How to Hang a Bat House (on a Shed)

by Laird-Denton

4.2K434

Intro: How to Hang a Bat House (on a Shed)

Years ago I got a Bat House and always liked the idea of having my own little Bat Colony to be an all natural bug control for my yard.

I finally decided to put it up, and decided to mount it to my Shed in my Back Yard.

Come follow along as I show you how I did it :)

STEP 1: Gather Supplies

To Hang the Bat House off of the side of the Shed, I would need to install something to push the pole away in order to clear the Soffit.

I decided to use a couple pieces of Treated 2x4 to accomplish this and gathered the rest of my supplies:

  • OBC Tripple Chamber Bat House
  • Six Treated 2x4 cut to 20 Inches
  • Six Lag Bolts 1/4"x5"
  • Three U-Bolts 4" Long
  • Five Self-Tapping Metal Screws
  • Pipe-Strap
  • One Fence Pole 10'-0" long
  • Twelve 1/2" Wood Screws (not pictured)

the Bat House came from Amazon like this one:
https://smile.amazon.com/Looker-Products-Approved-...

STEP 2: Prepping the Mounting Boards

I knew that if I wanted to mount this myself I was going to need to prep the boards a lot, to avoid any frustration when I was hanging it. I also needed to create pockets in the 2nd board for the Nut of the U-Bolt to fit into.

  1. Measure out the middle of each board.
  2. Mark where the U-Bolt holes will need to be on one Board.
  3. Clamp two Boards togetherand Drill the holes through both boards.
  4. Test fit a U-Bolt to make sure it works.
  5. Repeat for all boards.

As a side note after I took all of these pictures I decided to add some Pilot Holes for the Lag Bolts to make it easier to assemble and hang later (I have pictures of the assembly later on).

STEP 3: Attaching the Bat House

To attach the Bat House to the Pole, I used three 7" pieces of Pipe-Straps.

I used the Self-Tapping Metal Screws to attach the straps to the pole, then the wood-screws to attach the straps to the Bat House.

It's a very simple, yet sturdy mounting style.

STEP 4: Attaching the Boards and Mounting

I spaced the Boards out along the pole, about a foot apart, and added the U-Bolts.

I then decided to add a piece of Pipe Strap to the bottom of the pipe and around the bottom board for a bit of extra support. I knew the U-Bolts would hold it, but I just wanted to make sure.

I then added the 2nd board and installed the Lag Screws.

It was a little awkward to hang by myself, but it was not very heavy which was good.

I spaced the Lag Screws so that they would sink themselves into the studs of the shed, and get a good stable bite.

My drill would not handle putting the Lag Screws in all of the way, so I had to finish them by hand with a socket-wrench.

STEP 5: Finished Product! :)

The Bat House looks great and the Pipe I used for support will guarantee that no critters will get up in there and bother the bats!


All in all, a successful project! :)

Now all I need is some Bats to move in to their new awesome home!!!

4 Comments

mechanofreak 7 years ago

Awesome instructable! I believe it would be even better to know what kind of area and climate you're in so that others can get an idea of whether it's something that can work for them. I love bats and think they are one of the coolest animals ever, I would love to have them as our flying mammalian neighbors on our property.

Marnus 7 years ago

Awesome instructable. Just wondering how you would get the bats to move in? Is it just a waiting game?

Laird-Denton 7 years ago

Yes it is just a waiting game. The OBC (Organization for Bat Conservation) designed Bat Houses have a 80% success rate of attracting bats.

I already have bats around my yard, so I hope it is only a short wait :)