Building enclosures needing humidity

[formica]

Originally Posted by jarich

For a snake enclosure all you really need to do is use a water based polyurethane. Its much simpler and also a bit cheaper. Give it a couple coats and your golden. If you were going to be using a soil substrate or something like that where moisture will be touching the wood directly all the time then Id say go with the epoxy resin, yes. Not the varnish though fomica. Found out that stuff leaches some pretty gross chemicals when in contact with water/soil.

yes important point - choose a Zero VOC product - this applies to all sealants including epoxies, varnishes and plastic sealants (water based polyurethane sealant doesn't grantee zero VOC, unless the brand specifically states it on the tin)

to be honest no sealant is ever going to be perfectly safe, even zero or low VOC, and its one of the reasons i prefer to use plastic these days, including polycarbonate in bigger enclosures (eg my sav setup)

[wareagleA5]

Originally Posted by formica

yes important point - choose a Zero VOC product - this applies to all sealants including epoxies, varnishes and plastic sealants (water based polyurethane sealant doesn't grantee zero VOC, unless the brand specifically states it on the tin)

to be honest no sealant is ever going to be perfectly safe, even zero or low VOC, and its one of the reasons i prefer to use plastic these days, including polycarbonate in bigger enclosures (eg my sav setup)

Good point, VOC compliant and zero VOC are different and it has to be stressed to use zero VOC. 100% solids epoxy is what I recommend, and it should be cured at the manufacturers recommended temperature to fully cure so there is no outgassing after after it hardens. Epoxy is actually a thermosetting plastic(polymer) and much more resistant to heat and chemicals than thermoplastic. Make sure not to use polyester resin and vinyl ester resin. If you pick up "fiberglass" resin from the hardware store or autobody shop it will most likely be polyester resin. I also agree with jarich that epoxy is probably overkill unless you're going to have a heavy moist substrate.

[Skits]

Alright thanks for the replies everyone It's for my tegu and my boa. The tanks they are in now don't hold humidity and don't have the proper wood so it looks like it's slowly falling apart. I don't want mold in it or for it to rot so I want to start building something before that happens.

So for an enclosure that will have almost a foot of soil constantly in there, and 80% humidity, I'd use an epoxy resin, right? Can anyone recommend a good brand?