# what floor cover to use on a wood habitat?



## christinevandorm (Sep 16, 2011)

For those of you that have a wooden enclosure, what do you use to put on the bottom before you put the mulch on top, so that no wetness seaks in??? Reptile carpet or a plastic tarp?


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## Yvonne G (Sep 16, 2011)

I used a clear plastic shower curtain liner. I smoothed it down inside, folding the corners neatly, and bringing the ends up over the edge. Then I stapled the edges down to the wood. However, if you are using it for a tortoise that does a lot of digging, the tortoise sometimes messes up the plastic.

Some of our members use water-proof paint instead of plastic.


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## christinevandorm (Sep 16, 2011)

Thanks Yvonne, I had not even thought about water-proof paint. I am currently having an enclosure built, it will be ready for pick-up tomorrow. I will post pics here when I get him settled. Sooo excited!!! Willie can get out of his blue wading pool into a bigger place with a 2nd story !! LOL


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## Tony the tank (Sep 16, 2011)

I used marine plywood and painted the floor..
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## tyler0912 (Sep 16, 2011)

Plexiglass on the floor?


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## Momof4 (Sep 16, 2011)

Would melamine work? I'm at this stage too. Thanks for asking the question. I'm dying to put the substrate in to get things growing.


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## martinfre (Sep 16, 2011)

lagoon plastic film


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## chairman (Sep 16, 2011)

There are a lot of options available. Drylok is a reliable "waterproof" paint. Pond liners installed like Yvonne suggested installing the shower curtain. A liquid rubber product like pond coat could work. Placing FRP or tileboard (just to a search at lowes or homedepot .com) on the wood and sealing the edges with 100% silicone. I have used both drylok and a pond liner and was pleased with the result. I have heard great things about FRP and plan to use it next.

Melamine can be used if you seal all the edges with 100% silicone. However, if a little bit of moisture gets through your seal then the melamine will warp, bloat, fall to pieces, etc.


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## Momof4 (Sep 16, 2011)

Love the tileboard idea. Thanks.


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## christinevandorm (Sep 16, 2011)

Tile sounds like a good plan to me too !!!! Thanks everyone...will place a pic here once I get to pick up my new tortoise habitat tomorrow......


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## Redstrike (Sep 16, 2011)

I think tile would be awesome! Maybe next time I upgrade, I'll go with that.

I used a black pond liner to waterproof the bottom and sides of my table. I put the liner in, placed substrate on top, then went around all the sides and corners and attached it with a staple gun (T50 gun, 0.5 inch staples). Be sure to leave enough room so that you can attach it to the sides. I have a 4.5ft x 2.5ft table with 1.5foot walls, so I ordered the 8x10ft liner to account for the extra 1.5ft walls.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=pond+liner&x=0&y=0

Good luck, let us know what you go with.


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## jbean7916 (Sep 16, 2011)

We're using concrete board (like what goes behind a shower wall) as the floor for our monitors cage.


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## ascott (Sep 16, 2011)

all good ideas....

and Tyler, I think I like your plexiglass suggestion as well, maybe on the bottom and then lining the sides with aquarium silicone perhaps in the seams to make it water tight....hmmmmm?


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## 81SHOVELHEAD (Sep 17, 2011)

View attachment 11441
View attachment 11440


This is what i used ,
Got it a home depot online store .
Goes on easy with very low odor .
27 bucks a gallon .2 heavy coats in my 4x8 and only used little over half a gallom.
Mike D.


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