Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a metal 10x8 shed to house my savannah monitor, salmon boa and hisser roach enclosures. Before moving any animals in to the room, I want to make sure the temps are ideal. I live in southern california and measuring the min and max for the last 5 days showed 102 high and 65 low.

I need to be able to lessen that window. I was wondering the best way to do that. Should I insulate the shed to make the temps better? I dont mind adding heat and air when necessary. I installed a exhaust fan at the top to get rid of the hot air during the day.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know a lot about insulating in the southern California climate. I can tell you that you should absolutely insulate and at least part of your strategy in doing so should involve a radiant barrier.

You could contact Reflectix and speak to their technical dept. They should be able to tell you the best way to use their product to reduce solar gain.

It may be in your best interest to use more than one type of insulation, or maybe a foil faced insulation board which sort of kills two birds with one stone. The issue with these is that they are not "fire rated" so you may need to cover it with something that is. Reflectix is already fire rated so putting it over a foam insulation might be more effective.

I assume your metal shed had sides that are corrugated or ribbed to some extent. My best guess is that if you firred out the ribs slightly and put foil-faced insulation board over the firring strips you'd be pretty well off. You'd just have to cover the insulation with something else if you were worried about fire. You could use Reflectix but that may be overkill at that point.

What I like about this approach is that using a foil face on both sides you are blocking both radiant engergy from entering the building but also blocking radiant energy from escaping.

The question is will your shed them be properly ventilated to prevent moisture build up and stagnant air.

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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephala (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

Thanks for the great information. I was thinking of using Reflectix to cover the whole inside of the shed. I have an exhaust fan at the peak of the shed to get rid of the hot stagnant air. I will put it on a timer so it keep the hot air at night time.

Will just an application of Reflectix help with the temperature gradient? I need to research the product more, but from their website, it seems like it should help with keeping the shed not too hot and not too cold. Again, I can always add a heater

Thanks again for the help

Will just an application of Reflectix help with the temperature gradient?

I would say there is a very good chance the Reflectix will more than enough. The best part about the stuff is that if you decide you want/need more insulation you can always pull it down, add foam-board and then put your Reflectix back up. I have moved mine more than once. Just put it up with foil tape and you can remove and re-use it.

If I have one concern with Reflectix only, or even the use of the double-sided foil faced stuff, it's that it might make the outside of the metal shed dangerously hot. If this is the case then a 2" layer of foam board (without a foil face) might be a good idea. And then Reflectix over that. This contradicts my previous post, but I had some time to reflect on what I wrote (sorry, no pun intended).

Insulation is a tricky thing and what works in one part of the country may not work in another.

Now, for a bit of personal experience, I live in the Black Hills of South Dakota and had a temporary snake room in the back of my previous garage. It was standard 2x4 construction with OSB and siding on the outside and drywall on the inside. No insulation in the walls or concrete floor. There was a small amount of blown in insulation in the attic above the room. Two of the walls were exterior, two were interior to the unheated garage.

I lined the walls, ceiling and hollow core door with Reflectix. I did not insulation the slab floor. The room was heated with a stand oil filled radiator style heater.

During that winter even when temps inside the garage were below freezing and outside temps were even colder than that, I was able to heat the room into the low 80's with that heater set on its lowest setting, I think 700 watts. The room was 7x7x8.

Far from ideal but it got me through that one winter easily.

If you use the stuff, make sure to apply it loosely so there is a bit of an air space behind it. And if there is some sort of built in insulation built into the shed, like in the eaves, make sure the Reflectix does not prevent air flow in these areas.

The more I think about it, the Reflectix is a great place to start. If in the future you want to do more, then line the inside with 2" thick foam board without a foil face. For even more protection, get one of the paintable radiant barriers and paint the outside of the shed.

One other comment, I only mention Reflectix because it's readily available and what I used. I assume all of the similar insulation products perform well.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephala (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I live in So Cal and use a small outdoor shed that is insulated fairly well but does not have a reflective roof or sides. I house a few small python species in there. Small shed, so even just a few cages fills up the space. Here is what I have found:

Heating:
In Winter, the air temp can get 50 deg F in there despite the insulation. What I did was add a few Kane heat mats in the shed, and this helps keep the air temp in there from getting too cold. I had the Kanes already, and they really worked out. A radiant heat panel is another way to help keep the temps from getting down too low. You could use a space heater and heat the whole shed if you want. Just make sure to get a Ranco or Johnson Controls thermostat to control the space heater. Do not rely on the controller that comes with the space heater (they fail too often).

Cooling:
A reflective barrier helps but I don't have that on the outside. So does having tall plants in pots on the south and west facing sides of the shed. The shade idea helps quite a bit, and you can almost get away with no A/C if you can provide enough shade on the South side of the shed. Shade is cheap and easy to do, and it doesn't fail. Either a window A/C (about $100 plus) or a portable A/C unit (about $400) will of course do the job very well. Thus far, I have not used A/C, and on the worst days I bring the animals into the house. Ice packs wrapped in a small towel inside the cages are good for emergency cooling.

This season I put up some foam insulation with the reflective liner. It helps alot with heating efficiency. The shed still heats up in Summer though. Cooling is always the bigger challenge.
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Mark

I live by the ocean, so the temps will never get like the valley. I think with Reflectix, I should have a decent heat barrier. The shed is in the yard with the house to the west and there is a tree to the south. NOt sure if its enough shade though. I can always plant more tho. I will have UTH or heat bulbs for the winter, but I want to keep the whole shed at 70 nonetheless, so I'll probably have a space heater. I just hope it doesnt dry it out too much.

I'm gonna try the Refectix and I'll letyou know how it works for me.

Thanks again

Another thing, this may be off topic, but does anyone know if a floor of 3/4" plywood with metal floor framing underneath (about an inch) can hold a 8x3x2 cage with stock tank filled with dirt?

Iam thinking of getting casters to make it easier to move, but not sure if they would dent the floor or worse. The shed sits on sand.

Casters would really concentrate the weight and ones strong enough to hold all that dirt would be really expensive. I don't think they would be very effective.

If it were my shed I'd put concrete blocks down over the framing and set the cage on the blocks. You should probably contact the shed manufacturer and see what they say.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephala (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

>>Another thing, this may be off topic, but does anyone know if a floor of 3/4" plywood with metal floor framing underneath (about an inch) can hold a 8x3x2 cage with stock tank filled with dirt?
>>
>>Iam thinking of getting casters to make it easier to move, but not sure if they would dent the floor or worse. The shed sits on sand.

What kind of metal framing are we talking about?

The 3/4" ply material can suitable distribute the load over joists 16" OC but those joists need to take the load themselves. Given the weight of dirt accepted average of 125 lbs per cubic foot.

1 cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons

A stock tank that size can hold 250 gallons

Filled to the brim it would weight 4177 lbs or 2088 half filled.

Calculating PSF for the floor rating you would need a floor rated at 174 PSF for a full tank or 87 PSF for a half tank. That is of course taking only the average weight of earth into consideration.

Tank, additional material and actual substrate may vary.

A typical home in Southern California is built with a 40 PSI live load, or 12 PSI dead load.

Cheers
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile
Boa Morph's since 2007

1.0 Snow "Khal"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Khal"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Khal" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic

The floor is for a shed. The shed came with a floor foundation kit that is some lightweight beams that form a floor to put plywood on. You can fasten the plywood right to the beams with drywall screws so that should tell you how maleable the metal is. I'm not too worried about the metal because the whole metal floor sits on sand it will probably just sink into the sand with a heavy load.

I am going to use concrete blocks for elevating the cage and just move it away from the wall about a foot. I will do one on each corner and one int he middle of the 8 foot sides.

My substrate is top soil and decomposed granite, so it will be pretty heavy. I also intend to put river rocks or broken terra cotta on the bottom for drainage. Also there will be a top 4 foot high section, so please let me know if concrete blocks are not enough.

The reflectix worked great! I got my temps inthe range of 65-85 degrees now. THanks for the recommendation