I just fired up my walk in incubator a few weeks ago. The incubator was completed in mid April 2009. I still need a table for the center of the room and pick up a few more rubbermaid bins for the shelving. Other than that it's a complete functioning incubator that's worked well for me last year and this year. Since I didn't post pictures here I thought I would in this quote from a post I made last year on another forum.
Now I'm working on building the permanent rooms that will house all of the snakes. That is a long project that will be completed over a couple years. If all goes to plan I can complete a room a year for the next few years to have the perfect setup, for me anyways.
Enjoy.
Corey
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey Woods
I started this project in Feb 2009 and at one point I didn't think it was ever going to be complete. The end is near so I've decided to post a crap load of pictures to document the building of my walk in incubator.
The project started in February of 2009 with the purchase of a bunch of 2x4's, 2x6's and a lot of insulation. One needs a starting point and Home Depot/Rona came to love me very much in the coming weeks as more and more supplies were needed.
The first step was to draw out what the room was going to look like as a foot print on the floor. Prior to the start of construction it took me about 4 months to ultimately decide to construct the incubator on this side of the basement.
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The basement was insulated but with 2x3's. Nothing lined up so I decided to frame over the existing insulation for added protection. The entire basement will be done this way.
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I decided to put in a subfloor the "old school" method which was modified to suit my needs. 2x3's were laid flat on the floor and secured with cement anchors. Then another 2x3 was attached to the first one to allow a total clearance of 3" from floor to the top of the 2x3's. This allowed me to lay down 3" wall insulation on the floor.
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Electrical conduit was laid throughout the floor, walls and ceiling so that wires/probes could be run through the walls where ever I wanted in the incubator. Since every square inch was filled with insulation I didn't want to disturb anything later on trying to run wires.
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Once the floor was insulated 5/8's plywood was installed.
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After construction of the exterior walls was up and the flooring was done I didn't like 2 things. 1) The door that was suppose to swing in hit the bulk head and 2) the walls were 2x6 construction and I wanted them to be thicker than this. So, a solution to this problem was to attach a 2x3 to the 2x6's to increase the thickness of the walls.
http://coreywoods.com/Incubator/Incubator_7078.jpg
I hate insulating ceilings but this is one of the most important parts.
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The room before the dry wallers arrived.
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Drywall going up.
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Peter doing his thing further down in the basement.
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Painting the room. I've used this colour previously in the house but it's amazing how the same colour looks different in every room. It looks quite nice finished in a bright room.
http://coreywoods.com/Incubator/Incubator_8112.jpg
Installing backer board sucks! Not only did I have to cement 9 sheets to the plywood, each 3'x5' cement backer board requires 60 screws. 540 screws later I was really pissed off...........
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I originally wasn't going to use backer board. The tile guy mentioned that I'd "probably" be fine with the construction techniques I used to build the subfloor. However, I wasn't happy with a "probably" as all I could think about is "your tile probably won't crack".
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I wasn't going to lug 60lb boxes of porcelain tile down the stairs so out came the lawn tractor/snow blower.
http://coreywoods.com/Incubator/Incubator_7808.jpg
Yes, a few tiles are cracked. Since I was doing tile baseboard as well (you'll see pictures later) I took everything they had in stock.
It actually took me quite a while to find the right tile. Kate and I both seen this tile and said "this is the one" after weeks of looking. It matches the colour of vermiculite quite well.
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Down goes the tile. I liked installing the tile. Also, there is more than one use for snake feeding tongs!
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The baseboard was quite easy to install. I nick named it "lick and stick".
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The racking in the room is also quite simple. Take the entire room and install racking.....lol.
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Pulling wires through the walls was a pain in the ass.
http://coreywoods.com/Incubator/Incubator_8469.jpg
But the rats nest looked good once installed. The telephone cord in the wall is connected to the one in the floor which is connected to the helix 1500 watt system. I hate having cords run across the floor.......
http://coreywoods.com/Incubator/Incubator_8503.jpg
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The only thing missing is a small fan and a metal table in the room. This will contain all the wiring in the centre of the room and complete the entire construction.
http://coreywoods.com/Incubator/Incubator_8506.jpg
Eggs have been in the portable incubators and were finally moved once trouble shooting the walk in was complete.
http://coreywoods.com/Incubator/Incubator_8508.jpg
Compared to my old walk in incubator this one is twice the size and uses half the energy. Inside dimensions (usable space) are 10 feet deep by 12 feet wide.
With the oil filled heater on full medium (1000 watt setting) the maximum room temperature is 113F. With the heater on full low (500 watt setting) the maximum room temperature is 105F. To cool the room off the heater was unplugged at a room temperature of 105F and after 6 hours the room temp had dropped 4F to 101F.
Ultimately I'd like a room heater that on full will max the room out at 95F. I'd hate to come home and find everything cooked from a heater malfunction.
I'm really happy how this room had turned out. It's hard to think back as to what the original space looked like empty. The room seems like it's always been where it is.
Enjoy,
Corey