Customer Reviews

Heath 18 Room Aluminum Purple Martin House (Model AH-18D)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I ordered a 4 story house. I put it together alone and had no problems understanding the instructions... Took a long time but I had fun with it! I did put on gloves, no biggie, the edges are sharp.
I bought it because it's inexpensive. You get what you pay for the better units are $400.00+. Would I buy it again, yes because that's what I can afford and all the inconveniences have to be dealt with. If you can afford a better one get one, but this is much better than none, I love the Martins.
The problems with this house are many.
1) You can clean it only by lifting the layers off and reaching inside thru the tops. You should not do this while the Martins are around. So I end up bringing it to the ground and using a shop vac in each hole that contains an unwanted nest. If there's a better way, I can't find it and have spent lots of time working with it.
2) The depth of the nests make it easy for predators to stick their heads in and pull out babies. I'm looking into using some welded wire for predator guards but the house looks beautiful as it is and I don't want to ruin the look. I'm rural and can shoot into the ground to scare off hawks, if I was in town and couldn't shoot, I'd have to get predator guards on right now.
3) The telescoping pole SUCKS big time, we made an offset winch system that was expensive and time consuming. Don't try it if you don't have welding equipment.
4)Maybe I'm dim but I can't find accessories for this unit. I'd like a hex perch for the top, predator guards and starling proof door kits. Can't find them anywhere. Also, my sparrow traps do not fit.

Please, please, please! I beg you NOT to buy this birdhouse. There are NO included directions, the company web site has NO directions online. There is NO support at all. We have a pile of scrap metal on our kitchen table and two very disappointed children. I will be going to Home Depot or Lowes!

This product isof poor quality. I purchased because of precious ownership. I would be suprised if it will last 3 years. I do not recommend this birdhouse.

It took us more than 4 hours to put this house together. Design seems to have been done in the 1950s rather than 21st century. Instructions were absolutely hopeless. And don't try to put this together yourself -- you need at least two people. The steel pole that we bought with this martin house also has hopeless instructions and the locking device is ridiculous. The only way we can stop the pole from collapsing in a high wind is to put duct tape around each joint. We would definitely not buy this product again. We are keeping our fingers croosed that it will survive the next high wind

I bought the 12 room version of this house about 10 years ago. It has held up extreemly well. It does take patience and time to assemble, but well worth the effort. The extension pole which I set in concrete works very well and I have had no problems with the lock on the sections. I recently moved and intend to set it up again. As soon as a colony is established I will be buying another of these houses or adding more floors to the one I have.

I bought this house because I really like the way it looks and I think it will remain in tack for many years. You can start off with 6 apartments and expand all the way to 24 as your colony grows. I must warn you that if you dislike assembling things, have a drink before starting. It's actually not difficult; it just requires a lot of patience and attention to the instructions (if you can call it that). The instructions are a bit vague for both the house and pole assembly, but if you're accustomed to putting things together, you'll be fine. The roof of the house was the most difficult. The screws for the roof should have been a bit longer to make it easier to get the nuts started. I was able to assemble the house without any help in 2 hours. The notches on the porch rails could have been a bit longer as well. I was able to assemble the house cut and scratch free. The house really doesn't have any place to attach a perch, so I drilled a 5/16 inch hole through the white piece of plastic on top of the cupola. I then stuck a 4 foot dowel through the hole for a perfect perch. The pole certainly isn't worth it's price and the not so Easy Key Lock can be difficult, but a hammer fixed that.... The last thing I did was install a little bracket on the pole at the bottom of the house. This provides added security to prevent the house from sliding down the pole. All in All, I can't stop looking my new house.

I bought one of these houses five years ago. I have built and bought martin house for over forty years and this one is the worst one I have ever tried to use. First the perches keep falling off. I had to tap the plastic and put a washer and screw on each post before they would stay on. The clean out bottoms will fall open for no reason. I installed the pole head pipe in concrete and the pole worked pretty good for a couple of years. I removed it every season and made a cover for the head pipe opening. The third year it was all I could do to to get the first pole into the ground mount. At the end of the season, I had to use a pipe wrench and a piece of pipe to try to get the lower pipe out of the ground by pulling up as I walked around in circles. It would not come out. So now I have the first section of pole sticking up in my yard all year. I had to rivet the bottom clean out section just to keep it together. The plastic piece that holds each section up in place broke and now the house is unusable without those 2 special pieces. There was always gaps between the sections when it was on the pole. I think that is enough to change your mind.

Very disappointing. a box of parts with marginal instructions. no where in the description of the product was this disclosed. value and cost do not relate at all.

returned.

We were given this brand, Heath, as a gift two years ago. It did fine the first year. However, when we put it up for the second season, the perches and floors were loose. I have just seen that one of the "apartment" floors has fallen off as well as several perches. The fallen nest looked to be empty; I hope that was the case. I am now looking for a purple martin house for my brother, and I won't buy a Heath again.

Pretty , but difficult to assemble and it only works on a certain kind of pole