Painting outdoor enclosures?

The home depot near me is going out of business and there are some crazy sales on lumber just in time for me to build an outdoor enclosure for my two new redfoots. I know that pine tends to warp and or rot in humid environments, but I also have a lot of spare exterior house paint around. Im wondering if anyone knows if it would be safe to paint the enclosure inside and out to seal it before puttin the torts in or if thats a bad idea? Obviously this is lead free paint. Any help on this would be appreciated!!

I never paint the inside. I always paint the outside. I leave the inside just bare wood.

Tom -- does that help with warping? Do you use pine or another hardwood?

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Just read a lot of old posts about this...I think I got the gist of it but any other ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks
Logan

The internal frame prevents the warping. I just use regular plywood and 2x4s. Here s one of my boxes:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-66867.html

Tom-
That's not fair. You would never raise a sulcata or put redfoots in that box. That box looks like it is intended to stay dry and some what aired out. I am sure it works well for you and your location.

Any humid enclosure/hide box should be sealed on the inside if you intend on using it for many years.

Don't take this the wrong way...I have been working on my winter home for my adults. I put too much into it for it to rot out in a year or two.

That's why he puts a shelf in there with water buckets so it puts off humidity. They work great . It keeps them warm at night and lets them go out to graze then when they want to they can go back in to warm up . Think about it in the wild they have borrows that aren't any bigger were they sleep and hide out from the heat . Here they use these tortoise houses to hide from the cold . This is what I use he comes and goes as he pleases .
If you live somewhere ready cold for most of the year then you are going to have to build a big shed on high ground . I would not put a floor in it or paint the inside . Put a good cement footing down for the walls and install power and heat.

Thanks for all the tips. I live in new orleans so cold isnt really an issue, but humidity is.

By enclosure I guess meant sort of a pen, i definitely wouldnt paint the inside of the hide box/house. What I meant to ask was about painting the inside walls of the tortoise pen.

kbaker said:

Tom-
That's not fair. You would never raise a sulcata or put redfoots in that box. That box looks like it is intended to stay dry and some what aired out. I am sure it works well for you and your location.

Any humid enclosure/hide box should be sealed on the inside if you intend on using it for many years.

Don't take this the wrong way...I have been working on my winter home for my adults. I put too much into it for it to rot out in a year or two.

Click to expand...

The OP is talking about an outdoor enclosure, not raising babies indoors.

And I don't seal the inside of my indoor closed chambers either. Been running them wet and humid that way for more than 10 years now. Check it out:
http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-32333.html

There is some discoloration on some of the wood, but its still going strong.

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LRobb88, what sort of outdoor enclosure are you referring to? I thought you meant a night box for sleeping. Did you mean something different?

Tom, i've built a 10' x 5' 12" walled solid wood fence around an area in my small (and narrow - hence the specs) yard. Within that there is a smaller sleeping enclosure which is contained as yours are. I was just wondering if anyone had tips to avoid warping, and my thought was that painting might help. So my real question (which I think you've answered) was whether its safe to paint the tortoise side of those boards.

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Btw the paint is exterior porch paint

So, I took enclosure as enclosure and not a hide box or pen. For a pen, I would not paint, but use treated wood. Depending on where you live, will depend how long it lasts.

I still don't see how anyone gets away long term without sealing the inside with high humidity especially with no floor. Maybe drier parts of the country like CA or AZ, even then bare wood should last long term with moister.

I looked at horse barn designs and they use bare wood on the inside. Their secret is air flow and good drainage. Without this, horse barns rot out, too.

One thing I have not figured out is condensation on the walls and ceiling. Even with insulation, it happens. So if you live some where the outside temps reach desired inside temps daily, you may never have an issue.

I have used FRP for many years, first with monitors and then with my tortoises.

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Also, the question was warping. I went further with rotting. You should have no problem with warping in general. I have a box turtle pen created out of treated 4x4s. After the first year the wood split and twisted a lot. I think it was because of the dimensions of the wood. 1" and 2" thk wood never did this for me.

What i did to my plywood fence is framed it with 1/4 . It has been outside in the weather and no problems.

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mike taylor said:

What i did to my plywood fence is framed it with 1/4 . It has been outside in the weather and no problems.

Click to expand...

Here is a picture

Nice looking pen.

My thoughts are if you have a rainy season, you might need to use thicker boards. Tom and I can give our experience, but in the end we hope you can give some advise in a couple of years. Hope I helped at least.

FRP is good stuff Kevin. It would be a good idea to use that anytime. What do you use to adhere it to the walls? I'm always worried about residual fumes in a hot humid closed chamber.

And yes it should be noted that I live in a VERY dry climate, so things things that work here might not work elsewhere. Good point K.

I use liquid nails with a caulk gun. Kind of thick to spread, but it holds. I use plenty of heat in the enclosures and no smell/fumes at any time.