What type of wood is best

[Disund420]

I am making an outdoor enclosure for my red-foot. Just wondering what type of wood is best? Should I use regular 2x4's and seal them? Just wondering about other's experiences. I have heard that pressure treated wood wouldn't be ok because of the chemicals. Thanks in advance.

 

[Len B]

Use Linseed oil on any ground contact wood. I prefer boiled linseed oil. Raw linseed oil is actually better but takes forever to dry. And it's safe, you can actually drink or eat it if you want. I have never tasted it and don't plan on it anytime soon. But it helps extend the life of regular 2x4s. If you decide to use it give it several coats it will penatrare deeper into the lumber for better protection.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I use metal "U-POSTS with regular and inexpensive pine wooden fence pickets.
No sealer. No paint. And if your dimensions are in 6 foot increments...6, 12, 18, 24 feet... you don't even need to cut any wood. The fence pickets are 6 feet long. I usually make the walls 4 pickets high. But three are adequate. They're pressure treated PINE.
Use outdoor 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" "deck" screws.
Simple. Cheap. And last for years.
I just happened to have this section of wall on my phone because I'll be re building that part. Its 8 years old!
PS: I DO USE cut 2x4 sections in the corners to provide extra strength and general support.

 

[Yvonne G]

Most of my enclosure fences, and there are a lot of them, were built using corral boards. It's a 1"x6"x16' rough cut pine board. . . very sturdy and long lasting. I plant rough cut redwood 4'x4's at 8' centers and nail the corral boards horizontally from post to post. For the sulcata the fences were four boards high, but for all my other species (including yellowfoot) the fences are three boards high. Also, I put rectangular masonry caps on the ground between the 4x4s. This inhibits tortoise digging and helps protect the wood from touching the ground. I wish I had known Len's linseed oil trick back when I was in fence-building mode!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Most of my enclosure fences, and there are a lot of them, were built using corral boards. It's a 1"x6"x16' rough cut pine board. . . very sturdy and long lasting. I plant rough cut redwood 4'x4's at 8' centers and nail the corral boards horizontally from post to post. For the sulcata the fences were four boards high, but for all my other species (including yellowfoot) the fences are three boards high. Also, I put rectangular masonry caps on the ground between the 4x4s. This inhibits tortoise digging and helps protect the wood from touching the ground. I wish I had known Len's linseed oil trick back when I was in fence-building mode!

Sixteen feet?
Wow.
It took an act of GOD to get a few 12 foot 2x4s from the Home Depot a few weeks ago.
Even the 6 foot pickets can be a pain. (Mostly idiot customers)

The only area that my pickets actually rot is the wall that is butted up to a watering pool. And even it lasts at least 5 years.
Redfoot don't challenge walls. They stop. I've never had one fail that was installed carefully.
You don't need to super reinforce it.

 

[TammyJ]

I am making an outdoor enclosure for my red-foot. Just wondering what type of wood is best? Should I use regular 2x4's and seal them? Just wondering about other's experiences. I have heard that pressure treated wood wouldn't be ok because of the chemicals. Thanks in advance.

Wow! You've got a lot of great help here! Happy fencing!

 

[Yvonne G]

Sixteen feet?
Wow.
It took an act of GOD to get a few 12 foot 2x4s from the Home Depot a few weeks ago.
Even the 6 foot pickets can be a pain. (Mostly idiot customers)

The only area that my pickets actually rot is the wall that is butted up to a watering pool. And even it lasts at least 5 years.
Redfoot don't challenge walls. They stop. I've never had one fail that was installed carefully.
You don't need to super reinforce it.

Way back when I was building fences I still owned a stock trailer. I just had them load up the trailer and off I went!

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The timing is perfect. Because I just added a 6x9' extension with these parts for a short term small REDFOOT that needs to be alone.
It was about $80 and took me 1.5 hours to 90% finish it.
It's not my neatest work. (It was built without measuring anything) But I think it's a decent example of how fast and inexpensively a REDFOOT enclosure can be erected. And this design can be modified. Repaired or removed in minutes.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Use Linseed oil on any ground contact wood. I prefer boiled linseed oil. Raw linseed oil is actually better but takes forever to dry. And it's safe, you can actually drink or eat it if you want. I have never tasted it and don't plan on it anytime soon. But it helps extend the life of regular 2x4s. If you decide to use it give it several coats it will penatrare deeper into the lumber for better protection.

I just discovered LINSEED oil for general woodworking.
I can't believe I've never used it before.
Great stuff

 

[Len B]

I just discovered LINSEED oil for general woodworking.
I can't believe I've never used it before.
Great stuff

Back when most paints were oil base, to get the paint to penatrate you'd mix a little linseed oil in it so the paint would go deeper into the wood. But with the newer acrilic and water base paints today it's not used as much. It's the best product I know of to protect wood for the long term.

 

[Tom]

I am making an outdoor enclosure for my red-foot. Just wondering what type of wood is best? Should I use regular 2x4's and seal them? Just wondering about other's experiences. I have heard that pressure treated wood wouldn't be ok because of the chemicals. Thanks in advance.

Where are you? Farmingdale NY? NJ? Some other state? This will matter for how you treat the wood.

Here in CA, I just buy and use pressure treated lumber for outdoor use so I don't have to spend anymore time or resources on paint or any other coatings. Or I use non-wood materials like corrugated plastic roofing, or slumpstone blocks.