANK YOU! I have been searching for days for a well laid out that house plan. Then I found Makify! Your video and your plans are exactly what I was looking for! And I subscribe to your channel now, too.
I'm curious why you painted it all first? Wood glue doesn't "bond" fully to painted surfaces, but also it just seems like it's possibly more difficult to do? Was it to preserve the wood? Probably lasts longer with all sides painted I would think? Just curious. Not a criticism.
Hi Vinnie, I watched this video, subscribed and cut all the wood up as per the PDF, next to paint and screw together. I’ll be screwing this box to a 4x4 x12’ post at the bottom of the yard facing south. Take care Rob
Hey looks great. I love the design and craftsmanship. I would love to have a couple of those. So does she have this house full of bats?? If so I'm going to follow this design exactly. If she doesn't mind maybe a success update. Dusk watch on her bat house to see how many come flying out for their nightly hunt for bugs?? Would be really cool for you and us to see success on this house you built with your own hands.
Great instructions!! Just a few comments. I agree with use of a waterproofing stain and sealer on all interior surfaces, preferably a dark color, in addition to painting the exterior an appropriate color. The fumes soon dissipate and appear not to be a problem for bats. I like the recessed landing area and strongly recommend a well-roughened surface.
I once saw bat house plans that recommended rough cut cedar or cutting grooves in the interior areas for the bats to cling to. I would not stain the interior because bats should not be exposed to paint or stain.
The video, finally a bat house instruction that’s makes sense. I’m not a carpenter so figuring this out was difficult as most of the instruction plans or videos didn’t make sense or. Left out parts you were expected to know as a woodworker. The plan link didn’t show up on the video, so how do I get it. Thanks you very much.
Good Job! Suggestion: For your next Bat House, make the interior walls go only to 2 inches from the roof at the front and all other interior walls stop at that same level. Before pacing the roof on, lay a plywood floor on top of the the walls with a 2 inch hole in it. Then secure the roof on. You have just built a Bat House with a Nursery. Before the Bats go out at night, they will take the Pups (Baby Bats) to he Nursery.for that night's Nursery Workers (Mothers) to pack them all together in one, two or three "piles" and cover the Pups with their bodies to maintain their body temperature. The Nursery is also where many/all the Female Bats will give birth. Then in a few weeks, the number of Bats which drop out at dusk will increase until the Colony will double +/-. Most, if not all the Bats in your Colony will be females. The males usually are not part of a colony. (My experience has been that one or two Bats stay in the close vicinity to reward the owner with bug free evenings....... and days. You may catch site of them patrolling within feet of you. But don't worry about them bumping into you. They are excellent graceful flyers. The jerky flying is them eating bugs they have caught on the front of their bodies and in their wing pits.)
I've been watching your videos recently, and i'm so subscribing to your channel. You do amazing stuff, with good simple explanations and with the actual free template of your projects to encourage people to dow its own stuff, and that speaks a lot about the good person you seem to be. Keep up the good work, you rock!
Very thorough and the pace was totally professional. Well done. Subbed. Building one very soon. We are over run with bats on our covered porches. Vacuumed up 3 gallons of bat guano yesterday. Going in the garden of course.
Thank you so much for posting this video! I cut all my pieces, painting is done, ready to screw the bat house together but noticed the sides at 4 1/8" wide should be 4 1/2" to meet directly under the two front pieces? I did see the same width listed on the Bat Conservation website plans as well.
Thanks for the quick reply. Caulking the area between the sides and front pieces will work too. I bring this up because before deciding to make my own I looked into purchasing one and all the houses show sides that don't have that gap. Really enjoying your videos and ideas and hope for more in the future!
Stack your parts drill through and use carriage bolts much less hardware and never paint the inside.or even stain it. Bats noses are very sensitive and will avoid the boxes.
Hey, I'm using your plans (actually, I downloaded two different sets of very similar plans, then got them mixed up -- DOH!!! -- but most of my bat box is from your plans). I'm curious though what the cutouts in the sides are for (ventilation?) and why the front panel is two separate pieces and how much the gap between the two front panel pieces should be? Thanks for making the plans available.
Andrew Ovenden gap is for good ventilation inside the bat house, and it only needs to be about a half inch in the front of the house. I didn’t notice cutouts in the side, you don’t need them as you want the house dark inside.
What if you have bats in your attic and you want to build a house, or two, to lure them out so you can block up all the entrances they're using. Where should you then put their new and improved Bat House? On the house, even though it's not over 9' high or on a tree and at 15'+? Any advice? Please...
I bought a bat house on Amazon and put it on a pole per instructions but no bats have used it. Instead they get into the metal rail that supports my large sliding barn door. They get injured or go into shock if I open the barn door. I need a better system for them.
I fastened mine to a very solid sixteen foot long 4×4 post with exterior grade screws on the ground, dug a three foot deep hole where I wanted it and three of us walked the post into its hole and cemented it in. Leveling the post quickly and accurately before the cement started to set. It's a bit of a challenge but very doable with a couple strong friends. Oh be sure the house gets full sun especially in the morning. Bats like their houses very warm. 80 to 100 degrees to be more specific. Bat houses can also be mounted ten to twenty feet high on your house. Higher the better. The best of luck to you.
So... I intentionally left that out of this video because I'm not entirely sure how we are going to hang this one. Some people use a french cleat system. Some people attach strips of wood to the back of the box that overhang either the sides or the top and then screw those to wherever they are hanging it on. This box is probably going to go onto a tree, which is usually not a good place to hang a bat box but this particular tree is not near anything else, it is quite tall, and has no branches on the bottom ~50' of the trunk so I think it will work. The plan right now is to drive a few screws through the bottom landing area and into the tree then use a couple of metal brackets on the top. The brackets are just flat strips of metal with some holes drilled in them. We plan to screw those into the back of the box at the top so that a few inches stick up higher than the roof and then screw that into the tree. You always have to ask the hard (good) questions, don't you? :)
@@Makify1 As you noted in the video, screws shouldn't penetrate the living space so you are limited on length of screws to attach your metal strips. Consider that the box is heavy to begin with and will be even heavier with 200 bats inside. Perhaps on next box you attach hanging pieces (2x4) through the back panel from inside as you are building. Tree mounting needs predator protection (squirrels, raccoons, snakes) -- sheet metal around tree trunk?
FYI, you are gluing paint to paint and relying on the paint to make the bond (not worth the time or money), just saying. Plus, your paint just made all your roughened surfaces slippery. Looks like someone needs a vise? Maybe save your paint, roofing, and glue monies and buy a used one for about the same cost and you could make a video about restoring it.
Next time you need to cut shingles, score/cut the back side with your razor knife and the shingle will fold and break on the score for a nice straight edge without eating your blade up from just a cut or two by the grit on the top side.
You can build a catchment (beneficially copper lined) below the entrance to collect the bat guano. This natural fertilizer is a highly prized and sought after by gardeners.
The link to your Rockwell saw is actually a link to the roof sealant. Great video. My daughter (8yo) and I are starting our bat box next week. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, my boyfriend too. I printed your plans from the link you shared and am on the way to the hardware store to get supplies to build several bat houses. I appreciate you not using material on the inside of their home (just one less hazardous potential for them)!
I think you are so adorable. Its okay...I am an older lady with sons older then you. I bet you make your parents proud!
Again, thank you for sharing, and doing a great video.
Nice box. Try cutting the shingles on the back side. Or use a hook blade to cut from the grit side.
The multi-screw piece of wood to make the grooves is brilliant. I will happily use that on my next box. I spent many hours using a table saw to cut grooves 1/2 inch apart on all climbing sides of a fairly large 4-chamber house.
I'm glad you found it helpful!
THANK YOU! I have been searching for days for a well laid out that house plan. Then I found Makify! Your video and your plans are exactly what I was looking for! And I subscribe to your channel now, too.
I gave the thumbs up after 25 seconds. Highfive for nature-friendly family!😉😊
Awesome, thanks!
Outstanding video and plans. Good job Vinny.
Thanks!
I'm curious why you painted it all first? Wood glue doesn't "bond" fully to painted surfaces, but also it just seems like it's possibly more difficult to do? Was it to preserve the wood? Probably lasts longer with all sides painted I would think? Just curious. Not a criticism.
I must say your videos are really professional and you're a great carpenter.
Thank you, I appreciate it!
no problem keep it up!
AWesome dude..LOVE your work..LOve the bloopers 2..Funny Stuff....Cant believe someone would give you a thumbs down..
Very informative
Hi Vinnie,
I watched this video, subscribed and cut all the wood up as per the PDF, next to paint and screw together.
I’ll be screwing this box to a 4x4 x12’ post at the bottom of the yard facing south.
Take care
Rob
always a nice and clean video edition, and a good idea!
Thanks!
Hey looks great. I love the design and craftsmanship. I would love to have a couple of those. So does she have this house full of bats?? If so I'm going to follow this design exactly. If she doesn't mind maybe a success update. Dusk watch on her bat house to see how many come flying out for their nightly hunt for bugs?? Would be really cool for you and us to see success on this house you built with your own hands.
Great instructions!! Just a few comments. I agree with use of a waterproofing stain and sealer on all interior surfaces, preferably a dark color, in addition to painting the exterior an appropriate color. The fumes soon dissipate and appear not to be a problem for bats. I like the recessed landing area and strongly recommend a well-roughened surface.
is it ok to stain the inside of the box with water-based stain, exterior grade??
grazie makify e la prima che vedo grande number one compliments
here is a tip , when you guys splice the roosting grooves, stain the wood first , it softens the wood and makes it easier
Nice bat house. That will house a lot of bats.
Would love to see you make a Purple Martin Bird house!
I once saw bat house plans that recommended rough cut cedar or cutting grooves in the interior areas for the bats to cling to. I would not stain the interior because bats should not be exposed to paint or stain.
The video, finally a bat house instruction that’s makes sense. I’m not a carpenter so figuring this out was difficult as most of the instruction plans or videos didn’t make sense or. Left out parts you were expected to know as a woodworker. The plan link didn’t show up on the video, so how do I get it. Thanks you very much.
Good Job! Suggestion: For your next Bat House, make the interior walls go only to 2 inches from the roof at the front and all other interior walls stop at that same level. Before pacing the roof on, lay a plywood floor on top of the the walls with a 2 inch hole in it. Then secure the roof on. You have just built a Bat House with a Nursery. Before the Bats go out at night, they will take the Pups (Baby Bats) to he Nursery.for that night's Nursery Workers (Mothers) to pack them all together in one, two or three "piles" and cover the Pups with their bodies to maintain their body temperature. The Nursery is also where many/all the Female Bats will give birth. Then in a few weeks, the number of Bats which drop out at dusk will increase until the Colony will double +/-. Most, if not all the Bats in your Colony will be females. The males usually are not part of a colony. (My experience has been that one or two Bats stay in the close vicinity to reward the owner with bug free evenings....... and days. You may catch site of them patrolling within feet of you. But don't worry about them bumping into you. They are excellent graceful flyers. The jerky flying is them eating bugs they have caught on the front of their bodies and in their wing pits.)
Really great information; wish you had a link to a design that shows the nursery?
Great!
I've been watching your videos recently, and i'm so subscribing to your channel. You do amazing stuff, with good simple explanations and with the actual free template of your projects to encourage people to dow its own stuff, and that speaks a lot about the good person you seem to be. Keep up the good work, you rock!
Thank you! I'm glad you like my work and thanks for subscribing, I appreciate it.
Very thorough and the pace was totally professional. Well done. Subbed. Building one very soon. We are over run with bats on our covered porches. Vacuumed up 3 gallons of bat guano yesterday. Going in the garden of course.
Thank you so much for posting this video! I cut all my pieces, painting is done, ready to screw the bat house together but noticed the sides at 4 1/8" wide should be 4 1/2" to meet directly under the two front pieces? I did see the same width listed on the Bat Conservation website plans as well.
Good catch. I'll have to look into it.
Thanks for the quick reply. Caulking the area between the sides and front pieces will work too. I bring this up because before deciding to make my own I looked into purchasing one and all the houses show sides that don't have that gap. Really enjoying your videos and ideas and hope for more in the future!
Stack your parts drill through and use carriage bolts much less hardware and never paint the inside.or even stain it. Bats noses are very sensitive and will avoid the boxes.
nice one. looks like you're in a new shop now.
Yes! We recently moved and I now have a basement to work in.
2024, link to plans no longer work. I appreciate your instructional video. Well done! Please update link for plans. Thanks.
Nice..thank you for the video, did you ever get any bats ?
Hey, I'm using your plans (actually, I downloaded two different sets of very similar plans, then got them mixed up -- DOH!!! -- but most of my bat box is from your plans). I'm curious though what the cutouts in the sides are for (ventilation?) and why the front panel is two separate pieces and how much the gap between the two front panel pieces should be?
Thanks for making the plans available.
Andrew Ovenden gap is for good ventilation inside the bat house, and it only needs to be about a half inch in the front of the house. I didn’t notice cutouts in the side, you don’t need them as you want the house dark inside.
What if you have bats in your attic and you want to build a house, or two, to lure them out so you can block up all the entrances they're using. Where should you then put their new and improved Bat House? On the house, even though it's not over 9' high or on a tree and at 15'+?
Any advice? Please...
Good video, but I wouldn't stain the interior panels - keep their home interior more natural :)
Do your research. Bats do not like light.. period. That includes "light colored wood" that's why you paint it.
@@richardewlliams9864 Fine. But you don't need to be mean about it.
You're missing a feature for the bats to hang onto in the house, you should have added slits or a mesh
I bought a bat house on Amazon and put it on a pole per instructions but no bats have used it. Instead they get into the metal rail that supports my large sliding barn door. They get injured or go into shock if I open the barn door. I need a better system for them.
Hey just curious how you would recommend hanging this now that it is all assembled
I fastened mine to a very solid sixteen foot long 4×4 post with exterior grade screws on the ground, dug a three foot deep hole where I wanted it and three of us walked the post into its hole and cemented it in. Leveling the post quickly and accurately before the cement started to set. It's a bit of a challenge but very doable with a couple strong friends. Oh be sure the house gets full sun especially in the morning. Bats like their houses very warm. 80 to 100 degrees to be more specific. Bat houses can also be mounted ten to twenty feet high on your house. Higher the better. The best of luck to you.
Great video and plans! My only concern is the landing pad where the bats enter. Adding some fine mesh will help the bats crawl up into their home!
My thoughts exactly.
The mesh is a bad idea. Bats can get stuck under it and die. Just scratch the wood up good, that's all you need and you will never kill a bat.
Do you think bats would still go in if it was a little smaller? I'm thinking about just 12 wide?
What are the side slots for? Are they necessary?
Yes hi, how big was the Bat ensuite again.
What is the purpose of the notch on the side pieces?
How do you fix it to the wall?
So how do you mount the bat house?
A follow up video showing bats in it?
Hey tried clicking and downloading the plans but it's says your website is not active
Where and how did you mount this?
I don't see the batman logo on it anywhere... fail... lol
joking aside looks good.
Ha ha. Thanks
Nice plan and vid. Looks like you have a $500 band saw...did you not have enough left over to buy a few clamps? Metal weights don't, a clamp, make. 😉
May we order three from you ?
never paint inside the chamber the smell of paint won't get bats
Updates: does it work? How can we improve it if we need to? What changes, if any, would you make?
Maybe you could catch a bat, pin it to the front of the bat house and.spray paint over it. Then when you remove the bat you'll have a nice bat decal.😁
This kind of went to a weird place...
Nice Bat house but can you make one in a parking lot? ...that is the question
Ha! That's been done and not something I want to attempt anytime soon... unless DeWalt wants to sponsor a video...
I'd vote for them to sponsor you!
Next time double up that bottom sheet of shingles for full rain protection, or use the full, unbroken sheet. Great build I will most definitely copy!
How will this be mounted?
Mostlikely either wall mounted on trees?
So... I intentionally left that out of this video because I'm not entirely sure how we are going to hang this one. Some people use a french cleat system. Some people attach strips of wood to the back of the box that overhang either the sides or the top and then screw those to wherever they are hanging it on. This box is probably going to go onto a tree, which is usually not a good place to hang a bat box but this particular tree is not near anything else, it is quite tall, and has no branches on the bottom ~50' of the trunk so I think it will work. The plan right now is to drive a few screws through the bottom landing area and into the tree then use a couple of metal brackets on the top. The brackets are just flat strips of metal with some holes drilled in them. We plan to screw those into the back of the box at the top so that a few inches stick up higher than the roof and then screw that into the tree. You always have to ask the hard (good) questions, don't you? :)
@@Makify1 As you noted in the video, screws shouldn't penetrate the living space so you are limited on length of screws to attach your metal strips. Consider that the box is heavy to begin with and will be even heavier with 200 bats inside. Perhaps on next box you attach hanging pieces (2x4) through the back panel from inside as you are building.
Tree mounting needs predator protection (squirrels, raccoons, snakes) -- sheet metal around tree trunk?
No landing no groves NO BUENO
non ho capito cos'è?
a house for bats (casa per pipistrelli)
You went to great lengths to insure a long lasting house. I prefer this over pesticides.
bats like living in very small spaces apparently
Yes, they do.
No you can't because it says an error plans can not be shown
Bats need totally natural environment chemically
No paint or stain, it’s all toxic to Bats
FYI, you are gluing paint to paint and relying on the paint to make the bond (not worth the time or money), just saying. Plus, your paint just made all your roughened surfaces slippery.
Looks like someone needs a vise? Maybe save your paint, roofing, and glue monies and buy a used one for about the same cost and you could make a video about restoring it.
Do NOT paint southern Box's Black or any dark color------ Great Plan except for that!.
Could you explain why?
Could you explain why?
It would make the inside temperatures to hot for the bats during the day when they are sleeping.
You built a bat house and gave instructions before you knew if bats would like it? You shouldn't post until you are sure it's a good house.
The lack of precision in your woodwork is disturbing
Maybe, but it's better than the peeling bark of a dead tree.