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KC5TPA
Member
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Posted: Fri May 11th, 2007 03:26 am |
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What is everyone using to keep their houses in good shape for a long as possible?
Thompson's Waterseal
Olympic Maximum Stain
Polyester resin and Acetone
Linseed Oil
Powdered Zinc
Paint...
???
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Terry Lobdell
Member
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Posted: Fri May 11th, 2007 01:33 pm |
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| I cover most of mine with aluminum and paint it flat back. With wood no matter what you do it breaks down. Where I live in PA my houses are black which absorbs the heat. Wood exteriors up here just don't last long. The aluminum exteriors are well worth the effort for me. Even the PA state game commission has started going with metal exteriors on their bath houses.
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kent borcherding
Member
| Joined: | Fri Jan 7th, 2005 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 50 |
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Offline
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Posted: Fri May 11th, 2007 08:51 pm |
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I am taking a break from forums and working on new bat house designs,
placing some large capacity bat houses.
The 3 new houses which are ready to be placed now are constructed from 8-10 inch diameter light poles sawed in 8 ft . lengths .
The poles are layed horizontally and grooves are cut in the for the bats to roost in , old utilty poles work best because of the many cracks in them for the bats to use.
Next make a 3 sided rectangle box the length and heigth of the horizontally laying utility poles. Used doug fir 2" x 10" for sides and 2 " x 12" for roof.Measure so there is approx 3/4" to 1" clearance between utility poles and the sides and roof of the box.
the horizontally poles are placed on top of one anothet so box depth is approx 20" -22".
Use lag screws and the end of box to hold the utllity poles in the box.
Two utility poles are placed in the ground vertically 6 ft apart and 12ft high to mount the bat houses on.
Steel brackets are placed 10ft up on each side of the mounting poles , the boxes withe the poles in are raised and placed on the brackets.
The houses with the 2 utility poles in them should easily hold 2,000 bats each and the single pole house more than a 1,000 bats.
Advantage of the utility poles horizontally placed in the boxes bats will sure not fall from the bat houses as easily as the 90 degree vertically placed
baffles now used in most bat houses , especially in when been houses become overcrouded.
The utlity poles were delivered and given to me no charge , 2" doug fir material cost $61 including tax . Construction time including painting easy 5 hours or less , I don't hurry keep all your fingers that way.
As I make more houses will use cement board over the 2" x !2" roof. Also some peak roofed houses with ridge vents for air movement.
These houses should easily last 25 - 40 years , the 2' material and the 8" - 10 " diameter utility poles inside the bats roost on should hold night temps higher also able to control daytime interior temps easily.
If I constuct some houses using Medex wood and cement board should easily get 75 - to 100 years from the bat house.
Also considering using 16 ft. trench silo concrete bunker side 10feet in length to mount the 8ft long bat houses with the utility poles in,
If 10 of the double pole 8 ft houses were placed on the concrete silo bunker sides . capacity easily 20,000 bats cost material $2600 to $3000.
Easily contruct the 10 houses in one day and place and mount them in one day. so labor cost are not prohibitive.
Took many photos of construction process and will take more when mounting and after they are mounted and will post them.
Thousands of bats in the houses here in sw wisconsin and northren ILL mid May.
There are 2 more large capacity designs will start this summer , one is the 8 sided slanted gazebo stlye roof and triangle shaped panels constuction like the dome stlye houses that were constructed in the 70"s there is a lot of upward air movement in these designs , very interesting to see if successful for bat houses.
T
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BatMan
Member
| Joined: | Wed Jul 28th, 2004 |
| Location: | Florida USA |
| Posts: | 134 |
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Offline
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Posted: Sat May 12th, 2007 01:15 am |
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I usually use exterior house paint, though on my cedar rocket I used a deck stain.
Kent, That sounds extremely interesting....looking forward to the pics
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Joe Spencer
Administrator
| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
| Location: | Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 509 |
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Posted: Sun May 13th, 2007 03:05 am |
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I use exterior house paint. I used to get the OOPS dark paint from Home Depot for $5.00 a gallon on Monday-Tuesday after people have returned them. I'm not sure they still have it or not. I'm intriuged by Kent's design with interior horizontal poles for bats to roost on. Are the poles round or rectangular? Hopefully they are creosote free. Years ago they use to put creosote on these poles as a preservative but it burned skin, gave off harmful vapors and is a known carcinogen. I too am anxious to see the photos and will help in any way Kent to assist you in posting them if needed. Thanks again for the informative post. 
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Terry Lobdell
Member
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Posted: Sun May 13th, 2007 06:02 am |
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| Kent, are you going to have gaps between the poles or will they be stacked tight together?
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Current time is 03:39 am | |
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