Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If there isn't a large number of people using this stuff to seal the interiors of your enclosures, there's something wrong with you. I'm in the process of building up a few enclosures, and I have nothing but good things to say about this product thus far. Easy to use and the look is amazing... I'll post some pictures here in a little bit...

Reasons why I picked the bar top epoxy route...
- it's 100% waterproof
- Stands up to 120 degree F heat ( I don't know many animals needing it that hot in their enclosures )
- Once it's cured ( 72 hrs )it's 100% safe, no off gasing for 30 days plus like other sealants
- I wanted to use hardwood plywood to make my cages, as they will be display "furniture" quality and wanted something that would hold up well against the various humdities and heat I'd be throwing at my cages...

Again... great stuff... Feel free to ask questions, I'll do my best to answer them...

Take care, happy Herping...
0.1.0 Ball Python
0.1.0 BRB
0.0.1 GTP ( soon as the cage is set up and running )

I'm glad to hear you had good success with it. I personally like the stuff but after recommending it to a few people and finding out they had back luck I've backed off a bit.

One thing for sure is that the stuff is darn expensive, even if poured thin. But that is always a trade-off.

Now that you are familiar with it you might try heating up the product before mixing and doing the pour in a heated room. You can get a very thin coat this way but you need to be confident in what you are doing. I can talk you about this more if you like.

My questions:

What product did you use exactly?

Did the manufacturer recommend the 72 hour cure time?

What wood species was on the veneer side of your plywood?

Did you seal the wood before pouring the epoxy? If so did you use a flood coat of the epoxy or something else (I have always used waterborne polyurethane to seal the wood).

What method did you use to break up the bubbles?

How thin/thick did you pour it?

What mixing method did you use? Did you use the "two-pot" method?

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Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

- the exact product FAMOWOOD® Glaze Coat®, which was found at Lowes of all places, it in a smaller quantity than I'd like, but the convenience of stopping by to buy more when I run out and not ordering it through a wholesaler and not dealing with the 25 to 50 dollar hazmart shipping fees..

- the manufacturer did recommend the 72 hr period, however that's dependant on air tempurature... SoCal weathers been good to me during the pouring process so far...

- I'm using White birch, I like how it holds a stain and how it looks after it's stained...

- I put on a thicker than recommended "sealing coat" because I'm planning on using serveral layers of expoxy to create a 3-d effect, inlaying pieces of old backgrounds and other pictures of plants into the different layers of epoxy. It will be a long process and a lesson in patients, bit should look amazing once completed

- to break up the bubbles, I used my MAPP torch lightly over the surface, takes them right out

- my pours are no thicker than 1/4 inch, closer to 1/8th of an inch

- I used the double pot method

thanks for the question Chris

If you do end up needing a lot the best prices I have seen are from Kleer Koat. The company also has good customer service and their tech department was very helpful.

I have heard that all of these bar top epoxies are formulated exactly the same so I don't think you'd need to worry about one being cheaper than the other.

Did you find an online description of the two-pot mixing method? It might be nice to link it here in case others want to try it. I found one once but did not save it and have not had a reason to go find it again.

White birch is not very porous and makes for a nice substrate for this material. You might not even need much of a seal coat with what you are doing. Radial sawn red oak is a lot more difficult to pour over in case you're thinking of trying that.

Really looking forward to your pictures.
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Currently keeping a small collection of various Gonyosoma. Both G. janseni and G. oxycephala.

Some Pics of the enclosure so far... first one is with three out of the four sides cured... and one of the final base layer coat of the fourth side... hope this inspires and motivates...

very nice looking forward for more pics!! out of curiosity how much did you spend on material, and how much was the epoxy?

also what are you planning on using for doors?
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-Stephen-

0.1 soon to be wifey (hopefully)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer-wifey's pooch)
1.0 norm corn (Jake aka grumpy old terdhead)
0.1 col redtail boa (Dixie-my baby girl)
0.1 ball python (Bella- wifey's baby girl)

hopeful for not to distant future:
--brazillian rainbow boas 1 female for sure
2 or 3? maybe a breeding pair?
-- bearded dragon for the wifey my list got to big...

more distant future hopefuls
1 or 2 of each maybe a breeding pair?
--anery boa (ooooh)
--jungle carpet python (love to have 1 or 2)
--dumeril boa (ahhhh)

slightly more wishful thinking
--hypo br rainbow boa (love em)
--anery br rainbow boa (oooh even better!!)
--motely boa (gorgeous!!)

I can't really say how much I've spent so far, I mean the epoxy kits are 20 bucks a pop ( makes one quart of epoxy with is enough to cover 9 square feet at 1/16 thick if done right )

the wood... ehh... think it was 27 bucks for the 4 by 8 3/4 inch plywood... the support and frame boards, maybe add another 30 bucks...

The doors are going to be sliding glass... got the hardware from online...

Glad to hear it.

If it holds up in the bar environment, with all of the spilling of drink and food and wiping and people and glasses and bad pickup lines, then it has to hold up to snakes.
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Mark

looks great, works great, except two things.

1-snake pee sticks to it if you let it dry.

2- many heating elements get hotter than 120. Both lights and UTH. If it gets too hot it discolors a burnt brown and begins to form spiderweb cracks.

The background sounds really cool, I made a table top with pictures and leaves and memorabilia in it, kind of like that.

I used it on this. Don't know if I'll use it again.

Snake pee tends to ruin pretty much anything if you leave it in contact with it for an extended period of time... and I plan on using a Radiant Heat panel ( hung on the ceiling of the cage ) from Proheat or one of the others out there, maybe a helix one, again, hadn't made up my mind just yet...

Thanks for the input...

The area under the radiant heat panel will discolor and crack. Not that it matters on the ceiling, but it will crack.

I'm making a lexan roof... the panels going to be directly mounted to the lexan...

Zack,
Do you have plans for the muti- level you made? I want to do something like that but taller.
Thanks,
Blue