Barn in the Sticks.com

Your choice for wildlife habitat. 608-214-9511

How to make a log home purple martin house

Here is a custom purple martin house that I built this spring. It is made with chip-board or particle board on the inside, it has "log siding", made from birch dowels, and a real shingled roof. We are still adding to the details of this page.

The entrance holes are 2-1/4" and the vent holes are 5/8". The rail is in place so that the young will not fall out of the house. The hole on top is a ventilation hole with screen mesh to keep any bugs out. I will soon have more pictures of the work in process, so if you would like, you can copy it and build your own. I tried to talk my daughters into putting it up for sale but the final vote was that they wanted to keep it. Purple Martins are an excellent bird to have around your house, they will eat a ton of mosquitoes and bugs every day. They tend to nest in flocks, which is why purple martin houses are built like apartments.

The beginning

Purple Martin Log home

I wanted to make a purple martin house, but I wanted it a little different. So I started making the plans for a log home purple martin house. It didn't take too many materials, just a sheet of 1/4" plywood, some 1" X 3" boards and roughly 36 1/2" dowels. The entire project took a couple of weeks, but could be done in a weekend. It isn't a extreemly tough project, just takes some time.

Here is the base of the house. A platform with a plywood square on it with the dividers in place. The entire project isn't too expensive, but it does take some time. It is also very heavy!

The materials list

To copy this one, here are the materials you will need.

1- 4' X 8' sheet of 1/4" plywood. I only used particle board because I had a sheet lying around, and it will not have direct exposure to the elements, there is the log siding and shingles to protect the particle board.

1 - 8' long 1" X 2" or 1" X 3". I used the 1X3

1- Threaded rod- 3/8" X 2' is plenty.

Some scrap boards- 1" X 1" and others.

Some spare shingles

36 1/2" X 3' dowels

Getting Started

Here is a picture of the plywood layout...

Layout your plywood, put on some ear and eye protection and start cutting.

Here we primed the entire house

Here is the coat of primer on the house to protect it from the elements.

After cutting out all of the boards, I used scrap pieces of wood for interior corner bracing.

Before putting on the log siding, we first used caulk around the base of the house and along the roof line to help keep rain out. Then we put a standard primer on the house to protect the wood from any water.

Here was the beginning of the logs

The beginning of the longest process, securing the log siding.

These logs are actually 1/2" dowels, sliced down the middle, then each one was cut to fit perfectly. The process took the better part of the day. I used wood glue along with 1/2" staples to hold the logs in place along with some various clamps.

The final project

I also used shingles left over from our dog house project, and then added a railing to the house so the little birds don't fall out. The rail is also dowels, a thicker dowel for the corner posts and a thin dowel for the rail.

As soon as I have the 1/4" sheet of plywood drawn out with measurements, I'll post the entire project from start to finish. It will be on the site live on 5/12/08

SSL Certificates

Shopping cart by ShopFactory