Building a Squirrel House

The great thing about DIY is that, since you are doing it yourself you can do whatever you want, even if that thing you want is to build a house for a squirrel.  Or in this case, a family of squirrels.

But let me back up… My parents are redoing the roof and solar panels on their house, which has the unfortunate side effect of evicting a sweet squirrel couple who have been living beneath the panels.  My parents cannot stomach doing this without at least offering them an alternative place to live, so I was contracted to build them a new house.

No, they don’t have names.  They’re respectable wild squirrels.

It turns out there is a ton of information and inspiration out there for how to build squirrel nest boxes and some really amazingly crafted ones.  Seriously, pinterest did not disappoint.

I learned a lot about how to do this: The nest boxes need to be big enough to fit the squirrels but small enough to be cozy, have good drainage, and the right size entrance.  Using wood that’s at least 3/4″ thick will give enough insulation for them to stay warm through a winter.  It’s also important for the nest box to be unpainted/unstained, as the chemicals in treatments attract the attention of predators.  The squirrels want their house to blend in!

In all my research, this is the resource I found most helpful for the specifics of dimensions and components, and with its guidance I put together an overall plan:

I made it easy on myself by basing the dimensions at least partly on the width of the wood I bought.  That’s what the “thick” and “thin” refers to in the drawing above – which dimension would be based on the wider or thinner board.  I figure that so long as it is close the squirrels won’t be pulling out a measuring tape to check if it is exactly right!

Here is what I used:

Supplies:

• 12″ wide pine board
• 10″ wide pine board
• wood screws
• pocket hole screws
• hinge
• wire
• 5″ wide board (optional)
• railing-like trim piece (optional)

Tools:

• circular saw (or table saw)
• miter saw (optional)
• kreg jig
• drill
• hole dozer

The basic construction wasn’t complicated (it’s basically a box) and I pretty quickly had the pieces cut out: the front and a long back for mounting cut from the 12″ board, sides with a slight slant to help the rain run off, etc., and started assembling with my kreg jig and pocket screws.

However, there was a lot beyond the basic construction to get this ready to hang outside and add the features that will make this a good place for squirrels to live!

Squirrel Door

A 3″ wide entrance hole is ideal for a squirrel.  This is plenty of space for them to come and go, but it isn’t wide enough for predators, like hawks or raccoons.

To cut this, I picked up an arbor and a hole dozer for a 3″ hole.  I haven’t had a need to drill a hole like this before and it was fun to try!

I figured I’d give my regular little drill a shot, but wasn’t surprised when it wasn’t powerful enough for the task.  Fortunately, had I bought a hammer drill back when I set up my basement workshop and needed to drill into concrete, and that drill made quick work of it!  (This has been a super useful tool to have around, I also used it to fix outdoor steps.)

Looking at that little circle made me want to build a toy wagon, but I stayed focused on the project at hand.

Squirrel Entryway

However, even if a predator can’t get in through the hole, they can reach through, so some articles recommended installing a shelf right inside to block raccoon arms and provide more safety for the nest.  This also sounded to me like a more pleasant way for the squirrels to enter their home, rather than face a drop right down into their bed!

I cut a small shelf from the 10″ board, and installed it right under the entrance.

Squirrel Stairs

I know that squirrels are really good at climbing things, but the inside of the box just looked so smooth and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to make it a little easier for them to get up and down.  Also, what if they have babies who are just learning to climb?  I gave them a boost by adding some “ladder” pieces along the back for easy access to their entrance shelf.

Squirrel Cleaning and Drainage

This is going to be outside, and even though the roof is slanted to help divert rain, it simply will get wet inside (and the squirrels will also make some waste).  Some tutorials recommended a mesh bottom but that sounded awfully cold and drafty to me, so I went with the tutorials that just said to drill a bunch of drainage holes.

Also, to give access to clean out the house between uses, I installed the roof on a hinge.

Squirrel Security

However, while we humans want to be able to open the house to clean it out, we definitely don’t want predators opening it to get at the squirrels.  The low-tech security system I installed consisted of just four wood screws and two pieces of wire.

These were put on either side of the roof, allowing us to wire it shut by wrapping the wire around the screws (sorry, forgot to get a picture of this specifically, so I hope that makes sense).

Squirrel Balcony

Finally, even though the above would have constituted a perfectly nice house for a squirrel, I wanted to give these squirrels a little something extra.  When I went to Home Depot for supplies I spotted a piece in the trim section that I thought looked an awfully lot like a banister, so I decided to build them a little balcony where they could sit and look around.

I cut my ~5″ scrap wood piece to the size of the outside of the house with mitered corners, and the banister piece to match.

Admittedly, the ends don’t line up perfectly, but it is kind of cute!

The ends are mitered as well to make it easy for the squirrels to get to it from the tree trunk.

I then screwed the banister on and attached the whole piece to the house with pocket screws.

The Finished Squirrel House

Here it is all done!

It’s definitely a substantial piece with some weight to it, as a lot of wood went into it.  I really hope that they sit on that balcony – that would be so cute!

It felt odd not to paint or finish it, but I know that will be best for the squirrels, and hopefully it will weather and blend in with the tree in time.

I don’t have a photo of it installed as it will be going up later this week before the squirrel eviction takes effect.  However, if you’re wondering how to install it, my Dad plans to use a galvanized steel plate screwed into the top and then the tree with lag screws.  They will also fill it with some leaves to give the squirrels a start on their nest – if they can get at leaves under all this snow!

I can’t wait to see if they move in!  However, it seems like a pretty good place to live, so I’m thinking someone will move in eventually 🙂