| Project by Brad_Nailor | posted 722 days ago | 635 views | 0 times favorited | 16 comments |  |
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Ok, I feel like I’m in the final stretch of construction on this bird condominium! Actually with how much money I have spent on it and the time I have invested, it’s turning into “expensive lawn art” more than a birdhouse. I am trying to get this done so I can slap a finish on it and, give it time to dry before Christmas. Here are some progress pictures..overall I am pretty happy how it’s turning out…
Here is a shot of the front..it needs the most work, with the roof and dormers, and the front porch still to be built…
A close up shot of the dividers for the “condos” nailed in place with scrap wood cleats..
Here is the back almost complete…all I need to do is finish the roof…
A shot inside the much valued rear units…
I noticed that there was going to be a gap between the last log and the roof so of course I had to cut a tiny piece to fit in there….and I still have all my fingers…thanks to some double stick tape and careful cutting with my 12” SCMS..using that saw for that job was like killing a mosquito with a missile!
The dormers all cut out, waiting to be drilled. I had to buy an entire 8’ cedar 4×4 to get the 1 foot that I needed! I dug through the pile and found a damaged one and got it for half price…
My next dilemma was trying to find the metal seamed roofing material. Nobody near me had it on the shelf and the cost of ordering it was ridiculous, because I only needed 5 feet. John graciously offered to mail me some from Canada, but I wandered into a hobby shop and found an interesting alternative. They sold doll house supplies and wouldn’t you know, they happen to make little individually cut cedar shingles for the doll houses! Since the bird condo is about the same size I think it will work out perfectly..and look cool to boot! I plan on using 1/4” MDF as a substrate. It might be a little time consuming to shingle the roofs but on the other hand a bag big enough to do the whole roof is only about 20 bucks..less than half what the metal was going to cost me. In johns plan he just screwed the roof panels on, but I didn’t want to ruin all my hard work shingling with some ugly screws so I had to come up with an alternative roof fastening method. I stole a technique used allot in the architectural scale model building world, to fasten removable floors and roofs on model houses…pins!
First I drilled some holes a 1/64” bigger than my dowels in the roof cleats…
Then I drilled some holes in the MDF 1/64” smaller than the dowels, applied a little glue and tapped them in..
The roof in place on the condo…I will cut the dowels flush and then sand them a little, then the cedar shakes will cover the ends..
I plan on finishing the outside with Olympic Maximum Cedar Natural Tone Wood Sealer. According to Olympic, it has just a hint of color in it to help balance the overall cedar tone, and anything sealed with it wont grey for at least 5 years..I hope they are right! I still have to make the porch, and the base and base trim, and then find a place warm enough to apply my finish. I hope I can pull it off…
-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"
16 comments so far
Betsy
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2386 posts in 792 days
posted 722 days ago
Wow. Looks nice. There are going to be some pretty happy birds in your neck of the woods.
-- You can't get a hug from Facebook.
cajunpen
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5968 posts in 962 days
posted 722 days ago
There will be some very happy birds in your neighborhood. Very nice looking project.
-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/
MsDebbieP
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14160 posts in 1057 days
posted 722 days ago
this is wonderful
I can’t wait ‘til Rick starts building ours.
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Thos. Angle
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4013 posts in 858 days
posted 722 days ago
That is really neat. and a lot of work. You must really like birds, David.
-- Thos. Angle
Brad_Nailor
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1221 posts in 853 days
posted 722 days ago
Thanks for all the nice comments! Actually, this is a Christmas present for my step daughters grandmother. She has a large backyard, loves birds and has a few small tree mounted birdhouses. So this should increase her bird housing capacity! It has been alot of work…I have about 20 hours or more into it so far. And now with my new roofing strategy, I will be shingling a mini cedar shake roof a shingle at a time! I don’t mind though..I like building stuff like this..and the cedar shake roof will look really cool!
-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"
Russel
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2061 posts in 835 days
posted 722 days ago
David, I’ve built doll houses using the shingles you refer to. I actually found the process quite mindless and relaxing. Just plugging away one shingle at a time allowed my mind to occupy itself on other things and still be productive. Your birdhouse makes me consider dollhouses again.
-- Working at Woodworking www.VillageLaneFurniture.com
MsDebbieP
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14160 posts in 1057 days
posted 722 days ago
with the birdhouse that Rick built, it was small enough to use an old coffee can as the roof.. just cut it open, turned the inside out and voila… a pretty cool tin room. (of course that won’t work with the “extreme birdhouse”. )
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
CharlieM1958
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7659 posts in 1114 days
posted 721 days ago
Great job, David. I can’t bear the thought of those nasty birds leaving feathers and droppings all over this masterpiece!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
TomFran
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2514 posts in 890 days
posted 721 days ago
David, This is a gorgeous birdhouse. As nice as it is, it may attract some “classy” birds that won’t do what Charlie mentioned ;^D
Thanks for all the pictures showing us how you built this! It’s very instructive.
-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28
mrtrim
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1698 posts in 776 days
posted 721 days ago
its lookin great david . my parrot loves it . but he wants the entry holes on his a bit larger !
john
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1194 posts in 1278 days
posted 721 days ago
It,s looking very nice David . The wood shingles will look great.
What most people don,t realize is sure the birds will poop on them but it is mainly on the roof and mother nature does a pretty good job keeping them clean . All of my houses look clean and i don,t do anything to them.
-- John in Belgrave ,(Slideshow http://cid-69bce320c6d8b119.spaces.live.com/ (Website) http://www.extremebirdhouse.com
DAN
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6450 posts in 879 days
posted 719 days ago
looks like a fun project. where are you going to mount this ? on a tall post or hung from a tree ?
-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever
john
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1194 posts in 1278 days
posted 708 days ago
Christmas is coming fast so i imagine David is in the shop rushing to get part four done .
I can,t wait to see how it looks David. lol
I thought about doing the wood shingles but they are about $20 .00 for a small bag of them here.
-- John in Belgrave ,(Slideshow http://cid-69bce320c6d8b119.spaces.live.com/ (Website) http://www.extremebirdhouse.com
Brad_Nailor
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1221 posts in 853 days
posted 707 days ago
John…You are so right! I have been working in my garage shop every nite trying to finish this by Christmas! The shingles are the same price here..I paid $18 bucks for a bag of 1000. I think I will need more though. The shingles are looking very cool, but the barn steel has its own cool look to it…and as far as ease and speed of installation, the barn steel wins hands down! Unfortunately I haven’t had time to work on the Sketchup birdhouse…but I will pick that back up as soon as the real birdhouse is done!
Dan…I am thinking I will sink a 12’ Cedar 4×4 in the ground and mount the base to that, with some support brackets.
-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"
Karson
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25803 posts in 1297 days
posted 707 days ago
Great job Brad. that is one cool looking house. A real treasure.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
rikkor
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11335 posts in 771 days
posted 707 days ago
Man, that’s one fine birdhouse.