I have an aluminum shed in my garage currently housing my collection. Its very hard to keep the shed at a steady warmth and even harder to keep it cool when the sun hits the garage door and spikes the heat up past 80 in less than an hour. Im curious how many others keep snakes in their garages and how you keep the temps regular and consistent without it dropping or spiking drastically throughout the day and night.
I live in oregon and its been getting down to high 30s and low 40s at night. With a heater in the shed, the shed heat drops down to around 60. Then on a 60 degree day, if the sun comes out, it shines directly on the roll up garage door and the heat will jump up to 80 within an hour. I cant be home daily checking the temps to make sure im adjusting heat or plugging in an AC.
Anyone who keeps snakes in their garage, which i know people do, can you please help me brainstorm some ideas on how to make this as ideal of a loving environment for them as i can.
I had to move out of my 2 bedroom apt where the snakes had their own climate controlled room. I fell on hard times and have to stay with a friend and the snakes can no longer be inside. Id hate to have to sell them all, along with all my equipment and i know there are keepers out there that are successful with garage housing.
So far no other snakes having visible issues. However, the summer is not here and i need to get it dialed in before then. I do have a gravid female that appears to no longer be gravid.
The people I know who keep collections in garage areas keep them in climate-controlled, insulated garages. I don’t personally know anyone who keeps successfully in their garage without having some serious insulation and A/C.
@jasonjasonjason Jason, we actually have our garage door insulated in the inside of the door. And our garage is fully insulated as well but our house was built in 2009 so it’s still fairly new and insulated well. However I still would not keep my collection in my garage……
Thats the problem im encountering. However, i can insulate the interior of the shed which will help keep the temps cooler inside and regulate the portable AC i have in there better. Just to keep a 400sqft garage at a steady 70 year round will require a 24k mini split, two permits, approval from my HOA, and labor. Bids so far are coming out to $6000! Since my garage isnt insulated, the 24k is the recommended size unit.
I do however plan to insulate the large roll up door with rigid foam panels. Between insulating the door, insulating the shed, a large thermal blanket over the top of the shed, spray foam around 75% of the cracks, a radiator style oil heater inside the shed, and a 14k portable AC thats vented outside, i think they should do pretty well in there.
Ive been doing lots of brainstorming around a very tight budget!
You might want to include some pics of your current shed setup. It may help others come up with ideas to help you. I myself am kinda curious as to what a shed inside of a garage looks like.
Thanks. The garage is not my ideal situation. But it can be done. Unfortunately life sometimes happens and you have to improvise to make the best of a bad situation.
Lots of great advice. Im a garage door tech of 20 years so I just wanted to say to make sure you have a professional add spring tension to your door if you insulate it. I know insulation does not feel like it weighs much but it takes just a couple pounds to throw off the recommended IPPT for the door If its only opened manually then you’ll be alright but if it has an opener then the weight will add extra wear on the opener.
Our garage door installer actually said the same thing. They also recommended installing a $5k insulated door lol. Luckily we have a side door to the garage that we will use. When we add the panels to the roll up door we don’t plan to use it after that. It’s also going to be covered with a large 18’x8’ thermal blanket that I’m guessing is made for covering garage doors.
Thank you for the heads up and confirmation that our guy wasn’t just bs’ing us to try and sell a door lol!
Our door is vinyl and radiates an insane amount of heat once the sun hits it. On a 60 degree day the garage will jump to 80 within the hour. Question for you, if we install 4x8 1.5" thick rigid panels in the door among with the thermal blanket on the interior, do you think that’s going to be sufficient in holding back the heat?
Also, you said manually is fine, so essentially we could just disengage the chain from the opener by pulling the cord and lift and close it by hand without any issues to the opener?
Im happy to help. I believe it will help but still add weight so just be careful. Usually roll ups will have a chain hoist to lock the door in place. If yours has one then yes, manual use is fine but without a hoist the door will fall back down on its own from the weight. It all comes down to R value, higher the better.
Im from the old school and we didnt have garage door openers, back when doors were solid wood and took your whole back to open lol. Im all too familiar with them very quickly closing on me!
I bought two henry garage door insulation kits with EPS foam boards. Ive got a standard 18x6 door and the two kits together cost me $140. I think roughly the same cost, maybe less than if i purchased a bunch of 1¹/² 4x8 rigid foam panels. Those and the thermal blanket should keep out at least 50% of the radient heat and make it much easier to cool the shed inside the garage without my portable AC working overtime. Its a 14k portable and will be more than enough for my 8x10 shed. I think that once i install some 4x8 rigid panels on the interior shed walls and ceiling, and possibly drywall over the panels, the shed will stay nice and cool during the summer and my AC wont overload and burn out.
That will definitely work but it will be pretty heavy. You still might want tension added just to make it balanced as it can be. It wont be perfect because it wont be worth the cost to upgrade to a larger spring like you can on a sectional door. I remember the days I was the garage door opener too, the good ole days
I’m a few years older than you Dennis and I remember growing up when we had a separate 2 car garage but with manual double doors. I remember the little work shop area in the front of the garage and my dad smoking a cigar while he was working on a small project…… oh yeah, those were definitely the good ole days………
My dad did a lot of wood working in the garage, it was his hobby and he smoked like a chimney. Its funny, the company i work for put in our garage door when i was just a kid. I love the history
If its only opened manually then you’ll be alright but if it has an opener then the weight will add extra wear on the opener.
and I remember growing up when we had a separate 2 car garage but with manual double doors. I remember the little work shop area in the front of the garage and my dad smoking a cigar while he was working on a small project……
oh yeah, those were definitely the good ole days………