Building a Shed for the chams? My Ideas.

[jratly007]

First of all I live in Southern California on the beach...so no MAJOR weather conditions...roughly as low as 40ࢧ in the winter and 100 in the summer...

So I do concrete and Masonry for a living and have enough know how to frame up and put a roof yada yada yada

I plan on doing 10 x 20' and have a small crix room to gutload and vent out the smell.

I plan on having the cages on either side of the long walls double stacked...
with drain plumbing for each cage and a main drain out the building.

the center of the room for work area and storage.

my questions

What is the best insulation to use to keep it COOL in the summer and WARM in the winter?
I was planning on insulating the whole building on all five sides including the ceiling..

I also want to install some sky lights on the top that vent open
and a few double pane windows on the sides but im not so sure because I dont want people to know whats inside? would it be okay to have just the skylights?

I'll have some shop drawings soon...

 

[Justin Carl]

Not 100% sure on the building issue, but I can help you with the glass.
I was a glazier before I almost lost my hand to a 10 foot mirror.
To be honest with you, thermalpanes are a waste of money in hot areas.
They might last a couple years, but they will eventually lose the seal around them and allow air and moisture to get in.
The reason I say this is because heat, salt, and humidity trash thermalpanes.
You best bet would be a bronze reflective glass.
The reason I would take this route is becaue if it is brighter outside you cant see inside of the shed.
At night if their is a light on inside you will be able to see in though.
The reflective glass is just at effective as a thermal pane, but will never lose its cooling properties.
You may try a small window AC unit to keep the temperature inside where you want it.
I would also install a fan on the roof to keep air circulation up.

-good luck

 

[Marc10edora]

Not 100% sure on the building issue, but I can help you with the glass.
I was a glazier before I almost lost my hand to a 10 foot mirror.
To be honest with you, thermalpanes are a waste of money in hot areas.
They might last a couple years, but they will eventually lose the seal around them and allow air and moisture to get in.
The reason I say this is because heat, salt, and humidity trash thermalpanes.
You best bet would be a bronze reflective glass.
The reason I would take this route is becaue if it is brighter outside you cant see inside of the shed.
At night if their is a light on inside you will be able to see in though.
The reflective glass is just at effective as a thermal pane, but will never lose its cooling properties.
You may try a small window AC unit to keep the temperature inside where you want it.
I would also install a fan on the roof to keep air circulation up.

-good luck

Is there any good glass that will let uvb through instead of reflect it? What do the zoo's use?

 

[Vegas Chad]

Glass no... Not that I know of anyhoo... A few types of plastic, yes...

 

[kylerenz]

I don't know how everyone else feels but ten feet seems narrow. Especially if you are planning to have 2 x 2 x 4 cages on either side. Chameleons can see very well as they have great eyesight. Obviously as the building becomes larger so too does the price so maybe you can make it work well for you with the ten feet. If it were me I would be concerned with stressing out the chameleons with the sight of one another at all times.

 

[desultadox]

Well, you could just use the space differently... like having 2 aisles of cages and just using a foam board backing on the 2nd aisle to prevent them from seeing one another.

 

[Will Hayward]

If I were going to the trouble of building another building specifically for chameleons, itwould definately be a greenhouse, and not a solid wall structure.

 

[ian]

i'm with Will, on the greenhouse. for anyplace other than southern california. i think the sun here in L.A. is only about a hundred feet off the ground and
re-donk-ulously strong. my fear would be that a green house would turn into an oven of death.

as far as insulating the structure....... use insulation. the most effective is fiberglass. but it's a miserable material, that cuases you to itch for days. though i have heard of a new plastic based non itch material that works just as well. probly cast more though. any builders supply should carry these.

it would be kinda awesome if you could retract the roof. with hydrolic rams, to turn it into a greenhouse from time to time. plus that would just be a really cool feature..... show us images of the progress no matter what you decide.

 

[Todnedo]

Have you seen these before http://www.winterpanel.com/
You could have the walls and roof built in a day plus the high R-value

 

[BIGGUN]

How would a green house do in northern climates?

I was thinking of building my own sip walls with pink foamboard that I can get from jobsites, an outer shell of T-11, and an interior of ???? maybe shower stall panels or mica board.

I want to be able to open the roof for the summer sun.

Does anyone have pics of their outside enclosures from colder climates?

Thanks,
Kevin