water proofing wood enclosures?

[dshin963]

Heyy so I am currently working on making a large multi sectioned enclosure for my snakes and any snakes I get in the future and I am almost done planning/buying everything I only have to buy my wood vinyl and plexiglass I have a new set of flexwatt(10 feet in a parellel) and a new herpstat now my question is how did you guys water proof your enclosures I am planning on buying melamine and putting a layer of vinyl on the bottom on the enclosure sealing all the edges with silicon and having a sliding plexiglass door on each of the 6 enclosures

Thanks guys any help is greatly appreciated

[Gungirl]

I used a whey base sealer on my vivs and had great luck. The problem I see with your Idea is that Melamine has a paper type sealed layer on top of a fiber board type wood. What ever you use on top of that paper will not sink in and there for will chip and not last. I think most people that build with melamine do not use any sealer besides caulking on the edges. If you are worried about the bottom side you could get glass pieces cut to fit and use caulk to seal the edges. As far as the sides, back and top go .. IDK

[dshin963]

You think just normal plywood plus this sealer you are speaking of will work? Also do you happen to remember what it was called?

[Gungirl]

I use a product from Vermont Coatings. You wouldn't be able to get it where you are. Any water base Urethane will do the job as long as you put on a few coats and let it dry for about a week. This allows cure time and time for any remaining fumes to vanish. I wouldn't use just any ply wood but a higher quality one. I tend to like maple for things like this.

[infernalis]

If you buy a sheet of dry erase board, or counter top laminate, it's already waterproof.

[dshin963]

Wouldnt that cost an outrageous amount of money? I need like 4 sheets of 4'x8' :-S

[infernalis]

I don't think so, we built work benches with it on top to make clean up easier.

[Gungirl]

You can get material like that much cheaper if you look into salvage shops. Not sure if you have any where you are but I have a few right near me and you can get old counter top almost for free.