How to Make Bluebird Houses

Bird-watching can be an enjoyable hobby, but what if you don't have any birds to watch? Building a proper house can attract birds. They'll make that house their home, have their young there and stay around for you to enjoy as long as their house remains in good repair. One house that's fairly easy to build is a bluebird house.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

4-by-1-foot sheet of 1/4-inch plywood Tape measure Pencil Straight edge Saw Drill 1-1/2 inch drill bit 1-1/2 inch trim nails Tack hammer 2-inch hinge Hinge hardware Screwdriver 1/2-inch drill bit
4-by-1-foot sheet of 1/4-inch plywood
Tape measure
Pencil
Straight edge
Saw
Drill
1-1/2 inch drill bit
1-1/2 inch trim nails
Tack hammer
2-inch hinge
Hinge hardware
Screwdriver
1/2-inch drill bit

Step 1

Cut the sides out of a four-by-one-foot sheet of one-fourth-inch plywood. Make sure that your four-foot edge is straight. Cut the six sides of the birdhouse from this one piece of wood. The back panel should be 13.5 inches high by six inches wide. The front panel should be nine inches high by five inches wide. The bottom should be five inches square. The roof should be seven-and-one-half inches high by six inches wide. The sides can be tricky. They need to be five-and-one-half inches wide with 10.75 inches on the back and angled down to nine-and-one-half inches on the front.

Step 2

Make the hole in the front panel for the birds. Come down an inch from the top of the front panel and drill your hole in the middle using a drill and the one-and-one-half inch drill bit.

Step 3

Connect the front, back and sides using the trim nails and a hammer. Four or five nails per side of each panel should be enough. Make sure that the outer edges of your side panels butt up to the back and front panels. Make sure your bottom opening is a five-by-five square.

Step 4

Nail in your bottom panel. When you set your nailed-together sides on top of the bottom panel, they should fit exactly. Secure them with three or four trimming nails per side.

Step 5

Add your hinge to the middle of the top panel and the back panel. The best way to do this is to place the top panel on top of the finished house structure and butt it up to the overhanging back panel. Mark your hinge slots by taking a pencil and filling in the holes. Once your holes are marked, attach the hinge to the top, set it back on the structure and affix it to the back panel.

Step 6

Drill a hole for hanging. You should have two-and-one-half inches on the top where you can drill a one-half-inch hole, so that you can hammer in a nail in a post and hang the house.

Article Written By Patrick Cameron

Patrick Cameron is a freelance writer with 10 years of diverse experience in consumer goods branding, promotions and retail communications. He works out of his home in Denver, Colo. He received his Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from the University of Minnesota.

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