I Need Building Advice! Rack/ Book Case..

[LizMarie]

I've been bitten by the gecko bug and I MUST HAVE MORE! I just can't get too carried away since I still live at home, lol. Anyway I've been battling back and forth on how I can house more geckos in general (might want a AFT ); stackable tanks, housing them together, splitting tanks, etc. I battled and thought long and hard and finally came to the decision to build a Rack/Book Case :main_yes: . While stackable tanks are nice they are expensive and would force me to remove my wall shelves which I need, I'm not comfortable housing leos together, splitting tanks had it's own issues, etc.

I only have one problem I'm not a carpenter and never build anything that didn't have pre-drilled holes and no instruction manual so that's where you guys and gals step in.

This is the rough sketchs of what I want it to look like.. (Pink=Tub Shelves, Blue=BookCases)

or

The one I use depends on on what I can have built that is under 54" tall, considering that the Tubs I plan to use are these, they are 22 1/2in x 14 3/4in x 5 3/8in (I already about two and I really like them :main_yes: ), and the book shelves on the bottom have to be at least 12ins tall.

My Questions..
- What type of wood/material would be best?
- What should be the thickness of the wood?
- Should each tub has its own thermometer or should I have one since the heating device(s) will be hooked up to a thermostat?
- Should I get some heat tape or should I just use individual heat mats?
- I have a cat and a dog and I've seen people using tubs without lids saying its just fine and that the geckos can't get out but what do you think? Should I use the lids with a section cut out and covered with a screen mesh?

Um I think thats all for now

Thanks in advance..

 

[colbynorwood]

hmmm i dont really know about the rack stuff to much but with the building
the easiest and fastest way would be just plywood, i would probably go with 3/4 inch but 1/2 might work fine. and then some cheap corse wood screws. i can kinda draw you up a quick sketch tomorrow and show you and nice fast way to do this but idk how good you want it to look, if you care, i can help there as well but idk how you feel on that...

 

[LizMarie]

I just need the measurements and stuff adjusted and figured out because I suck with a tape measure, lol. After I have it built and stuff I can always paint or spray it over with a nice color or something so that's the least of my worries.

Is Plywood reasonably cheat?

 

[colbynorwood]

i havent bought any 3/4 plywood latly but i think its like 15-20 $ a sheet

ill draw up up a sketch and figure out how much plywood you need but i need to know some things

1. if you plan on keeping the tubs in the long or short way. another words do you want the 22" or 14" part showing on the shelf?

2. how many tubs wide is it going to be?

if i was building it i would make it with the 22" side showing since that would make it about 14" deep and that would be good for the book shelf part, but its up to you

 

[jakemyster44]

I used Aspen plywood, simply beacuse it was cheap, and still looked nice. The Other sides, and the top and bottom shelves were 1/2" and the rest of the inside shelves were 3/4". Just keep the probe that goes to the thermostat on the middle shelf. I STRONGLY suggest getting FlexWatt heat tape. I'm sure it will be cheaper too. Unless you think your cat or dog will pull the tubs out, I wouldnt worry about using lids. Just make sure the gap isn't too big between the top of the container, and the bottom of the above shelf.

 

[Dogger25]

I'm currently making a new rack out of an old entertainment center. The type you buy from target. I did all the exact measuring but it sucks when one measurement is off by a 1/8th of an inch so I used the tubs to judge the height with the lids. That entertainment center has black covering on a melamine/particle board material. Sorry I don't have pictures but what I did was. I bought my tubs first with lids. Laid out how many tubs I want in a row. Once I got my length figured I cut all my shelf pieces the same length. Making Sure i had enough material for the height of it. Once I had my pieces cut. I slid my tubs in with the lids. Set my shelf piece on top of the tubs. The lids give you enough height for heat tape. So u can slide them out easily. then I began using cabinet or drywall screws to drill directly in the side pieces to the shelf pieces. If you make it 4 foot long or longer you may need to make a support for the shelf. Which you just measure from the bottom to the next shelf and cut it 4 inches shorter then the depth so you can run the heat tape behind it. . Don't know if this helps but I'm typing this a lil anibriated from my brothers wedding haha

 

[LizMarie]

Thanks..

Hopefully I can get this project off the ground soon ... I think I'll be looking into the Flexx Watt but I have a bunch of questions about that too so you'll be seeing a post pretty soon, lol.

 

[Chibii]

It's easy to make one your self, just start whit the base (skeleton). And from their you can cover it up and making the shelves.