With the pad coated in a garage floor epoxy, I moved to constructing my barred windows.
First, I decided I needed enough space to have bars, then mosquito screen, then a frame on the inside of the frame to block all light. I also wanted the screen set away from the bars so that the bird won't catch it's talons. So I went with 2x6.
I decided to use 3/4" EMT conduit for the bars. I put the hole centers 1 inch from the edge and 1 1/2" from each other. I went with this spacing so it would work with a smaller bird, like a Merlin or Sharp shin, which are in the scrub jay or magpie size range.
I tried a couple different approaches, but settled on drilling through the top board, then screwing top and bottom together and using the top as a guide. Using a 3/4" auger bit and a drill press, I set up a fence to keep the holes straight and drilled all the way through the top, but only half way through the bottom plate.
I cut the uprights to give me an overall dimension of 2'x3'.
I taped the conduit into 7 piece bundles, and using a special metal blade, cut them 1'11". I used 14 8' conduit, 21 2' bars per window.
Here they are assembled. Next we painted them.
I now need to add the mosquito screen.
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