How to Build a Log Cabin Birdhouse

Whether you like birdhouses as a decoration for your home or as a way to attract more birds to your yard, you'll quickly find that there are many different designs out there for you to choose from. If you like to build your own birdhouses and would like to build one that looks like a log cabin then follow the directions below.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 12, 1 by 8-inch wooden dowels
• 12, 1 by 6-inch wooden dowels
• Weatherproof wood glue
• Nail gun
• Nails (at least 1.5-inches long)
• Hammer
• 7 by 9-inch piece of plywood
• 2 plywood triangles with 2 3.5-inch sides and 1 8-inch side
• 2 8-inch pieces of wood siding
• Sandpaper
• Drill
• Drill bit large enough for the hole for the bird

1. Take your 8-inch wooden dowels and measure 3/4 inches in from each end. This will mark where you will place the 6-inch wooden dowel walls.

2. Stack your 8-inch and 6-inch wooden dowels into two walls each with six dowels of a particular size per wall. Before you glue your walls together you need to make them fit together as tightly as possible by using sandpaper to smooth out any areas that may be causing gaps.

3. Use wood glue between each layer of your birdhouse walls once they have been smoothed out with sandpaper. Let the walls dry completely before moving on to the next step. If you are having trouble keeping the walls together while they dry, use clamps.

4. Drill your bird hold into one of the 6-inch walls about 2-inches from the bottom and insert a nail in about 1/2-inches below the hole for the birds to sit on.

5. Use your nail gun to nail together your walls using the marks that you made in step 1. Place your 6-inch walls so that the 3/4-inch marks are on the outside of the walls and then nails the walls in place using your nail gun after you place a line of wood glue at each end of the 6-inch wall. The result should be the two 6-inch between the two 8-inch walls with 3/4-inches overhang from the 8-inch walls on each end.

6. Put a line of glue along the 8-inch edge of each of your plywood triangles and secure them along the top of the front and the back walls of the birdhouse with a nail at each end.

7. Secure your wood siding pieces to the edges of your triangles to create your birdhouse's roof, with wood glue and nails in the top and the bottom. The two pieces should meet at the peak of the triangles.

8. Attach the floor of your birdhouse to the birdhouse using wood glue and nails along the bottom of the floor. Don't place your nails in the corners of your birdhouse walls because they may strike nails from step 5. Instead place the nails between the corners.