Hi All,
I have been looking to build a custom enclosure for a while, and wanted something that would fit in like a piece of furniture. Luckily, my mother in law had an old dresser sitting in her garage that she said I could take off her hands.
Removed the top two levels of drawers, and added a plywood 'floor'
I used 3/4 inch styrofoam sheets on the back, sides and floor
Then started building....
Added a three coats of sanded grout, then four coats of hard coat mod podge
My wife then decided that she didn't like the color (yay), so I sanded down the outside and restained to a color of her liking. I personally think it looks exactly the same (but would never say that!). Here it is airing in the California sunshine for a week or so.
Lights were already installed, as were the vents, so just tidied up all the cords on the back.
I used this light with reflector on the left hand half of the enclosure http://www.amazon.com/Jump-Start-Re...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00, with a Reptisun 10 T5 bulb. On the right I added a generic fluorescent light for some extra light.
The wires from all the lights are fed back into the body of the dresser, and into the center drawer, so I have easy access to the timers etc, and the whole thing can sit as close to the wall as possible.
Used the Knape & Vogt runners for the sliding doors, and had 1/4" tempered glass doors made. Here it is, everything installed and in place in the house:
And finally, here is the little guy enjoying the extra space!
I am still playing around with the basking light to get good temps etc. Originally had a 50w halogen flood but had to have that dimmed all the way down to get to 105 degrees. Swapped out for a 38w PAR38 halogen flood and am getting steady temps of 100 to 105 degrees depending on time of day, still dimmed down, but with room to dim further if things get too hot in the summer.
Overnight temps and cool side temps seem fine. The styrofoam in the walls and floor seem to insulate things very well.
I personally think it needs some additional decoration, but not sure what yet.
I thought the mod podge came out a little shiny and slippery for my liking, but he doesn't seem to care and just likes to run around doing parkour on all the features.
Any feedback for improvements etc would be appreciated, this is my first build, so I am sure there are things that could be better.
Thank for looking!
I have been looking to build a custom enclosure for a while, and wanted something that would fit in like a piece of furniture. Luckily, my mother in law had an old dresser sitting in her garage that she said I could take off her hands.
Removed the top two levels of drawers, and added a plywood 'floor'
I used 3/4 inch styrofoam sheets on the back, sides and floor
Then started building....
Added a three coats of sanded grout, then four coats of hard coat mod podge
My wife then decided that she didn't like the color (yay), so I sanded down the outside and restained to a color of her liking. I personally think it looks exactly the same (but would never say that!). Here it is airing in the California sunshine for a week or so.
Lights were already installed, as were the vents, so just tidied up all the cords on the back.
I used this light with reflector on the left hand half of the enclosure http://www.amazon.com/Jump-Start-Re...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00, with a Reptisun 10 T5 bulb. On the right I added a generic fluorescent light for some extra light.
The wires from all the lights are fed back into the body of the dresser, and into the center drawer, so I have easy access to the timers etc, and the whole thing can sit as close to the wall as possible.
Used the Knape & Vogt runners for the sliding doors, and had 1/4" tempered glass doors made. Here it is, everything installed and in place in the house:
And finally, here is the little guy enjoying the extra space!
I am still playing around with the basking light to get good temps etc. Originally had a 50w halogen flood but had to have that dimmed all the way down to get to 105 degrees. Swapped out for a 38w PAR38 halogen flood and am getting steady temps of 100 to 105 degrees depending on time of day, still dimmed down, but with room to dim further if things get too hot in the summer.
Overnight temps and cool side temps seem fine. The styrofoam in the walls and floor seem to insulate things very well.
I personally think it needs some additional decoration, but not sure what yet.
I thought the mod podge came out a little shiny and slippery for my liking, but he doesn't seem to care and just likes to run around doing parkour on all the features.
Any feedback for improvements etc would be appreciated, this is my first build, so I am sure there are things that could be better.
Thank for looking!
