Questions about liners, pine.

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thecrawlingchaos

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I got around to building a new indoor enclosure for my not-quite-two-year-old leopard tortoise yesterday. It's an 8x3 with 16 inch walls. It's pretty heavy duty. Upon doing more reading on my search for safe/effective sealants, I came away with more questions than answers.

First off, the possible dangers of pine. I used birch as my enclosure base, so the floor is not built from pine. I did, however, use stain-grade pine boards for the sides. I was looking at pics on the internet and saw an beautiful enclosure that appeared to be constructed from them.

Now, I've decided to use a pond liner to prevent water damage. it seems like a great idea. Since I used the pine for the sides, will I still need to use a polyurethane type product with the liner? Am I okay with just the pond skin? If not, what's a good product to use to seal the wood?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 

Yvonne G

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I don't think there is anything wrong with using pine boards for building tortoise tables. What we have against pine is using pine SHAVINGS for substrate. Pine boards are usually kiln dried and the aromatic oils would not be as strong as in the shavings. Just use a liner or like GBTortoises suggests, "A good quality Alkyd-enamel water based paint. A semi-gloss or gloss finish is easier to wipe clean than other more dull finishes. I've used this type of paint for several years on my indoor enclosures and have only had to repaint them once. It holds up very well and is completely safe."
 

thecrawlingchaos

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emysemys said:
I don't think there is anything wrong with using pine boards for building tortoise tables. What we have against pine is using pine SHAVINGS for substrate. Pine boards are usually kiln dried and the aromatic oils would not be as strong as in the shavings. Just use a liner or like GBTortoises suggests, "A good quality Alkyd-enamel water based paint. A semi-gloss or gloss finish is easier to wipe clean than other more dull finishes. I've used this type of paint for several years on my indoor enclosures and have only had to repaint them once. It holds up very well and is completely safe."

That's the thing, though. I really don't want to paint it. I want to seal the wood without losing the wood appearance. If that's not possible, then okay, but if there's some kind of clear sealant or varnish, then that's what I want.
 

thecrawlingchaos

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I've decided to go with a water-based polyurethane called verathane. I've applied one coat and intend to do a few more in 2 days. Hopefully I can get this thing tortoise-ready by next weekend.
 
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