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Posted by Solaris16 on January 15, 2003 at 19:37:24:
In Reply to: housing posted by rrr on January 15, 2003 at 07:43:47:
Myka’s Enclosure
There is an awful lot of information that I am trying to write down here, so I’m sorry if it doesn’t all make sense! I’ll do my best to describe each step of building Myka’s enclosure in a clear, concise manner.
I’ll start at the very beginning with a list of supplies needed to make this enclosure. Remember, all the solid oak that was used for the framing was taken from our woodlot and sawed into lumber by my parents. I did, however, get an approximate store value on that oak from my dad. We made the cage to fit the room, so feel free to do the same! Please note that all prices are Canadian and all the figures are approximate as they vary from place to place.
· 5 4x8ft sheets of ¾” fir plywood - $230.00
· 1 4x8ft sheet of ¾” oak plywood - $70.00
· 1/3 4x8ft sheet of ¼” oak plywood - $15.00
· 50 board feet of ¾” solid oak – Approximately $400.00 (at $8 per board foot)
· 4 4x8ft sheets of barker board - $260.00
· 2 4x8ft sheets of ¼” Plexiglas - $300.00
· 1 4x8ft sheet of abberite - $50.00
· 2’4”x4’ 5/8” plastic mesh -$35.00
· Screws - $30.00
Total - $1390.00 CA
Firstly, we made the floor out of one of the 4x8ft sheets of ¾” fir plywood. My mom wasn’t keen on putting a ‘huge’ enclosure in the dining room and she wanted us to knock the corners off to make it seem not as big. The floor measured 7’8” long and 3ft wide. At the 18”mark, the corners were angled in at 45º. That makes the backside of the floor 7’8” long and the front approximately 4’8” in the front.
Once the shape for the floor was cut on the table saw we used contact cement to secure on a sheet of abberite (like the topping for counters or a computer desk). Using a hand-held router, I cut the abberite to shape around the plywood.
It is also a very good idea to make some sort of brace to be screwed onto the bottom of the floor because it will need the extra support if you intend on putting in a large tree or standing inside the enclosure.
To make the back walls, we stood two 4x8ft sheets of ¾” fir plywood on end, side by side after they were cut to the proper width. At approximately 5” from the bottom of the sheets, cut a ¾” groove (dado) all the way across for the bottom piece to slide into. For more stability, we simply screwed a strip of wood along the seam between the two pieces of plywood on the back. It is also important to take a small strip of wood and screw it along the tops of all the walls for the roof to set onto.
To make the roof, follow the same steps as you did when making the floor, with the exception of the step involving the abberite.
For the sidewalls, using another 4x8ft sheet of ¾”fir plywood, cut two pieces that are 19” wide and however high the room permits. On one long side of each piece, using your table saw, cut it at a 45º angle. Also dado the bottom at the same height as the back for the floor to fit into, and rabbit the top edge for the roof to set into.
Then take the piece of 4x8ft ¾” oak plywood and make two more sidewalls that are an inch narrower. With these outside walls, you do not need to put any sort of groove in them. You can really make the walls whatever size fits the room best. ‘An inch smaller’ is only an approximate guess, I don’t remember what it was exactly; just make sure that when you line the fir up with the oak plywood the front sides (which were cut on an angle) lie flush. You should see no screw holes on the outside, having two sheets of plywood covers everything up and gives it a better overall appearance.
There is a vent in each sidewall, one up high on the cool side, and one down low on the side that the iguana’s basking area is located. Cut a hole the size of each vent you have where you want the vent to go. Make sure that the top vent isn’t right at the top, because there will be a pocket of warm air there that you don’t want to escape.
The next step is to tap the floor into the dado groove on the back wall pieces, and then do the same with the sidewalls. Screw the walls onto the floorboard after the floor is tapped into each groove.
Once the floorboard is braced from below and the sides are screwed on, it is time to set the roof into place. Like many steps in building this particular enclosure, this one requires two people. Both people need to lift the roof up and set it onto the strips of wood. After the roof is in place, one person needs to support it while the other person screws it into place from the outside.
Now is the time to cut the barker board to fit the roof and all four walls. You can do this on your table saw fairly easily. If you plan correctly, using the four sheets, you can use a seamless piece for the sidewalls and the roof. It is important that you counter-sync all the screw holes; this makes it a lot easier to screw the board into place. For the back, however, you will need to use two pieces so there will be a seam in there somewhere. In Myka’s enclosure we laid it out so that there was a horizontal seam higher up on the wall. The reason for laying the two sheets (which you can cut to fit your enclosure) horizontally was so that if Myka happened to splash around in her water tub, the seam would be higher up and there would be less chance of water getting to the wood behind. Be careful when cutting the barker board, because you will also need to have two pieces that are 25” long and one that is 56” long left over. The measurements may be different though, depending on the size of your cage. These strips need to be 12” wide; they will later be used to line the top section that hides the lights. Using the four sheets, we got everything we needed and had quite a bit left over as well. Also make sure to cut appropriately sized holes in the barker board that line up with the ventilation holes.
It is now a good time to fit the tree into the enclosure, before the front framing goes on. I got Myka’s tree near my house, and I really lucked out on it, I think. It is an ironwood, which is the strongest, heaviest, toughest wood in Nova Scotia, and maybe all of Canada. It helps if you tack together a wooden square that is roughly the size of your enclosure to lie over the tree to help you gauge where to cut the limbs off at. By doing this, you end up with a tree that fits much tighter into the enclosure, but at the same time you don’t risk leaving it too large. Make sure to get a tree that is 100% safe for your iguana, and that you secure it very well!
Now we get into the complicated stuff that I will have a hard time explaining, so bare with me! First off, start with the two side frames. One foot from the top of the frame put in another piece of oak. This makes the section that will eventually hide your lights. You need to make this section all the way around the enclosure. On both long sides of the two side frames, cut them at a 45º angle on the table saw. You also need to dado on the bottom ends of these two frames for the floor piece to fit into. This enclosure is built up off the ground several inches, so you will also have to add legs to all of your framing.
The front frame can be designed to look however you want it, as can all of the other things here! What we did with Myka’s enclosure was make the top section about 2ft tall, and the side sections about 1’ wide. The two pieces to the extreme left and right of this frame should also be cut at a 45º angle. The idea here is to have the front frame over-lapping the two side frames; not only does this look nice, it also hides the joints, so measure accordingly.
To make the door, first make the frame out of the solid oak. It doesn’t matter how wide the boards are, just make them whatever size you think looks best. Looks are important when building such a large piece of ‘furniture’! Also pick out a nice router bit and fancy the door up a little bit. On the backside, make sure that you rabbit all the inside edges. Once that is done, cut four thin strips of wood, two the length of the longest inside grooves, and two the length of the shorter ones. These will be used to secure the plastic mesh that you cut to fit the inside of the door into place. Make sure that these strips fit snugly into the groves so that the screen will not pull loose. Get someone to hold the screen taught while you screw the wooden strip (which has the screen under it) into place. After this is all done, the screen should be in there fairly tight and won’t pull loose when a full-grown adult iguana climbs up it. Find some nice hinges, and screw the door onto the front frame at this point.
Before screwing the framing on, use a hand-held router and rout all of the inside edges, except where the door goes. This really makes the enclosure look much nicer!
The side frames need to be screwed on first. Make sure that the floor piece is fully in the dado before you begin to screw the sides on. Once they are securely in place, screw on the front frame (which does not need to have a dado in it). Make sure that the front frame overlaps both side frames by about half an inch.
Now take the 1/3 sheet of ¼” oak plywood and cut out panels that fit into the empty top sections and screw them into place. After that, screw on the barker board, this helps to prevent the wood from molding due to the high humidity. For an added nice touch, do your best to use pieces that have a finished edge on them, which should be placed where you are most likely to notice it, the bottom.
To prevent a curious little iguana from getting under the enclosure, as well as for looks, make a baseboard that fits tight to the ground all the way around. Also for looks, make (or buy) some crown moldings to go along the top edge of the enclosure. They are relatively simple to make if you have the right tools and a basic knowledge of woodworking. Once the crown moldings are screwed into place you can move onto the Plexiglas.
This part can get a little complicated measuring wise if you want all the pieces to fit snugly together. This all depends on the size of your enclosure and will probably be different for each person. Make sure that you leave the protective paper on the glass until the last possible moment because it is very easy to scratch. Measure, cut, and counter-sync all the screw holes, as well as drill pilot holes in the glass with the protective paper on. After each section is cut and the screw holes are prepared, peel off the paper and carefully screw the pieces onto the framing. Be careful if using brass screws though, because they are soft and the tops will often twist off when you are screwing through the Plexiglas into solid oak, they are fine to use with plywood though.
Now comes to the point where you need to begin to wire in your lighting, heating, and misting systems. I was able to explain everything up until this point on my own, and won’t be able to explain this part. I am sure that you know someone you will be able to do this, or at least explain it to you!
None of these measurements are exact; I’m just going by memory here, so double check everything to make sure that panels line up, the grooves are in the right places, etc. I don’t know how much sense this made or if it will be of any help to you, but it was a lot of help to me! This enclosure was built so that it could be taken apart and reassembled by me (I am 15, so in three years I’m off to university and will need to move the enclosure) reasonably easily.
My dad and I built this entire thing downstairs in the shop, then took it apart, and put it back together upstairs. The reason for putting it completely together downstairs was because we planned as we went and Dad needed to put it together to see what he had to do next. Feel free to adjust these plans to suit the tools you have available for you. We have a complete wood working shop and my dad was a professional carpenter for 20+ years, so this style of building may be a little much for the average person!
Good luck! Wendy :)
