Advice for modifing Trios

[G Saner]

I bought my first Trio martin house in 1969 but have never modified one to double compartments.

Do you need to disassemble the house (M12K or MSS12) to create the hole to the back compartment?

What size should the inner hole be? Round or square? Should it be centered or offset for owl protection?

Suggestions on the bit for drilling the hole in aluminum. Also, my old drill just died. Do I need to buy a new drill with some minimum standard or will just a regular drill do.

How about the edges of the hole, how do I remove the sharp edges? What is the best way to do that.

I have already scored a 20 year old M12K in great condition. Offered to buy it and got it free. I have turned my unfinished storeroom into a martin house hospital and plan on modifying more houses in my new hometown. Your advice is appreciated.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

G,
Be prepared for some great answers from a group of Forum members which we happily refer to as the Trio Jedi Masters. They are forum members who are very knowledgeable about restoring and modifying Trio houses of every type manufactured by Trio and now Nature House, Inc.
I would start with a review of the excellent article in the PMCA Archives.

http://www.purplemartin.org/update/9(3)trio.html

I personally disassemble the houses, use a 3" metal hole saw and cut the holes offset to make the nesting compartment harder for a predator to see. I prefer the dividing hole to be 90 degree to the entrance hole rather than straight through. Of course, that is why I have to disassemble the older houses that I have restored.
Admittedly, the number of Trio/Nature House, Inc. houses that I have restored and modified is nothing compared to the Trio Jedi Masters of this forum.
Mark.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

G,
A good metal hole saw gives excellent holes that only need to be touched up with 220 grit emory cloth or sandpaper.
A regular drill is all that I use. If you use the hole saw just for aluminum then it will last a lifetime.
By the way, I use gloves and keep my fingers away from the hole saw's teeth.
Safety first. Prevention is the best medicine. Let the tool, not the fool do the work. All sayings that I have used to guide me through a lifetime of projecting.
I suspect that you are a skilled craftsman who has done many things. My impression comes from the great questions that you asked.
Mark.

[Anthony Neira]

Hey G.Saner, Mark is right, I'm a trio Vulture, drooling over that M 12K you just got ! A quick way to make the rooms 6 x 12, is to remove the 4 center upper & lower tie rods that hold/hang the "short dividers" ( aka, Blank Doors ) and you can use these as the new end walls of each compartment. Or you can order new doors from PMCA already painted white. As Mark stated, you can leave the center rods & walls there after you cut an opening, I cut a Big opening , leaving about an inch + wall on the top & sides, and a taller 1 1/2 " lower wall, I removed the center tie rods & bolted the center opened walls instead of leaving the t.rods, I affraid the martins might get their legs stuck there, and in a fight.... Some trio owners like to " fold " a part of the center wall Over the lower center rods. I also like to have All my opeings on one side of the house to face the S.E summer Texas winds here in S.A to help cool the nest/birds down. I then use the Single rails from the other side,and drill & bolt them to each side of the roof's top trailing edge, My Martins LOVE to perch on them & the center top one! If you want you can look into the different openigs offer in the PMCA Catalog, I sugest the excluder II Plate, over your new opened front doors. Feel free to visit my site in S.A, Good Luck, Anthony

[John Miller]

Lots of good threads on modifying Trios in the archives. I'll try to find one, but a few things I've learned.

The Trios -- I think later models -- with the walls held by tabs seem harder for me to press a large 3 inch drill bit against the interior wall and cut as there's less support. You could try to support with a block of wood behind, but on those I disassembled and cut large notches down from the top of the walls, leaving about 1.5 high at the bottom.

Make interior holes at least 3 inches wide or round to prevent wing entrapment, which can occur in the two inch wide openings and you'd not see it as it's inside.

The Trio crescent doors are not as starling resistant because they are one-half inch off the floor. You can put little sub porches on the fronts to bring the level up, and maybe adding the PMCA wing protectors inside and out would both reduce wing entrapment risk and add starling restriction.

John M, Trio modification veteran

This one includes photos of doors with sub porches

http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... ohn+miller

One approach to layout and cutting openings
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... +tin+snips

Matt F recently posted photos of a house with the door cuts folded over the bottom tab...see his post, last one, in this thread:
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/viewt ... ht=#233625

Please PMCA.. I appoint (grin) Matt to gather some threads on modifying Trios and put in a sticky. John M

[Anthony Neira]

G. I forgot to mention that if you do remove the center short divider walls in your M12k you can get already made nest trays & make them fit. If your M12k did'nt come with porch dividers, PLEASE get them, they really help, even thou you'll always see Adults & youngsters climb over, they climb back. I mention to a friend of mine, who was worried about water building up in the nest during heavy rain, that maybe he can try & drill a hole in each lower corner of the back walls to help drain the water, he did, & claims it works,( now I should follow my own advice!). And please check into subfloors, I am a little iffy about Not having them secured, ever since a martin somehow flipped one up & got itself stuck (??), but I can see that Rarely happenig. Good luck!

[DornCounty]

MK12's - you should not have a problem using a 3" hole saw with a bit extender to get it done... I would offset the hole for added protection. I would also leave the rest of the metal for protection. sand down the hole smooth when done.

I would also purchase excluder doors from the PMCA shop as opposed to the cresent as they are a waste of time. Starlings breeze through them.

IF you want to doddle, then it is always easier to cut the holes with the house taken apart... but it will add a good 4-6 hrs to the process.

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

Andrew,
I agree that taking the houses apart lengthens the restoration and modification process.
I can appreciate how many houses that you have to do. Your profile shows 40 Trio houses and 3 Trio Castles. Impressive.
I admire your work in Parsons Colony.
I could never get that many done with the slow, thorough process I do. No way.
Again, kudos to you.
Mark.

[Sam Harris]

You wont have to drill any holes on the MK-12. All you have to do is pull out the back wall and replace it with a round hole door. Then paint the plain silver wall and use it for the outside door. The MSS-12s will require holes to be drilled as they don't uses the same dividers.

[Matt F.]

Please PMCA.. I appoint (grin) Matt to gather some threads on modifying Trios and put in a sticky. John M

That is a great idea John! I feel privileged to be the appointee....

My personal favorite mods for the TG-12/MSS-12 houses, is John's method that he posted above, using the large, square-shaped openings cut with tin snips.
As for the M-12K/DR-12N style houses, the two options I really like are the "official" Trio/Nature House method (prior to them pre-punching holes in the dividers), which is to completely remove the center dividers.
You would need some sort of nest tray (PMCA trays work great in Trios setup like this) to keep the nest/eggs in place.
Or, if you prefer to leave the dividers in, and not have to mess with nest trays, I really like the large, safe openings, forum member Keith uses in his setups.
Here is photo Keith posted of it (there's a little bit of an optical illusion there - what looks kind of like the hole cut below the bottom rod, and the bottom rod is exposed, is actually a flap of the aluminum bent down at the bottom over the rod, to not only provide a nice, smooth edge, but to also cover the rod.
http://www.purplemartin.org/forum/download.php?id=10411

[DornCounty]

I would never put that big of a hole I my center divider.. it's not like it makes the nesting area any bigger and compromises safety a bit... But the difference is so little it probably doesn't matter either way.

[DornCounty]

Andrew,
I agree that taking the houses apart lengthens the restoration and modification process.
I can appreciate how many houses that you have to do. Your profile shows 40 Trio houses and 3 Trio Castles. Impressive.
I admire your work in Parsons Colony.
I could never get that many done with the slow, thorough process I do. No way.
Again, kudos to you.
Mark.

I restored my first house the long way... then I did the math and I was like... nope gotta find a quicker way. The hard houses are the olds style MSS-12's that don't have the knockouts.. you almost have to take them apart to get a decent cut on the dividers. I'm considering a plasma cutter on my next one to see if that saves any time.

[G Saner]

I appreciate each reply to my question. Thank you for the advice and links. I really liked the wing-nut idea for opening the blank nest door. Also, I did not anticipate the lower tie rod issue so good information.

Interesting story on the free Trio house I got. I had noticed a neighbor about a half a mile away had his martin house lowered and plugged. Trees were very close and it was well into the martin season. I offered to buy it thinking they no longer had use for it. When I went to pick it up, the owner said he would give it to me. After talking for a while, I found that 10 years ago, the owner downsized to his present residence. Before that, he lived two doors down from where I live now. Also, the martin house he gave me had been in that backyard (with martins). So in a way, the house is coming home.

[Anthony Neira]

That's Great news G. And what a cool story about your newest house, a house returns home !

[4th Gen Martin Fan]

Andrew,
Plasma cutter! That is cheating (in a good way.)
You could cut the divider holes fast without disassembling the house.
Rock and roll.
Mark.