I often remodel or add on to older wood-clapboard houses. When I’m faced with unsightly holes in the walls, such as the dryer vent pictured here, I offer to conceal them with this simple bit of craftsmanship. The “birdhouse” is made from scrap clapboards and trim stock, takes little time to fabricate, and really impresses clients.
I position it so that the roof nestles directly under a clapboard or flash it with a thin strip of copper if needed, then size the box to allow the vent flap to open, or whatever else I’m covering to function. The sides are trim stock, 5/4 cedar in this case, scribed to the profile of the clapboards. The roof is a clapboard sized appropriately, and the front is clapboards with half the reveal of the wall they’re mounted on. Hidden cedar cleats are used for attachment.
These boxes not only solve little problems but also are a lot of fun to build.
Ed Weber, Locustville, VA
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I was hoping to see the "birdhouse" but just see the hole.
no kidding...
What's going on here?! These daily tips from FHB are one of my favorite "reads" of the day, and well worth the price of the subscription by themselves -- but only if the entirety of the tip, including all the figures attached to the tip when it was first published, are included. This has been occurring too frequently in recent days. It's not what I expect from FHB/Tautron Press. Please, do what it takes to get this problem fixed.
Thank you,
Bill Hill
As far as I know, there has been no reply to Bill Hill's question, which has been asked a # of times; I, too, enjoy the on-line membership, and suspect these tips are genuine, not attempts at some kind of scam or cyber-intrusion of our computers. However, the thought now crosses my mind, and whether I ought to click on them any more; have to ponder.
This is not the first time the picture does not match the text.
Agree entirely. Not much use as information unintelligible without full image.
Looks like the tip of the day is a bot driven without any editorial oversight.
I think the entire Taunton company is a bot. The newsletters are also mostly retreads - "archives." I have been a loyal subscriber for years to FWW and FHB (print and online), and I really resent what these online publications have become. The magazines still have value, but I expect that they too will diminish. Sad. :-)
Hell-OOOOOOW ???? Anybody there ?? A HUMAN?? - is there ANYBODY HOME ?????
What a disappointment to watch FHB committing suicide, after so MANY years of QUALITY !
I still have the first publication of FW and FH and have been reading both ever sence. This 'Tip of the Day" is the worst pile of JUNK I've ever seen in print. Things had better change for the better REAK SOON or I'm out of here. Enough is enough. Who owns this Magazine now?, Trump?
Ugh. More embarrassing crap from the FH "tips."
Time to put this whole "feature" on the shelf until the publishers can come up with some better content and ditch the hideous, ancient, amateurish line drawings that appear to be right out of a 1960s junior high school newspaper illustrated by the art class.
So let me understand this article. You build a "BIRD HOUSE" to cover a dyer vent?
So a "Worthy" drawing or photo would have been handy to describe this venture. But not my main point.
Main Point - A dyer vent is to allow the moist heated air from the dryer to escape during the drying process. Bear with me FHB editors, don't want to type to fast for you.
If a dryer vent does not remove the exhaust fast enough it hampers the drying function and can cause numerous issues. Oh but this was about a "Bird House" symbolized by a "HOLE". Good Job - FHB. I think I want a refund.
Once again, a terrible tip. The picture doesn't seem to match the article, and I don't see the point of the tip. Haven't seen a good tip in, well, forever.
Either no one at FH reads these comments or, if they do read them, they don't care enough to respond and to repair the numerous complaints lately.
I think Ed Weber meant it as a kind of hood over the dryer exhaust port. Essentially a floor-less bird house tacked onto the side of a house. Kind of a cute gag - certainly better decoration than a lot of the kitsch sold in garden shops. I do, however, agree with all the comments regarding the bad (or rather non-existent) editing at FHB.
It's Sept. 2019 and the 5 related drawings now appear in the repeated version of this tip. Hurray for FH!
All pictures are visible and I get what the original author describes. However, this method presumes that one will never have to clean the lint out of the 'flapper' and the interior ductwork. It would also be quite attractive to paper wasps as a sheltered place to construct their nest.