Wood Sealant
- Thread starter jharrris
- Start date
I have never used that but most anything is safe as long as you let it cure and let the smell fully disappear before shutting it up.
jharrris
Member
Thank you. How do I know when it's cured? I've never done this before, sorry
It usually says on the container how long for drying and how long fully cured. If it doesn't say, then I would give it a week for it to be fully dried and smell to be gone. Be sure to leave it out in an open space with it all opened up as much as it can be.
No, its not safe and it won't work. There is no off the shelf product that will protect wood form the constant moisture and humidity of a tortoise enclosure.
You can buy Pond Shield from the manufacturer and that can work, but even that doesn't hold up forever with tortoise shells rubbing up against it. I once used non-toxic boat paint that is meant to be submerged, but that only lasted a little over a year before the tortoises rubbed through it too.
I once did primer and then 3 thick coats of DryLok, and the bottom of that enclosure literally fell out 16 months later. Others here have tried Flex Seal, and that didn't work. Store bought garage floor epoxy doesn't hold up...
I now only use expanded PVC for enclosures. It is impervious to moisture, totally non-toxic, and needs no paint or coating of any kind. Its the same material that water pipes are made of.
Hmmm, sorry to disagree, but it is safe, most of that kind of sealant is. It may not last, I don't know, never used it. As for flex seal, you are wrong on that too. I used it to cover the outside of a cheaply made chicken hutch and another one I built. It sits outside winter and summer. Been there I believe 4 maybe even 5 summers and winters so far. They both are still holding strong. The inside, that I didn't put the flex seal on isn't holding up very good, but the outside is.
Let's have @ZEROPILOT check in about his experience with Flex Seal.
And have you smelled the fumes weeks and months later from using shellac? I have. My tortoises won't be breathing that, but you go right ahead and try it.
I don't need to ask Zeropilot. Like I said, I have used it and it's holding up just fine! Maybe application error on the part of the person using it?
As for the smell, yes, not this particular kind, but others. Not in a closed box, but a closed basement and once aired out, no smell! Possibly the heat of the lights etc might make a difference, that I have no experience with.
Actually another thought is location. Florida residents have to worry about mold in their houses for no other reason than the constant high humidity. That could be the difference in it working for me but no Zeropilot. Just a thought. Even though I have snow that can and has piled up on the coops, it does get to have the sun beat on it in dryer conditions.
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I haven't used flex seal for any indoors projects or in any low traffic applications.
It didn't work out for me in my outdoors tortoise pools because it couldn't handle the toe nails of the tortoises climbing in and out. It ripped off in chunks.
It didn't work out for me in my outdoors tortoise pools because it couldn't handle the toe nails of the tortoises climbing in and out. It ripped off in chunks.
