Adhesives & Sealants

[Invictus]

Hey all,

I want to build some real wood enclosures, because I just love the aesthetic quality of real wood. However, I still obviously need to be concerned about water / smell proofing.

2 options I have considered are 1) Using shower enclosure on the inside of the terrarium and 2) Using Thompson's Water Seal or a like wood-sealing product. I also have some vinyl flooring I can use for waterproofing.

What I want to know is, what is a safe adhesive to use for either the flooring or shower surround? Is the water seal paint safe to use, or does it outgas for a long time?

[reptile boi]

Hey Invictus,
One of my friends that owned a petshop told me that when your using paint for a reptiles enclosure always use a marine based paint. For sealing the enclosure, im not quite sure what your asking, but i would just stick to kitchen/bathroom type polyurethane.



Thanks,
Ben

[Piers]

Hi, I've been building cages for a very long time. If your going for a natural or stain look then use an exterior oil semi or better yet hi gloss urothane. If painting then go with a marine oil or exterior semi/hi gloss paint. These will take about 2 weeks or more to cure, I put heater,lightbulbs whatever is safe and gets the cages hotter than they will be used at. Tis will cure them faster.
Piers

[Bryce Masuk]

For the inside 2 part epoxy paint Cant be beat it will dry in no time it smells worse then you can belive but its fully waterproof you will be able to turn your tank sideways and fill it with water and have no leaks if you have no holes
Marine paint is overpriced as soon as you add marine the price is 4X as much

[Invictus]

Cool. Thanks all. I've actually decided to give melamine paint a try. That way, I get the nice look of wood, but it would be just like using melamine on the inside.

Does anyone know if you need to prime before using melamine paint? I'm guessing not, since it's paint-on plastic...