"Greenhouse"Remodel

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
Alrighty. Well years back I posted a thread on the construction of my 1000 square foot greenhouse I built for the tortoises(many species) with winters always approaching I always ran out of time to fully complete the work. This year luckily I'm making good. Progress. Also figured some niches and flaws in the design of things.

So I covered the walls with hardi plank 4x8 sheets, trimmed the seams with 1x2 trim caulked and sealed all those.

Here's some crazy Central American paint colors on the walls. Lol. But of course we are giving it a nice jungle feel with painting plants and butterflies and creatures from the rainforest.
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg

So that's about it on paint really.

Now I'm working on the next step ounce the painting is done. I going to break a lot of the animals groups up and diversify in pairs or trios. So this will require smaller pens. But still decent size. Most will break down to a. 4x8' pen per pair, whether it be yellowfoot, Redfoot, elongated, erosa etc...
I'm also going to add soil heating with poly pipes attached to a water heater. I'm going to layer the soil system with a bed 2"+-of gravel over the poly heater cables, then build it in different soils to the top layer of mulch mixed with peat. You can see the exterior concrete beam (below siding)is about 13" tall this will be completely filled with soil. I've mocked up a divider wall for each pen that will recess into the added soil for no digging under or transfer of water or any other pathogens from pen to pen. Also these pens will each have a concrete pond and concrete feeding area at the front of each pen from the walkway tied to a drain for easier maintenance. The water pans I used before works great but was inefficient.

Mock up divider wall for pens. It's 26" tall corrugated galvanized metal with a 1x6 cap. Pretty cheap and should work great. I painted it with enamel paint for longer life from the extreme moisture, water, and humidity this building undergoes.
image.jpg
 

Jacqui

Wanna be raiser of Lemon Drop tortoises
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
39,941
Location (City and/or State)
A Land Far Away...
I am glad my tortoises aren't the only ones who have to live with bright colors. :) I used that metal for the fencing in my larger sulcatas enclosure for years. It worked really good for me.
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
I am glad my tortoises aren't the only ones who have to live with bright colors. :) I used that metal for the fencing in my larger sulcatas enclosure for years. It worked really good for me.
Hehe well it will darken up for sure, the lime green is the background. The costs of things are just skyrocketing over the years. Pressure treated boards use to be decently priced but was looking at over a grand to do the divider walls. This installation will be a quarter of that and I think will look nicer. Did your sulcatas ever bend or damage any of it? Of course in here eh largest will be a Redfoot and aren't that damage prone like the sulcatas.
 

Jodie

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
4,359
Location (City and/or State)
Spokane Valley WA
Very nice. Will this be a winter home? What part of the country are you in?
 

Jodie

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
4,359
Location (City and/or State)
Spokane Valley WA
Yeah winter for reds/yellows, and some others, but permanent for some turtles and hingebacks. North of Dallas.
Thanks. I am in E WA and have been trying to decide what my plans will be for when my Leopards get bigger. It gets really cold here n a lot of snow, so think I will have to completely give up a bedroom. Gotta get the kids out first though. Lol
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
Thanks. I am in E WA and have been trying to decide what my plans will be for when my Leopards get bigger. It gets really cold here n a lot of snow, so think I will have to completely give up a bedroom. Gotta get the kids out first though. Lol
Haha. Yah send them on there way for the new kids room.
 

Jacqui

Wanna be raiser of Lemon Drop tortoises
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
39,941
Location (City and/or State)
A Land Far Away...
Hehe well it will darken up for sure, the lime green is the background. The costs of things are just skyrocketing over the years. Pressure treated boards use to be decently priced but was looking at over a grand to do the divider walls. This installation will be a quarter of that and I think will look nicer. Did your sulcatas ever bend or damage any of it? Of course in here eh largest will be a Redfoot and aren't that damage prone like the sulcatas.

They bent the bottom of once piece from walking on it.
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
Hopefully shouldn't be the case here. Especially since the tin will be buried 12-13". Those sulcatas sure can be bulldozers can't they?
 

Jacqui

Wanna be raiser of Lemon Drop tortoises
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
39,941
Location (City and/or State)
A Land Far Away...
The worse part of using the metal was when they would bump up against it, it was noisy.
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
The worse part of using the metal was when they would bump up against it, it was noisy.
Yeah it is pretty noisy. When I was installing this one piece to see if I liked it, I wondering how loud it was going to be when I bring them all back inside. But it's definitely more cost effective and durable than wood in such a wet humid environment.
 

wellington

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,660
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
I looks good. I love the color green, any green pretty much, so I'm loving the color. Don't forget to update with pics, please:)
 

Jacqui

Wanna be raiser of Lemon Drop tortoises
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
39,941
Location (City and/or State)
A Land Far Away...
Yeah it is pretty noisy. When I was installing this one piece to see if I liked it, I wondering how loud it was going to be when I bring them all back inside. But it's definitely more cost effective and durable than wood in such a wet humid environment.

Which is why I had used it. :) Wood rots here so very quickly, even with painting and being outside. When I do the next bigger sulcata enclosure, I may go back to it. Also nice in that it is light weight, for weak old ladies like me. :)
 

Neal

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Apr 15, 2010
Messages
4,967
Location (City and/or State)
Arizona
Is the base of the walls concrete (the part that's sticking up about 1' from the dirt)?
 

Yellow Turtle01

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
7,710
Location (City and/or State)
OH, USA
Wow... so big.. :D
I've been thinking about painting a tree or something on inside of my sulcata's shed, there's plywood screwed ontop of the insulation, but is there a certain type of paint I should use? No smell, organic or something?
 

bouaboua

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Dec 7, 2013
Messages
11,809
Location (City and/or State)
San Jose CA
WOW! ! !

Big project......Please keep updating this thread. I love to follow and see the progress.
 

New Posts

Top