DIY Floor for New Enclosure

[ND135]

Redfoot friends.. I need real help with a DIY Enclosure:

I have a bottomless raised garden bed (68" x 36" x 24") photo (s) attached below.

I need help with the following:

1. What DIY bottom should I make or order for this? (NOT substrate but a sturdy floor that can take the weight if I need to move the enclosure)
PVC? Wood? Screen? (and covered with tarp or pond liner)

2. What would you recommend for a bar across the top to hang my T5 UV and clip my CHEs to?

I'm SO BAD at DIY and friends who can help usually are not available. It is time to get my baby in her proper home! I've been trying for months and now just need to get it done.

Thank you all so much!

 

[Tom]

Redfoot friends.. I need real help with a DIY Enclosure:

I have a bottomless raised garden bed (68" x 36" x 24") photo (s) attached below.

I need help with the following:

1. What DIY bottom should I make or order for this? (NOT substrate but a sturdy floor that can take the weight if I need to move the enclosure)
PVC? Wood? Screen? (and covered with tarp or pond liner)

2. What would you recommend for a bar across the top to hang my T5 UV and clip my CHEs to?

I'm SO BAD at DIY and friends who can help usually are not available. It is time to get my baby in her proper home! I've been trying for months and now just need to get it done.

Thank you all so much!

1. PVC sheet is the only way to go. Try calling sign making places to find it. It comes in 1/2 inch, 4x8 foot sheets for around $115. Cut it to size, screw it to the bottom of the sides of the enclosure, and then use a generous amount of GE1 clear silicone sealant around the areas where the bottom meets the sides to prevent leaks.

2. Top bars can be easily made out of PVC pipe or 2x4s. PVC pipes and fittings just press together like Legos, and you don't need to glue them together. Get "2 hole" pipe clamps (the HD people will be able to show you these) to attach the uprights to the ends of the enclosure. So you will need:
-two 10 foot length of 3/4 PVC pipe, two 36 inch uprights, and one 72 inch top bar.
-PVC cutters or a hack saw.
-two 90 degree "L"s for 3/4 inch pipe.
-four 2 hope pipe clamps.
-appropriate screws for the material you are screwing into.
-screw driver.

To do it with 2x4s, simply cut two of 3 foot boards and screw those to the ends. Place a long board on top of the two uprights and screw it in. BOOM! Done. Then you can use coffee cup holder hooks to hang your lighting fixtures from.

 

[Maggie3fan]

Mine is a wooden tort table covered with that greenhouse you showed. For years box turtles were in there with the bottom covered with a shower curtain liner then substrate.
at one end is a che, in the middle is a black light bulb, and at the other end is a chick brooder panel...
it keeps a steady 85 degrees with 85 to 90% humidity...that's the way to go...this is Logan

 

[ND135]

1. PVC sheet is the only way to go. Try calling sign making places to find it. It comes in 1/2 inch, 4x8 foot sheets for around $115. Cut it to size, screw it to the bottom of the sides of the enclosure, and then use a generous amount of GE1 clear silicone sealant around the areas where the bottom meets the sides to prevent leaks.

2. Top bars can be easily made out of PVC pipe or 2x4s. PVC pipes and fittings just press together like Legos, and you don't need to glue them together. Get "2 hole" pipe clamps (the HD people will be able to show you these) to attach the uprights to the ends of the enclosure. So you will need:
-two 10 foot length of 3/4 PVC pipe, two 36 inch uprights, and one 72 inch top bar.
-PVC cutters or a hack saw.
-two 90 degree "L"s for 3/4 inch pipe.
-four 2 hope pipe clamps.
-appropriate screws for the material you are screwing into.
-screw driver.

To do it with 2x4s, simply cut two of 3 foot boards and screw those to the ends. Place a long board on top of the two uprights and screw it in. BOOM! Done. Then you can use coffee cup holder hooks to hang your lighting fixtures from.

This is awesome advice. Thank you SO MUCH!!!! I love my shell baby.

 

[ND135]

Mine is a wooden tort table covered with that greenhouse you showed. For years box turtles were in there with the bottom covered with a shower curtain liner then substrate.View attachment 365419
at one end is a che, in the middle is a black light bulb, and at the other end is a chick brooder panel...View attachment 365420
it keeps a steady 85 degrees with 85 to 90% humidity...that's the way to go...this is LoganView attachment 365423

What I cutie pie!!!

Thanks for the kind reply and photos.

 

[Tim Carlisle]

1. PVC sheet is the only way to go. Try calling sign making places to find it. It comes in 1/2 inch, 4x8 foot sheets for around $115. Cut it to size, screw it to the bottom of the sides of the enclosure, and then use a generous amount of GE1 clear silicone sealant around the areas where the bottom meets the sides to prevent leaks.

2. Top bars can be easily made out of PVC pipe or 2x4s. PVC pipes and fittings just press together like Legos, and you don't need to glue them together. Get "2 hole" pipe clamps (the HD people will be able to show you these) to attach the uprights to the ends of the enclosure. So you will need:
-two 10 foot length of 3/4 PVC pipe, two 36 inch uprights, and one 72 inch top bar.
-PVC cutters or a hack saw.
-two 90 degree "L"s for 3/4 inch pipe.
-four 2 hope pipe clamps.
-appropriate screws for the material you are screwing into.
-screw driver.

To do it with 2x4s, simply cut two of 3 foot boards and screw those to the ends. Place a long board on top of the two uprights and screw it in. BOOM! Done. Then you can use coffee cup holder hooks to hang your lighting fixtures from.

Do you think something like that would work for an outside house? If so, should I drill the screw holes a bit larger for expansion/contraction?

 

[ND135]

Do you think something like that would work for an outside house? If so, should I drill the screw holes a bit larger for expansion/contraction?

I bought 2 of these one for inside and one for outside (screen in the top to protect the baby). Great question!

 

[Tom]

Do you think something like that would work for an outside house? If so, should I drill the screw holes a bit larger for expansion/contraction?

I've never done that, so I really couldn't say. Its outside of my lane.

 

[Tim Carlisle]

I've never done that, so I really couldn't say. Its outside of my lane.

Hmm. I know a guy who owns a sign shop. I'll have to ask him. Thanx!

 

[Tom]

Hmm. I know a guy who owns a sign shop. I'll have to ask him. Thanx!

Please let us know. I wouldn't think that plastic is going to expand or contract enough for that to matter, but I might wrong about that.

 

[Tim Carlisle]

Please let us know. I wouldn't think that plastic is going to expand or contract enough for that to matter, but I might wrong about that.

I had to make larger holes for my greenhouse panels to allow for expansion/contraction, but they are much thinner than a 1/2 inch sheet. Might have to do a little math on this one.

 

[ND135]

Hmm. I know a guy who owns a sign shop. I'll have to ask him. Thanx!

I emailed a sign shop today!!!

 

[Maggie3fan]

I bought 2 of these one for inside and one for outside (screen in the top to protect the baby). Great question!

I want to say....I was given an 8 ft walk in greenhouse....put exotic plants and cactus in with a che, black light bulb and one of those small electric heaters that cost a fortune to run...and the second day of sleet and low temperatures the material froze and shrunk and popped both zippers, some plants froze, I moved all the plants in the house and the next day the ice broke the metal that was the skeleton of the thing. It collapsed making trash...use a heavier material if possible...I did put a thick brown tarp over it all and that was no help. And I took pictures using my camera, and I lost it somewhere somehow outside

 

[ND135]

I want to say....I was given an 8 ft walk in greenhouse....put exotic plants and cactus in with a che, black light bulb and one of those small electric heaters that cost a fortune to run...and the second day of sleet and low temperatures the material froze and shrunk and popped both zippers, some plants froze, I moved all the plants in the house and the next day the ice broke the metal that was the skeleton of the thing. It collapsed making trash...use a heavier material if possible...I did put a thick brown tarp over it all and that was no help. And I took pictures using my camera, and I lost it somewhere somehow outside

Thanks. I'm sorry to hear that happened! I'm sure it was no fun trying to get all of that picked up and reassembled.

The greenhouse cover with raised garden bed would be used indoors. I'm not fully sold on the greenhouse cover for long term use, but it is indeed the fastest way I can cover her indoors and hold humidity properly. I can work on the PVC bar mentioned above and add hooks to hold shower curtain liner eventually.

The raised garden bed I have for outdoors will be used for only for a few hours a day that I would put a screen/wire over during outdoor hours so she gets fresh air and sunlight. I would be outdoors with her. We live on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and there are many predators from land and air.

Thanks!!!