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[Cleef]

Hello all,

Over the past few months I have been working on a small rep shed with my Dad. It has been very fun to do up to now, I'm quite suprised how quickly it developed and how relativley easy it has been to do. I've taken a few (!) step by step photos just to show what has been done, so here it goes..

The shed construction is 100% metal, wood would have been more ideal but this is what we ended up with. I'm fairly confident we have insulated it well enough to withstand the winter and reduce a lot of heat loss, for the summer though I plan to buy an air con unit;

Firstly - The Shell - 10'x8'








After we had put the flat pack shed up, the next step was to start insulating the floor, walls and roof. Although the shed is metal, one advantage is that it has a white roof, it's noticably effective too. We used 1" thick polystyrene sheets all round, with standard chip board flooring;







The next step was to board up the walls with sheet plywood.

We also had to make a 'fake' wall at the front of the shed. It was needed in order to have insulation in place when the doors are closed. The shed doors are sliding, so if we put insulation directly onto the front wall, obviously, the doors would not be able to open. The pictures explain what I mean hopefully . We did this by making a frame covering the whole front end of the shed, out of wooden roof battens. Poly insulation was then wedged into the frame and covered over with ply. A trellis was also made out of the excess battens for the outside of the shed, the foliage climbing plants will provide will also help to keep the heat down in the summer.







Fake wall and sliding doors:








Next jobs were to paint the walls, get a cheap lino for the floor and add electrics. I also bought a workbench to serve as shelving for some of the vivs. The dimensions of it are perfect for what I plan to have in there which is nice.



As it is only a small shed for a small collection, we decided on having the mains central. From this I will run off several multisockets (probably need rewiring for extra length). It should work out well, it means I can have many heaters/lighting on a single timer.



We added 2 4' flurescent lights. One on a timer and one on a switch for after "lights out" shed use.





Currently I have been allocated half of the shed for my reps. My Dad wants to use it too to store a few bits and pieces, I'm sure a bit of haggling will go on yet though

That's about it up to now, and it's pretty much nearly finished. I have started building a 3x3 large contico rack for leopard geckos and maybe some other species, not sure yet though.

I have also been monitoring the temperatures, they have been safe up to now, and should be perfect once there are a few vivs in there kicking out a bit of extra heat. I think the summer may be harsh though, an air con unit will probably be needed. That's something I'm not too sure about.

Does anybody with 'rep shed' experience () have any tips as to what I may need regarding a cooling and possibly heating device?

I've probably missed out quite a few bits and pieces so if you have any questions don't hesitate to post

Thanks for looking

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Steve P

[aidan]

that looks great
wish i could have 1
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2.4. beardies
1.1 fire n uce beardies
1.1.0 yemen chameleons
0.0.1 corns
0.0.2 crested geckos

[Cleef]

Thanks,

You will need one soon I think aidan, building up quite a collection
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Steve P

[SnakeGuy]

looks really good

[Ally]

Looks great!
The plants will help in summer, I'm lucky enough that mine is on the North side of the house - well shaded! An air con unit may well help things out though. The only way to find out is to wait and see though. You mentioned the roof was white too? That'll definatley help keep things cool.

[Cleef]

Cheers both ,

Yeah I'll definitely wait a while and see how the temps pan out, I'll just make sure I'm on the ball when any hot days arrive
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Steve P

[Stuart]

looking good mate
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[davo]

Looks great. Good luck in keeping it cool in summer.

[colwin]

its looking great well done

[Scott W]

superb job!

The cold floor will be a big problem, make sure you put any vivs sitting on the floor on extra polystrene. I used to use a small fan heater for my smallest shed 12x10ft, that kept the temp real well.
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