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Mark Rayner builds a bird house.

You will need:

A piece of 22mm plywood: 200mm x 260mm (for the base)
18mm plywood cut as following:
- two of 250mm x 155mm for the side walls
- two of 200mm x 350mm for the other walls
- 200mm x 200mm for the roof panel 1
- 200mm x 180mm for the roof panel 2
- 200mm x 40mm for the base front
- 120mm x 60mm for the ‘awning’ over entrance hole
120mm piece of 12mm wooden dowel

Also required: exterior PVA glue, galvanised or stainless steel hinge, drill with 1.5mm, 12mm and 40mm size bits, 40mm galvanised jolt head nails, 19mm galvanised flat head nails, circular saw, sandpaper, set square, tape measure, hammer, paintbrush, pencil, Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat and Resene Lumbersider tinted to Resene Colonial White and Resene Green House.

Top tip: To keep the house safe for birds we used untreated materials, so make sure the plywood is primed and painted thoroughly for maximum protection from the elements.

To get the look: Mark stained the background fence with Resene Woodsman Penetrating Oil Stain tinted to Resene Bamboo.

Step 1
Measure pieces of plywood to fit the above dimensions. Use the set square’s corner to mark the pitch of the gable roof on the front and back walls - the sides should each measure 250mm.

Step 2
Cut out the plywood pieces with a circular saw and smooth rough edges with sandpaper. When cutting out one side of the awning, the saw blade will need to be set at 45° so it slopes down when attached.

Step 3
Drill a few 12mm holes in the base, then a central 12mm hole 100mm up from the bottom of the front wall and lastly, a 40mm hole 20mm above this. Insert and glue the dowel in the smaller hole.

Step 4
Prime all pieces with a coat of Resene Quick Dry and leave it two hours to dry.

Step 5
Attach front, back and side walls, fixing along each edge with 40mm nails and PVA glue. With nails and glue, attach the base front shelf edge to the base and then the house to the base.

Step 6
Drill 1.5mm pilot holes and then nail, with 19mm nails and glue the awning in position. Paint the birdhouse interior with two coats of Resene Green House, allowing two hours for each coat to dry.

Step 7
Nail and glue roof panel 1. to one side of the gable. Attach roof panel 2. to this with the hinge and screws. Paint the birdhouse exterior with two coats of Resene Colonial White.

Step 8
Paint the upper side of the roof, the base, awning and perch with two coats of Resene Green House, allowing two hours for each coat to dry.

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Resene Paints Ltd – www.resene.com