Inspired by a PBS TV show called WordWorld , my daughter (ok, I helped) built the "bird house " shown as an entry in the 10th annual Birdhouse Display and Benefit Auction at The Arboretum in Lexington, KY. It attracted a lot of attention and potential buyers, but we really didn't want to sell it. So, this Instructable tells you how to build your own....
The Lexington Herald-Leader article on The Arboretum's birdhouse event is:
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/09/02/1867014/birdhouse-on-display-in-the-arboretum.html
The Lexington Herald-Leader article on The Arboretum's birdhouse event is:
http://www.kentucky.com/2011/09/02/1867014/birdhouse-on-display-in-the-arboretum.html
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Signing UpStep 1: The Plan
Like most birdhouse-building projects, there's a lot of flexibility in the choice of materials, tools, and even size of the completed birdhouse. My daughter's birdhouse, shown in the figure with dimensions, is sized to accommodate most types of birds local to where we live and also to make the size of the letters easy to deal with. There are various WWW sites that discuss the optimal entrance hole size, distance of the hole above the birdhouse floor, and floor dimensions for various kinds of birds.
The materials you'll need:
1. The lumber needed depends on the size of the birdhouse. Because the entrance holes (it's actually a 4-family birdhouse) are literally the holes in the letters "b " and "d ," the letter size is tied to the type of bird you want to nest within. In any case, we were able to build everything from scraps I had in my shop, and that might work for you too....
2. A durable finish is needed. We used exterior-grade latex paints for the white and black. The red, yellow, green, and blue colors were actually interior latex wall paint samplers... less than $2 each. I don't really trust any paint to last outside, so the plan all along was to seal everything with 2-3 coats of high-quality clear polyurethane, and that's what we did. You could really use just about any paint as long as you seal it that way.
3. You'll also need a few bolts and screws and a weather-resistant glue. I would have preferred to use biscuits to join the wall panels -- but the plywood we used was too thin for that, so it was blocking, screws, and glue.
I have a fair collection of tools, but you don't need too much for this project. Here are the basics:
1. Saw(s) for cutting the panels and letters. We used a circular saw for the panels and a miter saw and scroll saw for the smaller pieces. The only tricky cut is the angle for the roof (see figure); changing the roof slope so that the two roof pieces meet in a 90-degree angle would eliminate the angled cuts, but add a little height. Hand saws could be used for everything and would have scared my daughter less, but I like power tools. ;-)
2. A drill to make the entry holes and drill holes for a few bolts. If you have a sufficiently large hole cutter, that also can be used to shape the outsides of the "b" and "d" circles; I didn't, so that's what we used the scroll saw for.
3. Sandpaper and/or a power sander. We kept things a bit rustic, but there was still plenty of sanding involved....
The materials you'll need:
1. The lumber needed depends on the size of the birdhouse. Because the entrance holes (it's actually a 4-family birdhouse) are literally the holes in the letters "b " and "d ," the letter size is tied to the type of bird you want to nest within. In any case, we were able to build everything from scraps I had in my shop, and that might work for you too....
2. A durable finish is needed. We used exterior-grade latex paints for the white and black. The red, yellow, green, and blue colors were actually interior latex wall paint samplers... less than $2 each. I don't really trust any paint to last outside, so the plan all along was to seal everything with 2-3 coats of high-quality clear polyurethane, and that's what we did. You could really use just about any paint as long as you seal it that way.
3. You'll also need a few bolts and screws and a weather-resistant glue. I would have preferred to use biscuits to join the wall panels -- but the plywood we used was too thin for that, so it was blocking, screws, and glue.
I have a fair collection of tools, but you don't need too much for this project. Here are the basics:
1. Saw(s) for cutting the panels and letters. We used a circular saw for the panels and a miter saw and scroll saw for the smaller pieces. The only tricky cut is the angle for the roof (see figure); changing the roof slope so that the two roof pieces meet in a 90-degree angle would eliminate the angled cuts, but add a little height. Hand saws could be used for everything and would have scared my daughter less, but I like power tools. ;-)
2. A drill to make the entry holes and drill holes for a few bolts. If you have a sufficiently large hole cutter, that also can be used to shape the outsides of the "b" and "d" circles; I didn't, so that's what we used the scroll saw for.
3. Sandpaper and/or a power sander. We kept things a bit rustic, but there was still plenty of sanding involved....
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Oh, yea, you did O.K., too...
It turns out that last year my daughter's award-winning 4th-grade science project measured temperature gains from having different colored houses. Her project data (see the graph) shows that NIR/IR reflectance matters most. An IR-absorbing black "insulating" foam actually gained the most heat, colors varied little (dyes pass NIR/IR), and aluminum foil gained virtually no heat.
We originally tried gluing aluminum foil on the roof of the bird house, but it looked cheesy and we doubted that paint would stick well enough to it....
you went to a lot of work for a "simple" birdhouse...
But it looks SOOOOOooooooooo CUTE!!!
You said there are 4 sections/rooms to this birdhouse??
And you want to add a camera?
can it be added from above?? is that even possible??
Just a thought Sir.
It sure seems like there is....
Tell him to stuff a sock in it. ;-)
she made it, she painted it, she owns it.....
Therefor she can do anything she wants with it.
She wanted to put "BIRD" on it with every letter being a different color....
that is her right....regardless of how the rest of us feel about it.
BTW, I like it & think it's pretty too! :-)
So what's your take on a British invention call transputor, projects like Raspberry Pi and OLPC?
I always thought a copper or brass bushing lining the hole would prevent them from getting a "tooth hold" and spare the house the squirrel fate thus allowing the use it was intended for.
Does anybody have any thoughts on this?