#diy build

[calendulacraft]

my house! applying a natural plaster made of lime, sand, and pigment.

[jackass-crafts]

made me some roller skates >:)

yoinked the trucks off 2 penny boards i found in a dumpster, screwed em onto some old converse. keeping an eye out for some metal or hard plastic inserts for stability, but they function!

[homesteadsissies]

Weekly Update: 5.11.24

Streaks of pale pink and green danced across the stars as my whole family stood outside, heads all turned skyward. The colors were faint, but they were there -- twirling and swirling in and out of view.

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[richsepicjourney2health]

Been hard at work....

The past few weekends we’ve been working on a pretty important project. We, for the majority, have been building a brand new room in the house. The build was to give our girls their own space. Well, today the MIL and I put up the outer walls and finished the trim inside the room. It’s already painted and dry, and our oldest has moved in, just in time for the start of the school year. The build is also giving us more of an excuse to do a few updates on paint and put new trim up around the house like we’ve been wanting to. So now all that’s left is painting everything else and putting in the new trim, but that’s gonna be in a week or so.

[fuckingfreezerpops]

Carpet Python Viv build

For you anon! So I decided to get a carpet python, but could not find a good vivarium to really “display” it (since they are such pretty snakes). Being a little handy, and not being in a rush because I hadn’t purchased the snake yet I decided to build a tank to fit my needs. Started by sketching the basic design I wanted.

The viv portion measures 5ft long, 2 ft deep, and 3 ft tall. The bottom base is 3.5 ft tall, and the top portion is .5ft tall. It features a built in pond with drain so that I can reach under and empty the whole pond by turning a valve. 

Here’s the base portion assembled from 2x4s. (ft my husband)

Sides and back (decking plywood) on; front will be added soon. The top portion was painted twice with drylok; a masonry sealant, to protect against moisture. The plywood was already treated but better safe than sorry! 

2.5 gal pond liner with a bulkhead drilled in the bottom and attached to a ball valve for drainage. All I have to do to change the water is stick a bucket under the tank and twist a handle. We leak tested it (in the garage of course). Initially I was going to sink the pond in the bottom but the irregular shape would have been difficult to cut out. Decided to go with this and use spray foam insulation around it, carved and painted like rocks, to support the sides. The large volume of water is beneficial in helping keep humidity in the enclosure up.

The front pannel was applied and space for the doors cut out.

Putting on the doors

Pond foamed in, doors on! The insulation foam (it took several cans) was cut with a razor after it dried and painted with drylok. After a couple of coats I tinted the drylok with acrylic paint in several colors to make the “rocks”.

Building the top; did it on the base to make sure it matches up.

Aluminum channel used for the sides to secure the plexiglass to. Top was applied to make sure everything lined up but was not secured permanently until the plexiglass was installed.

Painted and back installed; leftover plywood used. The vents were pvc drains that we reinforced with silicone and pvc rings on the back. The shelves were braced and then I added insulation foam for texture.

I wanted to build a “tree” since carpets are semi-arboreal. I ran around the neighborhood picking up random sticks until this one caught my eye (it looked much smaller than it felt, carrying it several blocks, late one night. Kiddo for scale.

Back panels painted (black and brown spray paint with a texture paint as well).

Peeling the protective plastic off the plexiglass sides, VERY satisfying. We bought 48x24″ sheets and cut them to fit with a circular saw. It smelled like a dentist office while we were cutting D:

The plexiglass fits in 1/4 inch aluminum c channels mounted along the bottom and top.

The doors for the front are two 2.5ft sections (plus 3/4 inch for overlap) that fit in a 1/2 inch aluminum c channel so they can slide. We did a foot tall solid section so that the whole front doesn’t open and spill out bedding, plus “aesthetics”. A solid 5 ft section of plexiglass is super expensive so we did two 2.5 ft sections, which resulted in a small seam but saved a LOT of $.

Here you can see the two front panels. After the front and side panels were installed we lowered the top and secured it. All of the sides are reinforced with rivets that go through the aluminum and plexiglass. The light is mounted inside of the tank; we drilled a small hole in the top to feed the cord through. It’s a leftover LED aquarium light that I painted some frosting on to make less harsh. It’ll be attached to a timer.

Stuffed snake for scale. At this point I only had enough plants to cover the base of the “tree” (secured to a piece of wood which was attached to the 2x4 support beems) and I decided that while it looks aesthetically pleasing it wasn’t adequate for a carpet pythons needs. So way more plants and some more climbing material needed! Handles were also added to the front panels to help open them easier.

Finished! The plants came from Michaels, with a sale and a couple coupons I spent about $75. A few of them are just placed in but most of them are secured with a little hot glue. The ones on the back shelf were placed into holes I drilled then sealed with hot glue. I had to trim lots of the stems; I tested all of them with my finger to make sure the wires were’t exposed and those that were got a bit of hot glue to smooth them out. 

We’re installing a radiant heat panel to the left side of the roof inside the tank. That’ll create some basking area along the top but isn’t enough to heat the whole thing because of the height of the tank. The rest of the tank will be heated with a piece of heat tape, mounted inside along the back panel, and sandwiched with plexiglass (we had lots of leftovers from the side and front) to protect from burns. I’ll add a thin layer of substrate later.

So that’s it so far. We’ve learned a lot during this process and I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has!

[calendulacraft]

What does is look like for a young couple to build their own home on their own terms?

Let me show you with this short building vlog!!

[calendulacraft]

There are dozens and dozens of techniques for building with natural materials. In this video I want to share one of them, a technique common in South America called *Quincha*.

We used local earth/mud, straw, and water to fill in the walls of our house. Compared to pretty much any phase of the project, using quincha has been fast and fun. Check out the video for the entire process.

[myminime22]

Been working on this every possible second I have. So far, so good 😌💗