waterproof sealant for painted wooden enclosure

[rebel_logan_24]

i am almost done with my custom wooden enclosure. it is painted and has silicone around the seems and edges but i was wondering if i need a sealant to put on the walls, hides, ect.. to keep it from bowing or rotting or anything of the sort due to humidity and or feces. it is a two part enclosure one part is for my carpet python so it will have fairly high humidity and the other side is for my beardie.
thanks logan

[dinosaurdammit]

Use a water based polyurethane and let it air out completely, this could take a month or longer.

[rebel_logan_24]

i dont have that long as i have promised the wife that it would be done by 2013. i will allow whatever i use to cure and be completly safe before introducing the reptiles but i really dont want something that will take that long and make the wife mad. lol

also i have some waterbased grout sealant that is meant for waterproofing grout and tile. could i use this?

[Lankyrob]

What wood is the enclosure made of?

[rebel_logan_24]

the ouside walls im not sure as its an old display case that i took the glass out of and replaced the top and what was the front that is now the back with high grade ply wood from lowes. the divider down the middle seperating the two enclosures is the same as the top and back. as far as the furnature inside it is from a lower grade ply wood so that i could sand it down but still get some texture from it. Thanks Logan

[Philmul]

Have you got pics

[Gungirl]

Use a normal water base polyurethane, allow the enclosure to dry for 3 days. Once it is dried and cured take a heater and heat it up. I heat with radiant heat panels in my vivs so I just turn them on and leave them with out a thermostat hooked up. I do this for a day or 2 then air it out for 2 more days. After this normally you can smell nothing at all.

[rebel_logan_24]

ok i will have to try that and here are the pics although its not fully done.
the carpets side just needs to be sealed around the hides, the polyurthane done and the bulb cage installed. the beardies side still needs the ramps installed sealed around the furnature and poly. i will be posting pics once it is completly done with the reptiles in their new homes.

Diamond the carpet pythons new home.
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee462/rebel_logan/temporary-3.jpg

Godzilla the bearded dragons new home.
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee462/rebel_logan/temporary-11.jpg

and here is the whole thing. almost done!
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee462/rebel_logan/temporary-10.jpg

this is what it looked like when i bought it(for $15 on Craigslist).
http://www.achievedisplay.com/prodimages/display-case-DWSC4W-B.gif

[KORBIN5895]

Looks pretty good. Next time you should seal the whole inside before you caulk it. It's not a very good idea to put sealer over silicone.

[infernalis]

Use this, it cures quickly, and that cage will outlive you...

http://www.savannahmonitor.net/husbandry/resin.jpg

[rebel_logan_24]

well it actually never crossed my mind that i needed to seal it until the day before i made this post so i was just going to silicone it along the way. now im kind of biteing my self in the ***. thanks ill have to look into the fiberglass resin. it wont mess up the paint or anything will it?

[infernalis]

well it actually never crossed my mind that i needed to seal it until the day before i made this post so i was just going to silicone it along the way. now im kind of biteing my self in the ***. thanks ill have to look into the fiberglass resin. it wont mess up the paint or anything will it?


No, it's the same thing that is used to coat boats and watercraft. It dries clear.

Another use is coating bar tops, so when people spill drinks it won't mess up the bar.

We have a member here who used it to coat a lizard enclosure 13 years ago, and that enclosure still looks new to this day.

[Gungirl]

The Bar top resin is made by Famowood.. It is great stuff I have that as a base in all my vivs. Glaze Coat High Build Epoxy Coating (http://glazecoat.com/GlazeCoat.htm)

[infernalis]

Thanks for posting that link Kat.

[Gungirl]

No problem Wayne.. I love that stuff. I am even making fake glass tiles out of it soon. :D

[beardeds4life]

Do you think I could use fiberglass resin on grout?

Anyway at the OP those ramps will be extremely hard for your dragon to navigate. It will just slip down. And on the ledges if he tries running he might fall off because it looks like their is little grip. To fix the ramps you could buy like 1/4 inch dowels. You would cut them to fit and then put a bead of silicone along the ramp and stick it on. I would do this about every 1/2 inch to every inch.

If you decide you want something different you could use foam and grout to make a ramp going up to a big ledge that is as big as most of the cage. Then the top could be your basking area and such. If you do that you might want to mount a regular fluorescent bulb under the ledge just to add more light. You could also just coat you current ledges with grout and it would fix everything. But I love both cages. Especially the dragons. It reminds me of a little city.

[rebel_logan_24]

in the pic the ramps do look very slick they are painted with very textured paint but i am planning on putting in some of the half dowl rods if he has any problems. thanks for the idea about the grout and foam that was my original plan for all of the furniture but i am not as hany at that as i had hoped! :p

thanks for all the help i have gotten it sealed up tight and its now cureing for a while then i will start getting my temps and humidity right. thanks Logan

[rebel_logan_24]

i was originally going for a castle theme but i liked the city type with his name being Godzilla! my carpets side is a jungle theme.

[beardeds4life]

Oh ok. They do look very nice. In the pictures it looks like the colored melanine.