Reptile Shed Conversion - Page 2

MKeim1989 · 03-02-14, 07:36 PM

Actually, we're leaving Kent bound for Holmes County, but there's plenty of snow and cold here too. blizzard last night.

I'm actually planning on finishing the shed tomorrow. I ran the electricity a while ago and we've been putting up insulation for the last few days by a space heater. It's been staying warm inside the un-insulated shed, so prospects are looking good. The hardest part of the whole thing was digging up the frozen Ohio clay to burry the pipe with the electrical wire inside from the fuse box. It was kind of like digging through a rock. If I finish on schedule I'll post pictures in the next few days.

After the initial shock, I think I'd love to find a garter snake in my cabinet too!

poomwah · 03-02-14, 09:02 PM

hi drum, someone sorta close, I'm about an hour from Fort Wayne :] was just over there actually. A guy on craigslist sold me a super clean 55 gallon tank for 20 bucks :]
MKeim,
can't wait to see some progress pics on the shed. Have fun with the rest of the project with the weather coming in. Be glad for the space heater. I get to work on my car in the driveway :P and it looks like i'm going to be changing an engine.

a couple of the locals

MKeim1989 · 03-06-14, 01:31 PM

Well I got the shed finished and the animals in. It's holding heat fine, keeping the ambient air temp at seventy three. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I want to upload pictures so badly, but my computer is back at my apartment and my mom's won't let me upload photos for some reason. Stay tuned I guess! I'll post them soon.

poomwah · 03-06-14, 01:37 PM

73 ambient with the current outdoor temps, NICE job!!!
Congrats on the shed . can't wait to see the pics when you get home.

MKeim1989 · 03-14-14, 09:30 PM

Hopefully no one was on edge waiting for these mediocre pics. The shed is up and running, as I said. I still have a lot to bring and put in (shelves, tanks, etc.) but here's a bare bones idea of what I did and the end result.

I'll start from the beginning. There was a lot more junk in the shed before I took the first pic, but here's what I started with:

MKeim1989 · 03-14-14, 09:35 PM

Once the shed was clean, we ran electricity under ground and into the shed. I only put five outlets in the shed (on on a switch for a light) because I'm running the whole thing off of one breaker. At any rate, here's what it looked like at that stage:

MKeim1989 · 03-14-14, 09:41 PM

Following the electricity, we began insulating. I used fiber glass insulation with an R13 value for most of the shed. By the vents of the shed, I used 1" thick polystyrene insulation board (I figured I'd get a better air current if I put insulation the air could flow over in front of the vents.) The insulation is held in with thick plastic sheeting and twine so that it is removable when I move out. The ceiling was by far the hardest part, as a 3 - 4" gap needs to be left between the insulation and the roof to prevent condensation and eventual rotting of the roof. It's all hanging from twine

MKeim1989 · 03-14-14, 09:48 PM

Here are a few shots of the final product. None of my animals are moved in yet in these photos. I'll post better pics in a different thread later after I get everything moved in and ready to go.

The giant wooden thing on the side is a retic enclosure I was working on in the fall. The winter forced me to put that project on pause but I'm hoping to finish it soon (I'll make a thread on that when its done too!)

Like I said, I've been keeping my ambient temps at about 73 degrees with a small forced air heater on low and that's when its about 15 degrees outside. I actually had to turn it off today when it was 55. Going to get a thermostat in the coming week.

I didn't need to insulate the floor after all. We just put a rug down and it seems to work alright.

All together, this project only cost around $400 dollars. It could have been more, and there are definitely corners I cut, but I'm happy with the results!

MKeim1989 · 03-14-14, 09:50 PM

Just for giggles, here's a picture of the closet I had before I moved. Quite and upgrade!

IW17 · 03-14-14, 09:53 PM

Very nice. Things turned out great!

poomwah · 03-15-14, 08:41 AM

a lot of work and a lot of thought went into that.
great job

drumcrush · 03-15-14, 09:32 AM

Wow, looking good so far!

sharthun · 03-15-14, 02:12 PM

Very nice!!!

MKeim1989 · 03-16-14, 01:36 AM

Thanks! I appreciate it! It was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it.

Tonka14 · 03-20-14, 08:40 PM

For summer time you can get exhaust fans for the roof area that are controlled with a thermostat. Depending on how how it gets out there a window A/C unit with the exhaust fan will do the trick at keeping it from getting to hot. I had a buddy in Utah that did that with his shed for his Black Throat enclosure.