15' long by 5' foot high rack system

[Sloburn]

So I have won. Looks like I will be moving the washer and dryer out of the cellar come next weekend and that makes the cellar mine all mine. I have space that is roughly 15' wide by 30' long. There is a door and 2 small doorways leading to the furnace area. I plan on making this my snake area. The pros it has a drain and hook ups for a faucet. there is vents to supply heat. Cons when it rains the walls leak some. But plan on doing a few things to fix this. Going to put up some type of insualtion board to help retain a steady temp and put up a door to the other part of the basement. The first rack I am going ot build will probly be 30' long by 5 1/2' tall. My question is has anyone build a home made rack this big and how do you recomend doing it? making it in smaller secitions and putting casters on it? Input is greatly appreciated.

[stangs13]

Your better off building many little ones that are easy to move, than one huge one with saging problems. It will sag! I recomend Tim Baileys home made racks!

[stangs13]

http://www.baileyreptiles.com/diy.html

Thems the ones!!

[Gloryhound]

I would not worry too much about the racks till you get the waterproofing of the basement done. Even a small leak can cause fungus growth and while we know black mold is not good for people I have no idea as to its affect on Reptiles. Just hope you can get it taken care of from the inside and not have to dig and put a french drain in. Also all your racks need to be on casters or something to lift them off the concrete. Concrete never fully dries out so anything sitting on it has the potential to draw additional moisture. I would build the rack in sections so you can move them around a little if needed. Also this will allow you to build additional racks later that could go in front of the furnace door that could be rolled out of the way to go in and change filters or perform any maintenance. Insulating the floor will help also as the concrete will conduct cold up from the ground. I would put a false floor in and an under the floor water tube type heating system if head room allows for this reduction in head room and you had the cash as they can get expensive. Unfortunately snakes deal best in main living areas of houses and while most of us try to find an out of the way place to put them it either means the basement (which tends to be cooler) or the attic ( which tends to be drier). Special considerations have to be put in place for both. I am currently buying a house and have been looking at the overall design and intend to eventually finish the attic to make a snake room that should be about 40' X 15' in one section then the incubator room and juvy racks will be a 25' X15' area. Have to wait till the old house sells though first so I have the extra cash and design will call for a seperate heat pump to control attic temps and a humidity system to raise the humidity to a good point. Green board type drywall will have to be used due to the raised humidity.

[Sloburn]

Honestly we dont have any heat going down there and in the winter it stays fairly warm Not warm enough for a snake but that will be fixed. Not to worried about that. I am thinking about going ahead and doing some measures outside to water proof and find something ot use to waterproof the insde walls and give it a few months to see if I have any leaks then start building the walls. I have my computer room right now that is 10 by 13 and only has my deks in it so it is my acting temp snake room untill the cellar is all the way done.

I like the design of those racks. Definatly putting casters on them for the ease of movement. With some insulation and the current heat vents in there that currently remain closed It should turn into a nice snake room. I guess the biggest downside to the cellar in all honesty is the walls are not poured concrete they are brick. The house was buit in 1880.

[Royal Morphz]

if the walls are cinder block or any kind of block there is a product at home depot called drylok its a elastic cement paint that will actually seep into the block to lock out water

[Sloburn]

They are actually old bricks. The kind without the holes in it. But I belive they have drylok for that as well now that you metion it. Will be checking that out soon. Thanks for reminding me.