# Building a Cold Weather Winter House



## Turtulas-Len

I started building a new winter house for a couple young, but growing sulcatas. It's going to be 4x8 feet.The first pic is what I picked up to get started. The cost of 4 pieces of 1/2 and 1 piece of 3/4 inch treated plywood was scary.(to me anyway).



I have used lumber here that will work for the wall framing, just have to cut it to the size I need. This is the beginning of the floor base



This is a pic of my helper claiming it as his,( see the small wet spot near the bottom ) He wouldn't like it, it's going to be half the size of what he's got now.



This is the base turned right side up after securing the plywood to the frame.I caulked all the interior joints and seams and secured 3 landscape timbers to the underside.



Next started the insulation,this is one layer of ASJ jacket 1 1/2 inch thick heavy density fiberglass board.



Then another layer of same with the jacket up



Finishing the insulation with foil jacket duct wrap that will squeeze down.and serve as a secondary vapor barrier.



The main vapor barrier under the 3/4 inch plywood floor is 4 foot wide light weight aluminum that has a sticky back if you remove the paper, I left the paper on



The last thing done today was screwing the plywood floor down.


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## Team Gomberg

Heavy duty all right! But boy does doing it right pay off


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## Dbennett561

Nice job, look forward to seeing the finished product. Curious.. Will you put some type of heat source inside? If so, what will it be?


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## wellington

Looking good. Are they going to be sharing one box or is it going to be divided into two seperate boxes?


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## Turtulas-Len

Team Gomberg said:


> Heavy duty all right! But boy does doing it right pay off


 The one I built last year was a test to see how certain design would work, and yes it worked very well, but still can be improved on.


Dbennett561 said:


> Nice job, look forward to seeing the finished product. Curious.. Will you put some type of heat source inside? If so, what will it be?


It will have plenty of heat from all around,bottom sides and from above Just haven't decided whether to make it up or buy it.


wellington said:


> Looking good. Are they going to be sharing one box or is it going to be divided into two seperate boxes?


Right now there are three that like to bunk together and it gets crowded sometimes but the floor is set up where each one can find a warm spot if needed. _The new house will have a wild open interior with a very wide door or doors. _


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## Turtulas-Len

Worked on setting the exterior back and side walls.

Started caulking but didn't finish.The short pieces of 2x2 laying on the floor will attach to the 4x4s in each corner to give me something to attach the interior walls to after the insulation is applied.
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## Turtulas-Len

I got a little done this week, I framed the 2 doors in, I'm making them 24 inches wide because that is what I widened Walkers winter door to,he is not that wide but after watching him last winter I noticed how far a sulcatas front legs spread out when walking, especially when climbing a slight incline. Since all their houses are up off the ground they all have to climb a little to get inside.Finished caulking the inside joints and put some insulation on the walls,not finished with that yet.

Started working on the roof, It is upside down. The blue insulation is 2inch thick urethane and the white is 2 layers of 1 inch Styrofoam.

Filled the cracks with fiberglass and taped the joints with the aluminum tape.

Then laid a piece of duct wrap to cover the ridged insulation, foil down

placed another piece of duct wrap on top with the foil up, tape the 2 pieces together at the edges to help keep the fiberglass dry over time. For some reason I can't post anymore pics right now,


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## DawnH

Wow - that's awesome. Talk about insulated! If you don't mind me asking, what is your material cost with this set up? I have thought about doing something like this but taller and an curious on how many children I should sell...


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## mike taylor

If you drive by new homes being built they all have trash piles by them . Walk up and ask they will give you old short lumber . It's free !


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## Turtulas-Len

DawnH said:


> Wow - that's awesome. Talk about insulated! If you don't mind me asking, what is your material cost with this set up? I have thought about doing something like this but taller and an curious on how many children I should sell...


The 4 pieces of 1/2 and 1 piece 3/4 inch treated plywood cost $175.00, and are not rated for ground contact, I could of saved about $10.00 at H D but the wood quality was not as good as what lowes had on that day. 2 packages (56 sq ft) of 1inch thick 1x4 ft Styrofoam was $18.00. So far that is what I bought for this house, everything else I had here already. To finish i will use 2 pieces of 1/2in x 4ft x 8ft foil face urethane insulation that was here but I think they cost around $12.00 each, The vinyl for the doors I got at walmart about a year ago for $1.00 a yard for the 54 inch wide, I actually bought the whole roll, I have a problem passing up a good deal,used 2 1/2 yards $2.50, I get lumber from an amish mill for $.50 a board foot. I get a 1in x 12in x 12 feet for $6.00 each and 1x6x12 for $3.00, I cut these to the size I can use for framing.I have not kept track of how many board feet I've used. Caulking is about $3 to $4 a tube, it may take 4 tubes to complete.I treat.some wood with boiled linseed oil, maybe $8 to $10 worth..The screws, nails, and staples I usually get at auction and not a large cost.All the other insulation's like the foil faced duct wrap the, 3 inch and 5 inch alum tapes, and the 2 inch thick urethane I get free so no cost at all.Sometimes I do (kind of) what Mike suggest, if I come across a demo and I'm in the truck I may stop and ask,They will either say yes or no,They can't take your birthday.I also stop and ask about cactus if I see one that looks different than what I have. I have never been told no on the cactus.and found some great pieces of old growth lumber at demo sites. Around here you can save 10 to15% at lowes if you go to the post office and ask for the welcome packet like you just moved in from out of town.


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## DawnH

mike taylor said:


> If you drive by new homes being built they all have trash piles by them . Walk up and ask they will give you old short lumber . It's free !



Great idea Mike!


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## DawnH

Turtulas-Len said:


> The 4 pieces of 1/2 and 1 piece 3/4 inch treated plywood cost $175.00, and are not rated for ground contact, I could of saved about $10.00 at H D but the wood quality was not as good as what lowes had on that day. 2 packages (56 sq ft) of 1inch thick 1x4 ft Styrofoam was $18.00. So far that is what I bought for this house, everything else I had here already. To finish i will use 2 pieces of 1/2in x 4ft x 8ft foil face urethane insulation that was here but I think they cost around $12.00 each, The vinyl for the doors I got at walmart about a year ago for $1.00 a yard for the 54 inch wide, I actually bought the whole roll, I have a problem passing up a good deal,used 2 1/2 yards $2.50, I get lumber from an amish mill for $.50 a board foot. I get a 1in x 12in x 12 feet for $6.00 each and 1x6x12 for $3.00, I cut these to the size I can use for framing.I have not kept track of how many board feet I've used. Caulking is about $3 to $4 a tube, it may take 4 tubes to complete.I treat.some wood with boiled linseed oil, maybe $8 to $10 worth..The screws, nails, and staples I usually get at auction and not a large cost.All the other insulation's like the foil faced duct wrap the, 3 inch and 5 inch alum tapes, and the 2 inch thick urethane I get free so no cost at all.Sometimes I do (kind of) what Mike suggest, if I come across a demo and I'm in the truck I may stop and ask,They will either say yes or no,They can't take your birthday.I also stop and ask about cactus if I see one that looks different than what I have. I have never been told no on the cactus.and found some great pieces of old growth lumber at demo sites. Around here you can save 10 to15% at lowes if you go to the post office and ask for the welcome packet like you just moved in from out of town.



Wow - thanks for all that great info!! Great idea about the welcome packet. I always hear of people finding AMAZING things on Craigslist but ours is just not stellar. I am pretty sure all the murders on CL come from our area...lol

Thank you again!!


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## Turtulas-Len

I brought this back up so @Kalbrecht could see how I started building a 4 x 8 house for a couple young female sulcatas in a cold weather area.


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## Yvonne G

Thanks for 'refreshing' this thread, Len. I think I'll pin it so new members have better access.


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## Turtulas-Len

Here is the last pic of the house that I could find.

This house was never used, I gave the females and Sylvia (a male) away before it was needed. They are all living in Florida. The females spent a couple months here with Walker last summer before the move south and this years first eggs are due to hatch early next month. Sylvia is so deformed he is not capable of mating. Each door has 3 sets of vinyl flaps with a total of 12 flaps for each door secured to a 2 x 12 above the door with screws thru a 1 x1 strip of wood, one on each end and one in the center even with the wall. I was going to heat it with a mini electric oil heater, heated ceramic tiles that I make and I was going to install 3 light fixtures to the ceiling using a rheostat to adjust the wattage of the che's and or incandescent light bulbs.


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## akacurrie

Does anyone know where to get the plans/blueprint for a sulcata tortoise house or where I can buy one or have one made? In San Diego, CA.


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## Turtulas-Len

akacurrie said:


> Does anyone know where to get the plans/blueprint for a sulcata tortoise house or where I can buy one or have one made? In San Diego, CA.


I don't know how to post a link but, @Tom, has a thread on building a night box that gives a step by step description of how he built it. it would work great where you live.


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## Tom

akacurrie said:


> Does anyone know where to get the plans/blueprint for a sulcata tortoise house or where I can buy one or have one made? In San Diego, CA.


https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/double-door-night-box.129054/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/what-youll-need-to-build-a-night-box.171435/
https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/h...g-of-toms-night-box-with-exploded-view.97697/


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## CEvans

Thanks for the post, I had downloaded @Tom blueprint and I just finished mine with help from a neighbor. Still need to get it sealed better but Buzz loves it. Just not sure what temp to set the Kane Mat


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## Tom

That looks great! Since the mat will be controlled by a separate thermostat, set the mat all the way up as high as it goes. The thermostat will shut it on and off as needed. If the air temp in the box is below the set point, the mat will be on. If air temp is above set point, mat will be off.


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## Rick_in_UT

I know this thread already has great content, but I wanted to share my own build in hopes that it might inspire others or in case someone needs a summer project! I'm happy to answer any questions.

I have a ~4 year old sulcata named Jerry and we live in Salt Lake City, UT. For the last few years I kept him inside during the winter, but not only was his enclosure too small... he obviously made my room stink and he was super loud! Also, in the winter his eating would slow down and he would become lethargic, which I attribute to the lack of natural sunlight. I have a vitamin D lamp and place him in a sunny corner of my house but it still wasn't enough. So, I decided to make him a house! 

In total I think this project cost me about $1,000. That includes all of the accessories lights, heating pad, thermostat, wheels, etc. 

I tried to use 2x3s whenever possible to keep costs and weight down. I started out by building an insulated 4x8 base using 1/2" plywood, 2x3s and some 1.5" foam. the foam is glued in using liquid nails. 




I used liquid nails or caulk on all of the floor joists and edges to keep the plywood tight and seal any gaps. It's all held together with 2" screws. 


Once the floor was built, I started framing up the walls. I wanted it to be tall enough for me to crawl into to clean (if necessary) or to retrieve Jerry if he was ill or something happened, so it's roughly 2' on the low side and 3' on the high side. 



From here forward I must've been in a hurry as I'm light on photos! Once I got it framed, I put "shred board" style exterior sheathing on the outside. I then started to insulate the inside with R13 attic insulation. Next up was interior walls! 


I used 1/4" underlayment for the interior walls. I also used a sheet of white, plastic, wall covering (like you see in public restrooms) as the floor to keep it waterproof (not pictured). Jerry seemed to like it. 



After that, I built the roof in the exact same fashion as the floor, but I used 2x4s so that I could use the R13 insulation. I attached the roof with hurricane ties and used great-stuff to fill any gaps around the edges..


It has to be portable as I plan on moving it to storage during the summer months so I added those wheels from Harbor Freight. They're attached with 3" lag bolts that go into the studs. 
I made a custom door that is also insulated. I also added a bubble style skylight so he can get more direct sunlight. 


Inside I have 1 heat lamp (vitamin D bulb), 1 ceramic heat bulb, a zoo-med reptile mat and a small space heater. The mat is on all the time, but the light and heaters are on a thermostat timer. I had intended to create a hide within the enclosure but I never got around to it. I will this summer! I also still need to add exterior trim around the door, corners and windows. 
Overall, I think Jerry loves it and he doubled in size over the winter so that's a good sign. 



If you have any questions or are considering taking on your own build, let me know how I can help! If you have basic tools (circular saw and drill) you could knock this out in a few weekends!


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