I was visiting a friend’s new build birdhouse, it come to my mind that there seem to be a lot of sloppy workman ships that I wish to make my points.
Most critical were the improper installation of the wooden ceiling made for swiftlets to build their nests.
The three stories building looks very well done from the outside but it might not be inside.
The main thing that I think that went wrong might be lack of experience by both the proud owner and the contractor that he employed.
These were what I saw and if I am the owner I will do the followings:
1)Visit the house on a regular basis to ensure that the construction phase are being carried out properly and in accordance to the agreed plan.
2) I will ensure that a special attention be given to getting a very smooth surface on the cement ceiling layer.
3) I will take special attention on the selection of the ceiling wooden panels that I wanted to use in my birdhouse. The panel shall be from a qualified supplier and they are not newly cut. I will also have them applied with the aroma to attract the birds.
4) The corner covers are those with high quality and a very smooth well formed construction. They must not be any cracks or odd shape and poor cutting edges. They are also being treated with swiftlet aroma liquid.
5) When these wood panels are install I will first ensure that they are installed in a manner that the volume of swiftlet nests that can be generated per square meter of the ceiling area to its maximum.
6) The wooden panel shall not be installed crooked. Each wood panel must be cut to the right length using sharp saw.
7) I will use a special air gun that can nail the wood to the ceiling without its nail tops jutting out of the wood. It should be pushed about 1 mm below the wood surface. In this way I will not have problem during harvesting operation.
8) The gap between the wood panel edge and the cement ceiling should be minimized. This is normally caused by the uneven surface condition of the cement finishing. The smooth surface can be achieved if a layer of smooth surface plywood installed to support the cement slurry when poured.
Any gap will allow air to pass and will affect my precious swiftlet while resting or nesting.
9) The corner covers must be installed with its highest precision. The exact location where the nails are to be placed must be precisely determined and when pushed in its head must be embedded by at least 1-2 mm inside the wood. Remember these nail heads, if not embedded deeper inside will damage your harvesting tool (scrapper) plus the nests during your harvesting operation.
10)I will also ensure that I will lay additional layer of nesting planks just below the one touching the ceiling at those areas where they are touching the cement walls or the support beams. This will create additional nesting areas at a very minimum cost.(Make sure those higher wooden planks are thicker then the lower plank. This measures is to avoid birdshits from falling into the lower nests).
