Hi All,
I am in the final stages of mounting three of my four wooden houses on 2" x 2" square metal poles. These poles are HEAVY! The houses are not so bad, weight wise...the largest about 45 lbs...the lightest about 30 lbs. They weigh a fraction of what the wooden T-14's weigh. I am definitely doing an overkill with the 11 gage square tubing. But I comfort myself, knowing these poles will be around a lot longer than I will with the right conditions.
My question is about a still lighter house. About 20 lbs. I really don't want to use such a heavy pole. At the location where this PM house will be installed, I also have a situation with neighborhood restrictions about where and how PM houses can be put on the property. I just don't want to put up a massive pole system. I could never put up elaborate gourd racks, etc. A simple house is about all that would be allowed. So looking to future expansion is not an issue at this location.
The only alternative that I seem to have is to go to a round mast. Square tubing is not available, that I can find.
Are there any pitfalls I need to watch out for when using a round pole with a pully/lanyard system? I have a pretty good landing station worked out for the tops of the poles,when the house is raised to the maximum. So it won't be spinning around any while raised up high.
Any suggestions are war stories are welcomed.
Joe
Round Mast vs Square
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Guest
hey joe, glad to see you back.
the only problem that i can think of is if you want to lower the housing if a storm is coming.
the round tubing will allow for the house to spin in the wind.
this would only be a problem when the house is not in the landing system you spoke of.
i lower my housing a few feet if the forecast calls for excessive winds above 30 mph.
my poles could handle the winds but i still do it in case of a fluke thunderstorm blows in and gives 60 mph gusts.
a round pole wont do this for me.
c.d .bailey
the only problem that i can think of is if you want to lower the housing if a storm is coming.
the round tubing will allow for the house to spin in the wind.
this would only be a problem when the house is not in the landing system you spoke of.
i lower my housing a few feet if the forecast calls for excessive winds above 30 mph.
my poles could handle the winds but i still do it in case of a fluke thunderstorm blows in and gives 60 mph gusts.
a round pole wont do this for me.
c.d .bailey
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Dave S (Texas)
- Posts: 151
- Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2004 11:42 am
- Location: Round Rock, Tx
I used a single-length steel pipe for my house/gourds. I took special care to prep the outside surface to hold paint. I made sure no rain could get in the top. I coated the inside/outside lower 4' with rust-proofing material. The pole is in a sleeve which I installed on top of a 2' 'sump' of stone for dainage. If the pole is galvanized, I would think it shouldn't rust much, but mine wasn't, so I had to do a lot of 'prep' for priming/painting. It is also very/very heavy too! I put my set-up on a brake-winch and abandoned the rope/pulley system from my old set-up.
Dave
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
Joe, I've got two houses on 2" galvanized poles. One of them is well over 100 lbs. The other one is a little less than 100 lbs. Each has been around several years and seen some pretty bad weather (like hurricane Ivan). They are both still standing. I drill a small hole through the pipe and insert a bolt for a lock to keep things in place. I lean a ladder against them to insert and remove the bolt when necessary. I also have 24 gourds on 1 1/2" pipe with no problem. Hope this helps......db
Joe, et all, 1) Round poles don't have to let the houses spin, keep them from it. 2) Please be sure to design to be able to raise/lower the houses easily. 3) $12.00 manual hand crank winches (no brake) from a boating supply work great. 4) Two of mine are on 1 1/4" galv. water pipe and work well. Keep up the good work and good luck. *BW*
Retsub
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Joe Zorn
Some good tips here.
I wanted to hear that others were using round poles and having success against turning in the wind.
All my wooden houses are constructed with a 4" x 4" PVC gate post as it's hheart. The 4" square pvc gate post has the top cap installed, and the cut away to allow the 2 x 2 pole inside above and below the house.
When the house is raised, the 4" PVC slides snuggley into a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" PVC topper, where the pulley is protected inside the upper part.
In this way, the pulley is protected and out of the weather, and rainwater cannot get inside the 2 x 2, since it's up inside as well.
This set up will work perfectly with the round mast. Does a house monuted on a round pole travel up and down the lanyard system without trying to spin and tangle in it's own ropes?
CD, two of the four poles are ready to go. Just waiting for the weather to be nice on a day when I am off. That won't be until mid-afternoon on Sunday now. Then I have to be lucky enough to have the son-in-law home from offshore, as well. Those16 foot, 2 x 2 x 11, gage poles are really heavy, and impossible to handle by myself.
Are your birds here?
Thanks to all for the info.
Joe
Joe
I wanted to hear that others were using round poles and having success against turning in the wind.
All my wooden houses are constructed with a 4" x 4" PVC gate post as it's hheart. The 4" square pvc gate post has the top cap installed, and the cut away to allow the 2 x 2 pole inside above and below the house.
When the house is raised, the 4" PVC slides snuggley into a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" PVC topper, where the pulley is protected inside the upper part.
In this way, the pulley is protected and out of the weather, and rainwater cannot get inside the 2 x 2, since it's up inside as well.
This set up will work perfectly with the round mast. Does a house monuted on a round pole travel up and down the lanyard system without trying to spin and tangle in it's own ropes?
CD, two of the four poles are ready to go. Just waiting for the weather to be nice on a day when I am off. That won't be until mid-afternoon on Sunday now. Then I have to be lucky enough to have the son-in-law home from offshore, as well. Those16 foot, 2 x 2 x 11, gage poles are really heavy, and impossible to handle by myself.
Are your birds here?
Thanks to all for the info.
Joe
Joe
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Guest
Joe ,please expand on how the pulley assembly is attached and functions. I having a hard time of seeing it from your description and how it stays out of the rain.
dick
dick
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Joe Zorn
Good morning, Dick.
My wife has a hospital proceedure thism morning that will probably take all day long.
But I can do better than my pitiful description. I'll gets some digital shots of the set-up.
Joe
My wife has a hospital proceedure thism morning that will probably take all day long.
But I can do better than my pitiful description. I'll gets some digital shots of the set-up.
Joe
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Joe Zorn
Dick,
I think you can see what I've done to hide and protect the pulley and top of the pipe opening.
The pulley (Home Depot - 2"" pulley) was modified just a little, with a side grinder, so that it would fit snuggle into the 2" square tubing. Then a bolt was run through it and the tubing to secure it. I also attached a piece of 3/4" x 10" aluminum (HomeDepot) that holds the cap over it all.
Pic #1 (not seen) there is the hole drilled into the cap at the top so you can attache it to the 3/4" strip with a 1/4" nut and bolt, but you get the idea. You can at least see the nut and washers painted blue, like I did the cap.
Pic #2 shows the inside of the cap. I cut the corners off of a standard 4 x 4 end cap, and used pvc glue to place them so that the house cannot run too far up into the cap, causing havoc with the ropes that have to pass arund the end cap.
Pic #3 is the house mounted on the pole. It's not turned sideways. It's on two sawhorses. A 12 compartment with double size rooms, 6 x 12 aprox.
Doors for each room are in the center of each side, and the access ports are on the ends. You can barely see the access ports, but there are two on the left (top in the pic) and one on the right (bottom as shown) on each of the 4 sides. So the access ports you see are not for the crescent entrances that are next to them..but rather for the crescents along the sides.
Pic #4. Top of the same house, as described. This end cap on the house is actually just over 4" x 4". The cover caps, mounted over pulley is 4-1/2"x 4-1/2"
I think you can see what I've done to hide and protect the pulley and top of the pipe opening.
The pulley (Home Depot - 2"" pulley) was modified just a little, with a side grinder, so that it would fit snuggle into the 2" square tubing. Then a bolt was run through it and the tubing to secure it. I also attached a piece of 3/4" x 10" aluminum (HomeDepot) that holds the cap over it all.
Pic #1 (not seen) there is the hole drilled into the cap at the top so you can attache it to the 3/4" strip with a 1/4" nut and bolt, but you get the idea. You can at least see the nut and washers painted blue, like I did the cap.
Pic #2 shows the inside of the cap. I cut the corners off of a standard 4 x 4 end cap, and used pvc glue to place them so that the house cannot run too far up into the cap, causing havoc with the ropes that have to pass arund the end cap.
Pic #3 is the house mounted on the pole. It's not turned sideways. It's on two sawhorses. A 12 compartment with double size rooms, 6 x 12 aprox.
Doors for each room are in the center of each side, and the access ports are on the ends. You can barely see the access ports, but there are two on the left (top in the pic) and one on the right (bottom as shown) on each of the 4 sides. So the access ports you see are not for the crescent entrances that are next to them..but rather for the crescents along the sides.
Pic #4. Top of the same house, as described. This end cap on the house is actually just over 4" x 4". The cover caps, mounted over pulley is 4-1/2"x 4-1/2"