Going to do a google sketchup of it when I have time to nail down some dimensions, but essentially what I am trying to build is a double walled insulated humid hot box enclosure 8x4x4. I might need to make it shorter or readily unbolted into 2 pieces for getting it in my house. (Will assemble elsewhere with borrowed equipment. Trying to keep it somewhat low budget. ($200-400)
I needed some help with materials suggestions
Framing will be in basic lumber. The exterior panels I wasn’t sure what would be best but I’m looking for fairly flat so that I can probably do laminate floor paneling and molding to try and make this as nice looking as possible. (Vs a lot of time sanding and painting and still looking like crap. I don’t know whether plywood, sheet rock/drywall, or something else. Melamine boards might be good but is awful heavy.
The interior sheets I again was doing melamine at first since it’s easy to just seal the corners, but it’s so heavy I thought I didn’t want the cage empty being absurdly heavy for 2 average people to move. I know some people have done plywood with healthy coats of dry lock. This isn’t my area of knowledge so I was again looking for materials + sealers to use. Tank will be at like 70% humidity with heat lamps and a foot or two of cypress chips and some soil. Any sealant I paint panels with needs to be fairly durable and not crazy toxic after setting.
Insulation I was going to stuff with just whatever random stuff, but don’t know if theres some humidity resistant stuff to mold. The tank will have some vents I imagine I have to have a tiny duct running between walls so I don’t just fill the insulation center cavity with water vapor. Also will drill a hole for electrical cords that I’ll stop up/seal after they are run.
For access I was just going to use a $100 home depot 63inchx24 inch sliding window or similar.
I needed some help with materials suggestions
Framing will be in basic lumber. The exterior panels I wasn’t sure what would be best but I’m looking for fairly flat so that I can probably do laminate floor paneling and molding to try and make this as nice looking as possible. (Vs a lot of time sanding and painting and still looking like crap. I don’t know whether plywood, sheet rock/drywall, or something else. Melamine boards might be good but is awful heavy.
The interior sheets I again was doing melamine at first since it’s easy to just seal the corners, but it’s so heavy I thought I didn’t want the cage empty being absurdly heavy for 2 average people to move. I know some people have done plywood with healthy coats of dry lock. This isn’t my area of knowledge so I was again looking for materials + sealers to use. Tank will be at like 70% humidity with heat lamps and a foot or two of cypress chips and some soil. Any sealant I paint panels with needs to be fairly durable and not crazy toxic after setting.
Insulation I was going to stuff with just whatever random stuff, but don’t know if theres some humidity resistant stuff to mold. The tank will have some vents I imagine I have to have a tiny duct running between walls so I don’t just fill the insulation center cavity with water vapor. Also will drill a hole for electrical cords that I’ll stop up/seal after they are run.
For access I was just going to use a $100 home depot 63inchx24 inch sliding window or similar.