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Gran
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| Joined: | Wed Sep 8th, 2004 |
| Location: | Dothan, Alabama USA |
| Posts: | 46 |
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Posted: Mon Dec 10th, 2007 07:47 pm |
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I noticed that KC5TPA had built some house from PVC. I've also seen them at Mayberry's site. PVC looks like good answer to a lot of problems. The ones I've seen either had wooden (or webbing)baffles inside a PVC outer shell or used several much smaller pipes within a single larger pipe.
Has anyone investigated using progressively smaller pipes inside each other to build a rocket type house? Sort of circle within circles idea. I haven't found good inner/outer dimensions for various types of PVC pipe. It might be tough to get exactly 3/4 inch spacing. Has anyone seen this done?
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Joe Spencer
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
| Location: | Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 481 |
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 01:23 am |
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I pondered and then tried it but couldn't get the 3/4" spacing either. It is also such a smooth surface not allowing for bat footholds that I remained focused on rough wood. Worth revisiting though! 
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kent borcherding
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| Joined: | Fri Jan 7th, 2005 |
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 12:46 pm |
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John Chenger -http://www.batmanagement.com- has some PVC bat houses and some good photos of interior.
Marvin Maberry sands the PVC houses and then applies a stucco , by doing this the bats can get a grip on the bat houses.
I do field test some of Marvin's bat houses in southern Wis.
The PCV house with the sand added to the top is the most successful in this area.
Also works well to have several of his regular PVC houses near other occuped bat houses for the bats to use when the temps are above average ie in the high 90's or above.
Marvin's website http://www.maberrybat.com is an interesting an informative website.
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IowaNate
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 03:21 pm |
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| Those pvc houses from Bat Management look fairly easy to make. I have access to 12" diameter pvc pipe at a local plumbing warehouse. It would also be very easy to create a chamber in the top to add sand. Could use 3/4" lumber for partitions for added heat retention.There are many options for large diameter pvc pipe and it's ability to withstand most weather elements.
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Terry Lobdell
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 06:16 pm |
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| Nate, how expensive is the 12" pvc pipe and what colors does it come in?
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kent borcherding
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Posted: Wed Dec 12th, 2007 01:59 pm |
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There also is a material "rubicon" which is made from recycled plastic milk jugs.
You can buy it in many different thicknesses , in solid or web designs. It is pricey but long lasting- 50 years no problem.
Many states buy the picnic tables and benches made from the material.
The tables and benches usually are at the state welcome centers .
I have one small bat house made completely from the material .
A small maternity colony uses that bat house , no wasps nest because wasps can not attach to the material.
You have to use a saw to make the kerfs for the bats to grip. About impossible to scratch the grips with nails or screws.
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IowaNate
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Posted: Fri Dec 14th, 2007 01:42 am |
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| I work in the piping trade (Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 125) and have been around alot of pvc piping. In my opinion it's only substantial use is for the exterior shell for a tube style bat house. There isn't a good way to scratch, attach mesh, or rough it up in any way other than applying stucco to the inside sanded surface. A pvc tube exterior with wood baffles is the most conventional way to go. Most pvc should last 50 years when painted to ward off UV rays from the sun. And there isn't any good way to make 3/4" crevices with smaller pipes inside each other. I have worked with schedule 40 and 80 pvc and the darn pipes just don't line up to make a useable crevice.
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jeaton
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| Joined: | Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 |
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 10:28 pm |
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Hi all, I'm new to the forum and am looking for information, ideas, recommendations on what type of bat house to build for our backyard.
This PVC design interests me, but I'm wondering how the coned roof portion of the Bat Can (link to BatCan Roof) is made of. Is it a PVC cone cap of some type? If so, is it readily available?
BTW, regarding scoring the inside of the pipe, would it be possible to use a Dremel tool with a grinder disk attachment? I haven't tried it, but it seems like that would work.
Thanks everyone for all the great ideas, questions, pictures, etc.
Jon
Last edited on Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 10:37 pm by jeaton
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IowaNate
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 10:49 pm |
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Welcome to the site Jon! Using a dremel tool with a thin grinding wheel could work, but you'd have to be super careful not to go 100% through the pipe.
If this is your first time with bat houses, then I would suggest a medium sized (14" wide and at least 24" tall) standard three chamber house. It's a proven design that has had great success over the years and works very well with most crevice roosting bats.
Happy bat housing!
Nate
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jeaton
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| Joined: | Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 |
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Posted: Wed Apr 23rd, 2008 11:35 am |
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Thanks Nate for the welcome and the recommendation. This is my foray into bat housing. I will probably build the tried and true 14"x~24" house as it's straight forward to build. But, I really like the look of the rocket house too. Very nice.
Jon
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