I am going to take out 3 pieces of drywall, insulate it then put drywall back up. Not really sure about vapor barrier between block wall and insulation but I can figure that out as i go.



Look into local code and find out what is necessary. I grew up in Ohio and in my neighborhood none of the homes had basements due to moisture problems. I think it's even worse out in the NW. You might consider using Reflectix as a moisture barrier if it fits into your plans. Expensive but it sure does help block radiant heat.



I will be drywalling room maybe with green board as that is what the rest of the basement is. Resistant to moisture I think?



Good idea.



I will be insulating the ceiling and putting up a drop ceiling.



Not a fan of drop ceilings in reptile rooms. They don't block odor and even tend to absorb it. I prefer sheet-rock.



I have been toying around with putting in an exhaust fan through the upper wall going to outside through wood.I thought about reversible so i could use that for heat in the summer as the basement stays about 65 all year. Maybe put in on a thermostat?



With an insulated room, including the floor and ceiling, and incorporating a radiant barrier you will likely find that the ambient temperature of the room is raised quite a bit. Also, most of the heat outdoors during the summer is radiant and is not easily drawn via forced air (like a reversed fan). Humid air will help raise the air temps a bit and it is humid where you are from. But overall I would say don't get too elaborate with the fan unless you'll have rodents in the room.



Any thoughts on that would be greatly appreciated. Also dont really know about ventilation. I was going to use a radiator type heater with oil for heat. Will the crack under the door be enough for air flow?



My room has a very tight exterior door, even though the room opens up to my heated garage and not to the outside. My room is also built very tight. Most of my fresh air comes from the otherwise loose fitting exhaust fan. I may install some floor drains in future cages and at that time will probably allow for some extra air flow into the room.



If you room will have a normal interior door and an exhaust fan I think that will be enough.



Should I use an oscillating fan to keep from stratification of temp or will this create a draft since my temp in room will be aroud 75 and temp out will be 65. Also the floor is concrete. Will this pose a problem??



I have a ceiling fan that runs on reverse 24/7 and has for a few years now. With radiant heat and the way my room is insulated it does not do much for the vertical heat gradiant but I do like having the air moving around. If your floor will stay concrete then I highly recommend having the fan.



Regarding heating the racks and thermostats vs. rheostats, I would recommend dealing with that when it comes up. It's a common issue that a lot of people deal with.



What to do? I do have a question for Chris Harper2. In your post on Oct 2 you said that you had some regrets when it came to structure, electrical, and insulation but it was a long story.



I do wish I had installed the 2x4 on the floor vertically and also made them level. Instead I just laid 2x4's flat and let them follow the natural slope of the floor and I regret that now. Not a huge deal but it would not have been much more work and that part of my garage had over 8' ceilings so the height would have been a non-issue.



Regarding electric, that really turned out to be a huge mess. Hired a guy as a favor more than anything and did not get good advice at all. Basically I wish I had everything in plugmold that I could adjust height wise as needed. I also wish that I had two circuits in the room with one being on a hard-wired timer. With my standard receptacles like I have then the bottom one would be on the timer and the top one would be on 24/7. With plugmold maybe every other one would be on the timer.



I'm also not sure that framing out the entire area with an air space was necessary in my area. I was new here and should have researched more. But I wanted the framing for the electric at the time. Now I wish I had just glued expanded polystyrene to the walls and then used firing strips to then have a layer of reflectix with an air space. Drywall over that and then plugmold attached directly to the wall.



Another insulation regret I have is not buying the foil-faced batting I found locally. It was an overstock and would have been just enough to do the entire garage and snake room. The foil-faced poly-iso board I used was a lot more work to install in the snake room area and it has turned out to be remarkably efficient. But for less time and similar money I could have done the entire garage with the foil faced batting.



I slightly regret not using green board drywall, although everything is hold up well.



I'm not sure I really needed to run the cove heaters on 220V. I now wish I had extra room on my panel for another 220V circuit in our kitchen. Again, my room is very cheap to heat so I really can't complain.



I do regret the cheap, glue-less vinyl flooring I used. It looks nice but is harder to clean compared to the vinyl flooring in our laundry room.



Lastly, I do wish I had spend a bit more time thinking about layout of the room. I just walled off the back 9' of the room and probably don't need anywhere near that much space. In a home or basement this is less of a concern as adding or remodeling a room adds equity. In a garage a separate room can be a good thing for a guy looking for a finishing room but a bad thing for a guy looking to store a boat.



On that note, do approach this project this project with equity in mind. Make the room versatile and appealing to future buyers.




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Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

[ Hide Replies ]

• snake room - dangun, Mon Nov 5 15:20:20 2007
• RE: snake room - Bighurt, Mon Nov 5 21:49:24 2007
• RE: snake room - chris_harper2, Tue Nov 6 08:37:27 2007
• RE: snake room - dangun, Tue Nov 6 16:04:48 2007