I haven't been on in a while, because snake egg season is in full swing, and it is eating my time up. But, I still have to find time to take care of my four legged reptiles. I have done some more work to my pen since my last post, and I thought I would show some of the work here.
First up is an elevated pic of the entire yard. I took this from a 12 foot ladder, so that I could get the whole thing in one pic. As a result, most of the plants aren't in as much detail as I would like, but maybe I am just too picky. At any rate, for my good, as well as my friends here, I labeled all of the plants (mostly, so that I can replace any after this winter if they die). I got a ton of help from the tort safe plants list in the food section, as well as the guy at the nursery that used to own Iguanas and planted their entire habitat. He was a huge help (Thanks Jason).
This is a pic of the progress on the house. I love this new roofing material. I still need to build the door, but that is coming soon. It still needs a bit more trim, and some more silicone to seal up the drafty cracks, as well as wind blown rain. After all of the trim and sealing is done, I will be painting the house.
Lastly, I wanted to seal all of the cracks in the cinder block wall, for the best chance at retaining heat, and thought of floating it like one would with sheetrock. So the best thing I could come up with was Stucco. This is what is known as Stucco scratch coat, and it was my first time doing something like this. It took about 20 minutes to get my technique right, but I finally caught on, and finished it up. I thought it came out pretty good.
p.s. This unseen stucco training was practice, as I want to do the entire front of the pen, so that it looks nicer from the house, when I am viewing the pen from the back patio.
Let me know what you think.
I think the next thing to happen now, with the exception of the door and cosmetic treatments to the house, and a bit of lawn trimming in the yard, will be running power out to the pen. This will be for heating purposes once winter gets here. Although, I still have plenty of time to get that done. Also, I am ordering spray foam insulation to do the inside of the framed walls in the house. That may actually be the next thing, but that is quick and easy.
Thanks for looking,
First up is an elevated pic of the entire yard. I took this from a 12 foot ladder, so that I could get the whole thing in one pic. As a result, most of the plants aren't in as much detail as I would like, but maybe I am just too picky. At any rate, for my good, as well as my friends here, I labeled all of the plants (mostly, so that I can replace any after this winter if they die). I got a ton of help from the tort safe plants list in the food section, as well as the guy at the nursery that used to own Iguanas and planted their entire habitat. He was a huge help (Thanks Jason).
This is a pic of the progress on the house. I love this new roofing material. I still need to build the door, but that is coming soon. It still needs a bit more trim, and some more silicone to seal up the drafty cracks, as well as wind blown rain. After all of the trim and sealing is done, I will be painting the house.
Lastly, I wanted to seal all of the cracks in the cinder block wall, for the best chance at retaining heat, and thought of floating it like one would with sheetrock. So the best thing I could come up with was Stucco. This is what is known as Stucco scratch coat, and it was my first time doing something like this. It took about 20 minutes to get my technique right, but I finally caught on, and finished it up. I thought it came out pretty good.
p.s. This unseen stucco training was practice, as I want to do the entire front of the pen, so that it looks nicer from the house, when I am viewing the pen from the back patio.
Let me know what you think.
I think the next thing to happen now, with the exception of the door and cosmetic treatments to the house, and a bit of lawn trimming in the yard, will be running power out to the pen. This will be for heating purposes once winter gets here. Although, I still have plenty of time to get that done. Also, I am ordering spray foam insulation to do the inside of the framed walls in the house. That may actually be the next thing, but that is quick and easy.
Thanks for looking,