Styrofoam Martin Housing Works Great

[Bernie Nikolai]

Here's an update and photos of my experimental styrofoam martin housing. My colony on Lake Wabamun, 45 minutes west of Edmonton, Alberta, went from 3 pairs last year to 16 pairs this year. And I went "cold turkey" to all-SREH entrances, both WDC and crescents. The Alberta martins scooted into SREH entrances as easily as round holes and showed no hesitation whatsoever in using SREH entrances. Last year I had poor success with styrofoam houses, as starlings nearly killed themselves to nest in the housing (8"x13" compartment size) with round holes. So this year I went all SREH, and experienced a "population explosion" of nesting martins, specifically 11 ASY pairs and 5 SY pairs!

I also sent experimental styrofoam chalets to friends in Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, and I'm pleased to report 5 of the 6 chalets were used and fledged martins, so styrofoam will work well even in the south with no ill affects to the birds. Also a buddy in Richmond, Texas built one of these houses, a 6 unit house, and hung 4 gourds under it. Last year he had one pair in a S&K house. This year the returning pair renested in the S&K house, but the next 10 pairs nested in the styrofoam house and 4 gourds. Finally another pair nested in the S&K house, so he went from 1 pair last year to 12 pairs this year. The styrofoam did as well in the Texas heat
as it did in the Alberta cold.

These houses are very easy to build, and a 10 or 12 unit house can be built for only about $20 in styrofoam. I use the 1" Dow blueboard, as its the sturdiest foam, but the pink Owens Corning or the white styrofoam can also be used. The houses separated for nest checks, and its very easy to hold up a level and peek inside. Gravity and a top plate over the pulley at the top of the pole holds the levels in place securely once the houses are up. You don't even need a winch, as a 12 unit styrofoam house weighls less than 10 lbs and is easy to lift with just a single pulley and rope.

Other than chalets, I built two basic models, a flat roof (really easy) and a peaked roof (looks nicer, but the peak takes a while to make). The martins preferred each about equally. You can cover the roof with sintra, thin plywood, or fiberglass cloth/epoxy, or vinyl house siding if you are conderned with hailstorm potential damage. The house siding works well, but adds about 5 or 6 lbs to the weight of the house. The martins did not peck or disrupt the inside of the styrofoam compartments (see 3rd photo), but if this is a concern, a thin plywood sheet can be added to the floor, or a layer of epoxy which will give the floor a tough, rough, stucco like coating.

The advantages of styrofoam 1/ very inexpensive and easy to work with 2/adds the insulation factors of about 5 solid inches of cedar for both cold and hot 3/ readily accepted by martins, equal to or better than a wooden house from what I have seen 4/ very light in weight. You just glue the house together with ppca (I use Lepage's PL Premium), a brown "glue" in a tube, and add a few screws to hold it together for 12 hours until the ppca sets. Once set, the foam will rip before the adhesive gives away. Then just coat with paint, plastic signboard, vinyl siding, fibreglass cloth and epoxy, etc. (your choice).
But YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST use SREH, or every starling for miles around will compete to nest in the compartments. But styrofoam is a material that to me has a lot of potential for martin housing, and the experiments will continue next year for sure.

[Guest]

Bernie they look great. Nile McCain

[Guest]

Very nice Bernie!

Do you need to keep walls aligned one-above-the-other as you build level to level?

The martins did not peck or disrupt the inside of the styrofoam compartments (see 3rd photo), but if this is a concern, a thin plywood sheet can be added to the floor, or a layer of epoxy which will give the floor a tough, rough, stucco like coating.

You could also try a thin sheet of cork glued to the floor.

Thanks for posting the pics.

[Guest]

Bernie,
Are the floors between the levels made out of the same material? And the bottom also?

[Bernie Nikolai]

Hogwild, since the floors/levels are all the same measurements, you just stack two or three on top of each other, and the walls line up just fine. Since the walls are one inch thick, there is plenty of room if you are off 1/8" or so. Once the house is pressed against the top piece at the top of the pole just above the pulley, the levels do not move, no matter how windy it gets. You can also glue a strip of lath as in my "peaked house photo" to hide any "join lines" between the levels.

Pmelitus, in these models, the very bottom is 1/4" of plywood, then the 1" styrofoam is added. I only added the plywood so the eyebolts would have something solid to attach to from the bottom, where you attach the rope to pull up the house, and to add a couple of insulated Big Bo gourds. My current thinking is a plywood base is not necessary if you use fiberglass cloth and epoxy. This coating is extremely tough, and is the same stuff they make wooden kayaks out of. You can get both the epoxy and fiberglass cloth at any boat building supply store in any major city. Neither the epoxy (you mix parts A and B) or the fiberglass cloth has any affect on the styrofoam, but it gives it a very hard shell, without adding any weight to speak of. You do need to paint the fiberglass/epoxy, as it is not UV resistant. I'm making some more styrofoam houses, but with the fibreglass cloth/epoxy for 06, and see how it does.

[Guest]

Bernie,

I love the concept of using styrofoam for housing!

Quick question, though: How do you cut the foam sheet with accuracy? If a blade is used, does the foam produce much of a mess when cut?

[Guest]

I would like to try your styrofoam housing are you going to make them to sell? thanks Elouise

[Bernie Nikolai]

The best glue is called ppca (Poly something or other), is brown, comes in a tube like silicone, and you apply it with a normal metal silicone gun. The exact product I have found best is made by LePage and is called "PL Premium". This may be a Canadian brand, but there are others made in the USA and commonly available in the big box stores. It costs about $3.89 a tube up here, and one tube will easily make one or two houses.

AggieMEEN, there are two ways to cut the one inch styrofoam sheets I use. The first way is to cut with a razor box cutting knife along a straight edge, I use a wooden yardstick. You make about 3 or 4 cuts, each one deeper than the other in the same channel. If you try to cut the one inch board all in one cut, it will "snag" on you and not make a straight sharp cut. The second way is with a wire that is heated via a battery charger, an "electric foam wirecutter". This works great, the wire actually melts the foam as it passes through. This is for "mass production" and is the way foam blocks are cut into foam sheets. For just building a few experimental houses, the box cutting knife is the way to go.

Elouise, Its just a hobby for me, and I give away all my styrofoam houses/chalets for free. My interest is in finding easy to make, very inexpensive, and very effective martin housing to help out our favorite bird, and get its population up, especially in the north. I have a buddy in Oklahoma who is making some experimental styrofoam housing and had tremendous success this last year with purple martins nesting in them. If you send me a private email I'll see that you connect with him.

[Guest]

Bernie,

Do you think the styrofoam housing would withstand an owl attack? Maybe reinforcement around the entrance would help.

Just thinking

[Bernie Nikolai]

I glue the styrofoam pieces with PL Premium, and add a few 2" wood screws to hold the house together while the ppca adhesive sets, about 12 hours. I leave the screws in afterwards. The screws will pull out if you really yank on the walls of the house if you ONLY use screws, but their main purpose is not to add strength, but rather hold the house tightly together while the ppca sets.

RonOfTn, You have hit on the biggest potential concern I have with styrofoam housing, will it stand up to hail, owl attacks, and internal martin nesting? The hail and internal concerns are easily addressed by a coating of plastic signboard, sintra, thin plywood, vinyl house siding, cork floor, etc. We get some pretty good prairie thunderstorms with hail in my part of the country, and so far, so good. Owls are a problem that I wonder about as well, as we have all seen photos of a Trio metal house with the doors ajar due to an owl attack. My thinking is an owl has a martin in its talons in the metal 6"x6" cubes of a Trio, and is trying to fly away, and this causes the metal doors to come off. These styrofoam houses are very large inside, mine are 8"x13", so the martins can hide at the back well away from the talons of an owl, that I understand can reach in as far as 8". Also the SREH and porches will make it a lot harder for an owl to reach in and snag a martin. What if they do anyway? Well, my guess is the house will hold up about as well as a natural gourd. They have plastic SREH entrance plates, and an owl would have to rip it right off the house, and the ppca means the styrofoam gives away before the adhesive does. It may be possible for the owl to do this, but from my tests, no more possible than an owl breaking off chunks from the entrance of a natural gourd. Fortunately/unfortunately none of my test houses or the styrofoam test houses of others trying them have been the victim of an owl attack (yet). Actually the styrofoam would be an excellent sound muffler, and may have an added advantage of blocking nocturnal martin vocalizations that can attract owls.

[Thurman Seber~TN]

I was privledged to test two of Bernie's stryofoam chalets this nesting season. Both were used by martins, held up well, and fledged martins.
I consider these an excellent, do it yourself, martin housing alternative. Although I added tunnels and porches, and raised the entrance an inch above the floor, the changes I made were quick and easy.
I would recommend them to anyone wishing to build quick, easy, effective martin housing.

[Bernie Nikolai]

Thanks Thurman, I mailed your 6 figure endorsement check on Tuesday. Hey, wait a minute...I'm doing all of this for free as a hobby, so I guess I'll have to put a stop payment on it, sorry

Thanks for testing them, and I think the main point is for folks to give some styrofoam housing a try in 06 if they are looking for very effect martin housing that is easy to build and very inexpensive. There are a lot of creative minds on this forum, and I'm sure many can take this styrofoam martin housing idea, enhance it, and come up with some really interesting and highly effective martin housing for 06.