Remodeling my reptile room

My wife and I just purchased our home here in Wisconsin and its been project after project to update it. The house was built in 1947 and was owned by a rental company renting it out to college students. We have a really large basement that I currently keep all of my reptiles in. The room I keep them in is 130sqft. I originally was just going to build some a new cage system to house my three ball pythons but as I was designing the new cage I thought to myself... I can't build this beautiful new enclosure and stick it in this ugly ass room. I was kinda tired of being separated from all of my reptiles anyway so I decided to move my office down there and turn the current upstairs office into an art studio for my wife. I went to the drawing board and started designing a new reptile / personal office space for myself. I started with ripping down all the 80s wood paneling, pulling down the drywall, which I was a little bummed out that it was all nailed up so I couldn't save much of it. After I got all the drywall torn down I moved the electrical outlets and updated the wiring to 12-2 on 20 amp breakers and outlets to better serve the electrical needs of the room. Once I got all the electrical wiring done and repaired all the damaged insulation and started working on the new floor. For the floor I laid down a layer of weed block, then DMX underlayment then I used 3/4" t&g plywood for the subfloor. I am going to use 1/2" birch veneer plywood cut into 6" wide planks for the finished floor. I have been working on the project for about a week now and its really making progress. Once I get the drywall finished and the walls plastered I will finish the floor and once the floor is completed I will then start on the cage construction. Anyway, I thought this would be a fun thing to share with people and I will include all my costs at the end. I'm doing all the work myself because I can't afford to pay someone to do it lol. I included a link to the Photobucket slideshow of the room so far.

93.photobucket.com/user/spookychief/slideshow/Reptile%20Room

Amazing! Do you work construction? You seem to know what your doing and it looks great!

Hopefully those windows are double pane or that is going to be a big loss of heat.

Really nice work.


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Thanks for all the kind words. Today was rough...nothing was really cooperating with me. I had to take down some sheets and reinforce the frame behind them, so that was a huge mess, but I finished hanging all the drywall and started plastering. I was hoping to get further with it today but my back is killing so I'm going to rest up.

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

Amazing! Do you work construction? You seem to know what your doing and it looks great!

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I used to when I was younger but I'm an IT guy. I haven't worked construction for almost 20 years. I honestly just watched a bunch of youtube videos on how to lay down the floor. I kind of know my way around power a little bit but I consulted with my older brother who was an electrician for a long time so he gave me some pointers.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Hopefully those windows are double pane or that is going to be a big loss of heat.

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The windows are single pane and I am not really overly concerned about the windows at the moment, but I do plan to make custom windows this summer because they do leak a bit. For now, I just have plastic sheeting over them to keep the draft out.

[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...e%20Room/8.jpg[/IMG]

I had a cheap single pane window in my snake room. I found some real thick Styrofoam insulation, probably 2-3 inches thick, the pink stuff, I think it's used for houses. I cut it to size and duct taped around the edges. It holds heat as well as an outside wall. I just draped a blanket over it and put a snake rack in front of it LOL. Can't even tell it's there. Someday I'll replace the window with a double pane.

For my snake room I also used 'luxury vinyl flooring'. You can get it a Home Depot. Its basically strips of rubberized flooring that you can snap together, don't even need to glue them down. You can easily cut it with tin snips. It's pretty expensive but I got lucky and found it on sale for 75% off. I put it directly on the concrete floor and it insulates so well the floor stays warm from the space heater, pretty amazing stuff.

It took me a few days just to do my floor and it wiped me out too, I was a lot more sore than I thought I was going to be. I think with the excitement of building something new you tend to push yourself hard until you have to take a break LOL. Your room looks good so far!

I just did a crapload of plastering today nothing really exciting to share at the moment. I plan to get all the plastering done and the walls sanded this week. After I get all the plaster finished I'm going to paint the room. Then I'm going to get all the plywood cut down on Wednesday and start laying that this weekend hopefully. Anyway thanks for all the comments and if anyone has questions or other great ideas feel free to share.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I had a cheap single pane window in my snake room. I found some real thick Styrofoam insulation, probably 2-3 inches thick, the pink stuff, I think it's used for houses. I cut it to size and duct taped around the edges. It holds heat as well as an outside wall. I just draped a blanket over it and put a snake rack in front of it LOL. Can't even tell it's there. Someday I'll replace the window with a double pane.

For my snake room I also used 'luxury vinyl flooring'. You can get it a Home Depot. It's basically strips of rubberized flooring that you can snap together, don't even need to glue them down. You can easily cut it with tin snips. It's pretty expensive but I got lucky and found it on sale for 75% off. I put it directly on the concrete floor and it insulates so well the floor stays warm from the space heater, pretty amazing stuff.

It took me a few days just to do my floor and it wiped me out too, I was a lot more sore than I thought I was going to be. I think with the excitement of building something new you tend to push yourself hard until you have to take a break LOL. Your room looks good so far!

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Ya, i like the insulation idea but I still want my windows to function lol. I would have liked to do a laminate or vinyl floor but you don't get much square footage for your money. I have watched how people have laid plywood flooring and plywood is cheap and can look really nice...if I cant get it to come out right.:D It is funny how much time and effort I'm putting into this little project and how much pain I'm willing to endure to see it finished. I know that it's going to look awesome and my wife is going to be jealous of the space so I know she will be talking me into redoing her studio next.

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Originally Posted by Spookychief

I just did a crapload of plastering today nothing really exciting to share at the moment. I plan to get all the plastering done and the walls sanded this week. After I get all the plaster finished I'm going to paint the room. Then I'm going to get all the plywood cut down on Wednesday and start laying that this weekend hopefully. Anyway thanks for all the comments and if anyone has questions or other great ideas feel free to share.



Ya, i like the insulation idea but I still want my windows to function lol. I would have liked to do a laminate or vinyl floor but you don't get much square footage for your money. I have watched how people have laid plywood flooring and plywood is cheap and can look really nice...if I cant get it to come out right.:D It is funny how much time and effort I'm putting into this little project and how much pain I'm willing to endure to see it finished. I know that it's going to look awesome and my wife is going to be jealous of the space so I know she will be talking me into redoing her studio next.

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Great job. I did the same thing to my home years ago... Watched youtube and ripped down every wall except the exteriors hahahaha. You'll be happy when all is said and done [emoji1360]


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I finished up all the plastering last night and finished painting the walls this morning. Of course, my reptile room has to be painted green and I love how this green looks against the dark wood in the basement. The green looks really dark here but its much lighter in person. I'll have to get my real camera out to take accurate photos.I also sanded most of the wood flooring and I'll use some tung oil on them this weekend to make them pop a little more. From what I've been reading applying tung oil is a very long process so hopefully, I can get rolling on that soon. I also picked up some really nice cedar to do the baseboard, window and door trim in and those will also be finished with the tung oil. I'm going to sand down the white in the windows and repaint them with brown of some sort..until i get around to replacing them this spring or summer. The project is coming along though and I am happy with how it is turning out. I have a really cool solution for my entrance ways to the room but I'm not ready to reveal it just yet and it will probably take me a while to get them done anyway. Anyway, thanks for all the positive feedback and more will be posted soon!

[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%20Room/10.jpg[/IMG][IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...e%20Room/9.jpg[/IMG]

Waiting to see it all set up!!
Download Tap Talk on your phone so you can post from your Camera Roll because the Pic Host your using cant always be seen.

Looking nice, great color! Congratulations and good luck.

I finally started laying down the floor after letting it dry for almost 2 days. I'm really thankful that my brothers have all these great tools to lend me to do this project. No way would I have been able to do this project without some of the stuff they have lent me. I'm hoping that school isn't cancelled tomorrow from all the snow, but then again I do live in WI and they don't cancel school very often. As long as my sons at school tomorrow I should be able to get the floor all laid down and hit it with a sander one last time before applying the poly. I went with a water based poly for this space because I didn't want to deal with the fumes and felt the water-based poly would preserve the color of the wood better but who knows for sure. I left the blank spaces on the floor so I could keep using my clamps. I will say that cutting plywood into strips is a PITA so some boards are cut better than others and the clamps have been helping to keep the floor square.

[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%20Room/11.jpg[/IMG]

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Originally Posted by Spookychief

I finally started laying down the floor after letting it dry for almost 2 days. I'm really thankful that my brothers have all these great tools to lend me to do this project. No way would I have been able to do this project without some of the stuff they have lent me. I'm hoping that school isn't cancelled tomorrow from all the snow, but then again I do live in WI and they don't cancel school very often. As long as my sons at school tomorrow I should be able to get the floor all laid down and hit it with a sander one last time before applying the poly. I went with a water based poly for this space because I didn't want to deal with the fumes and felt the water-based poly would preserve the color of the wood better but who knows for sure. I left the blank spaces on the floor so I could keep using my clamps. I will say that cutting plywood into strips is a PITA so some boards are cut better than others and the clamps have been helping to keep the floor square.

[IMG]https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%20Room/11.jpg[/IMG]

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Not sure why but I cant see tour pics.. Just shows up as a Square where the pix would be...thats happens with Image Hosts thats why i post from Camera Roll now using Tap Talk phone app. I could see it last week when you showed the Slide of Pics... Anyway good choice for the floor. I tried Oil Base and it turned it Wet Orange color... I then went with Water Base and it cleared nicely.

Ok trying out this Tapatalk so you mentioned. I did get the floor all laid it today but I didn't get to nail it down which stinks because I was hoping to get the first coat of poly on it tonight but oh well. I just temped up the baseboards I haven't decided on how I'm finishing them yet though. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3d930bc7ea.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...be6c09da67.jpg

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Very nice project! When we moved into our house 3 years ago, the first thing on my list was a reptile room. Not being very "handy" I had to pay a company to install flooring in the room and we re-painted it. Other than that, did not make any other changes. If I had the skills, or knew people with said skills, I would have loved to redo the electrical outlets and possibly put in a large industrial sink for washing. That said, there's nothing like having a nice looking dedicated space.

Thank you for taking the time to post pics of your progress. Please continue to update us. I'll be very curious to see how your floor turns out and holds up over time.

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Originally Posted by Spookychief

Ok trying out this Tapatalk so you mentioned. I did get the floor all laid it today but I didn't get to nail it down which stinks because I was hoping to get the first coat of poly on it tonight but oh well. I just temped up the baseboards I haven't decided on how I'm finishing them yet though. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3d930bc7ea.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...be6c09da67.jpg

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Great work man.. I did the same thing learning as i went to my whole house each winter... The only mistake I made was going with Manufactured Hard wood floors.. I should of went with natural Hard wood. The 1/2 man made stuff is garbage and cracks instead of dents so you cant fix it.
Everything you've done looks like a Pro came in.

Ok well today I'm putting the trim in. I decided to use a wax instead of an oil on the wood. I wasn't crazy about how the oil looked on the cedar and this looks a lot more natural. I'm also going to finish up this electrical mess as well tonight. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0a5e074b21.jpg

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My Tokay is absolutely fed up with all the racket and he's in the same room as the snakes so he's doubly pissed lol. Really old tokay btw he just turned 15 a couple months ago.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...142a4d7d90.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9f997a52c4.jpg

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Looking good. Wood flooring would not be my choice for reptile rooms but it looks nice.

So I've been super busy getting other things in order around the house here and haven't had anytime to finish the window trim yet but i'm hoping to get it done this weekend. I already have all the wood purchased. I also blew through my budget cause i broke down and purchased a table saw so the cages are on hold until march comes around when i have money again lol. SO ya hopefully this weekend i can put up some photos of the finished windows and the room will be 3/4 done.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Looking good. Wood flooring would not be my choice for reptile rooms but it looks nice.

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No other floor option matches the look, versatility and price per sqft of plywood flooring. Tile is far more expensive and more difficult to lay properly imo. To each their own though.