We build all our furniture, boxes, and bat houses with kiln dried, Western Red Cedar from British Columbia. It is an everlasting renewable resource.

An organization (which I have joined) called Bat Conservation International has been doing research on Bats and their housing preferences. By mounting various styles of bat houses side by side on a barn it is easy to tell which house bats like and dislike. They noted the bats favorite style house and constructed 10 identical houses out of different materials such as plywood, cypress, pine, stucco, sheet metal, Etc.

They found that bats prefer Cedar - Western Red Cedar! That's all we use here, so we were excited to learn that.

All the lumber goes through our five head milling machine which cuts a ship-lap profile into the boards so they overlap each other when fit together.

We cut the boards to sixteen inches. The picture to the left shows a board being textured on the edge of our band saw blade. We do this to both side of each board (except the front of the front boards) to create a rough texture. The bats need this rough texture to cling to. It is a bit labor intensive, but it makes all the difference. We want these Bat Houses to really work for you.

This is where it gets fun because all the prep work is done. Now we get to assemble the panels. It goes fast thanks to the help of our duo-fast narrow crown staple gun. We use only 100% stainless steel fasteners in all our furniture and this applies to Bat Houses as well. They are expensive and shouldn't go unmentioned. They will ensure your Bat House survives 50 years.

To the left see the textured boards fit into "U" shaped 2" x 2" pieces. We spread Woodsman Outdoor Wood Glue into the channel then fit the boards in. They get two staples on each end. There are 24 Stainless Steel staples in the panel shown. Notice the rough texture we put into the boards. The bats toes can grip into this rough surface.

This detailed carving is done on our Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) router. It's really our robot. I (Max) program it on a PC computer using CAD. The drawing is converted into G code, then sent to the robot. You should see her go! All we had to do was cut a slot in the front. We could have used the table saw, but this is so much more fun!

After the panels are pressed together we use four 2 1/2 inch stainless steel screws to connect the panels from the back so you don't see the fastener. Over kill I'm sure, but that's the way we build all of our furniture. Better to be too good then not good enough.

To the left see the way we finish off the back. Three important design features to notice. The strips being stapled extend six inches below the bat enterance. They accomodate the textured landing pad (1.) and form the walls (2.) of the un-Official third roosting chamber. Above these strips is a horizontal 1x4 which the mounting bracket (3.) fits up into. You screw the mounting bracket to tree or house, and part of it fits up into this groove. It also provides a convienent place to hold the Bat House before mounting.

Still thinking about building one? Don't bother. We've put a lot of thought and energy into this design and think it's an excellent value. We hope you decide to buy a Baldwin Bat House or two and wish you success and happiness.