Butterfly Houses for Dummy Woodworkers

DIY butterfly house

If it weren't so often maddening, it would be amusing to see the complete hash some of the journalism and "communications" majors have made out of rewording simple instructions that they then posted at sites like eHow and WiseGeek (among many, many others). Some of the worst seem to be reserved for people attempting to explain woodworking projects, especially if the freelancer in question is unfamiliar with basic woodworking concepts. You know, like eHow's Tammy Lee Morris, who totally botched a quite well-written set of plans when she posted "How to Make a Butterfly House"¹ at GardenGuides.com.

Strange, but true: a staffer once built the butterfly house from the plans Morris butchered, so he has first-hand knowledge of where she... screwed up. Tammy Lee's reference is defunct, but the same plans are widely available on the web; including a rudimentary copy here (the original plans are available at the Internet Archive). The following are a few of Tammy's missteps: the purple italics are from the instructions Morris provided, the plain blue text is from the original.

• "The side panels and back of the house will be made from a single board that is 1 inch thick by 8 inches wide by 5 feet long..." – [Use] 1 6-ft. long 1x6...
• "...measure and mark the back piece to a width of approximately 5 ½ inches, then trim..." – [Ummm, Tammy? a 1 x 6 is already 5 ½ inches wide]

• "Cut the side pieces at a slight diagonal along the top edge to allow a slanted roof..." – [actually, she means to bevel the front and back at 30°]
• "...the floor piece will be 5 ½ inches by 5 ¾ inches..." – [ain't gonna fit, no way, no how]
• "Use a drill and a chisel to cut six slots in the front panel of the butterfly house. The slots should be no wider than ¾ inch and 3 inches in length..." – [use a jig saw]

Morris finished her utterly useless plans  by "tipping" her readers to "Double check your measurements and marks before you cut the panels." No duh! Our tip would be to skip over the pile of steaming freelance excrement Morris created and look for the original plans. If you try to build something from Tammy Lee's plans, we might have to name you Dumbass of the Day!

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   gardenguides.com/70270-make-butterfly-house.html

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