Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a question for everyone. I go the idea to rip up my carpets in the down stairs of my house and realized there were hardwood under them. I am looking around and priceing getting them refinished. Now my question to all you wonderful people is just moving them all upstairs good enough and safe from the fumes. I have started a reptile room in a spair bedroom but have some downstairs and some in the basement. I plan on leaving the ones in the basement down there and the ones in the downstairs moving upstairs into the extra bedroom. My questions are will this be ok and keep them safe? Is there any other precaution I should take? how harmful is the rumes from the stuff used to finish floors? and when will it be safe to move them back down? Thnax ahead of time. Just trying to keep all my animals safe.
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Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko (dot, spot, leo)
0.0.1 California King Snake (booboo)
0.1.0 Sulcata Tortoise (tank)
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise (tito and lulu)
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders (bernie and ernie)
0.0.3 Painted Turtles (larry, curly and moe)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (marshmellow)
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor (beef)
1.0.0 Peachfront Conure (kermit)
0.1.0 Australian Shepheard (layla)
2.1.0 Crazy Cats (babe, sabastian, tinkerbell)
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit (daisy)
0.1.0 Ferret (jordan)
0.2.0 Guinea Pigs (lilly and petunia)
0.0.1 White Tree Frog (dumpy jr.)
0.0.2 Fire Belly Newts (spork and blaze)
0.0.1 Fire Belly Toad (ferdinan)
0.0.1 Red Spotted Newt ( red)
0.0.2 Bull Frogs (goliath and tubby)
0.0.1 Rainbow Ameive (jack)
0.0.1 Spectacled caiman (wilbert)
0.0.3 Green Anoles
1.0.0 Bahama Anole
0.0.1 Long Tail Grass Lizard
Lots Of Fish

When I refinished my floors I closed the space off from the rest of the house. IE plastic and opening the windows to those rooms to vent to the outside. I only did one coat of stain but needed 4 coats of urethane. Every 8 hrs another coat was added. After the last coat the rooms were off limits for 3 days. When I finally checked them the smell was nearly all gone.

I used Water Based Varathane products.

I would not re-finish floors with the animals in the same room with no barrier. However if you do use WB products, and vent well you won't have exposure issues to the rest of the home.

I use laminate floors in the reptile room. My upstairs had the hardwood re-finished.

HTH
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile
Specializing in Boa Morph's

1.0 Snow "Khal"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Khal"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Khal" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic

There are a few choices for finishing hardwood floors and some of them have much nastier finishes than others.

In order of most toxic to least toxic...

1) "Swedish" finish.

2) Typical single component (oil-based) varnishes.

3) Two component waterborne finishes.

4) Single component waterborne finishes.

I would get a detailed account of what process they will use to refinish your floors. I would also ask how much sanding they'll do and whether or not they use a dustless sander. Inhaling fine wood dust can also be toxic to your animals.

The guy who did our floors advertises as using odorless European finishes (#3 from above). But he also happens to put down two coats of oil-based sanding sealer first (#2 from above).

I can tell you that we were basically out of our house for a week and would have liked to have been out longer. All of the finishing was upstairs and we were living downstairs but the odor was still nasty. Fortunately I had researched the products beforehand and knew what we were getting into.

If I had my snakes in the house I would have wanted them out for at least a week if not longer. Fortunately they have a special made room out in the garage.

So again, find out exactly what finishes these contractors will be using and post back. Don't accept "we use waterbased poly" as an answer. Find out the exact process and products, including any sealers they may put down first. If they are vague thank them for their time and tell them you'll be sending your business elsewhere.

One product I did not list is shellac. Some contractors put that down as a sealer and they varnish over that. It is a natural finish but is dissolved in large amounts of denatured alcohol which has a strong odor. Probably just below #2 above. It is so rarely used I decided not to list it.

The products and market for floor finishes is wide open right now so even without critters one should really know their options beforehand anyways.
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Currently keeping:

6.10 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)

1.1 Philodryas baroni

1.1 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata

1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback

I feel that a lot of it depends on how old the house is, how well it's built, insulated, etc; along with, are there any outside doors, windows on the same level as the wood to be refinished. Of course,

If there are outside doors/windows that can be opened where the wood to be refinished is, you stand a good chance of being OK. And as mentioned earlier, the type of refinishing compounds is the 2nd major factor. Of course, having the outside doors/windows in the room the snakes will be in during the refinishing will help, too.

No outside doors/windows on the same level should equal no animals in the house, period, for around 3 days or so. 3 days is about the norm for the fumes to dissipate to a safe level. Just enough to give you a slight buzz without fryin' too many brain cells. (j/k)

Later!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

I will let everyone know what goes on. I have to find the best price it seems not many people in my area refinish floors anymore. So will keep everyone advised thanx for your advice so far.
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Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko (dot, spot, leo)
0.0.1 California King Snake (booboo)
0.1.0 Sulcata Tortoise (tank)
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise (tito and lulu)
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders (bernie and ernie)
0.0.3 Painted Turtles (larry, curly and moe)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (marshmellow)
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor (beef)
1.0.0 Peachfront Conure (kermit)
0.1.0 Australian Shepheard (layla)
2.1.0 Crazy Cats (babe, sabastian, tinkerbell)
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit (daisy)
0.1.0 Ferret (jordan)
0.2.0 Guinea Pigs (lilly and petunia)
0.0.1 White Tree Frog (dumpy jr.)
0.0.2 Fire Belly Newts (spork and blaze)
0.0.1 Fire Belly Toad (ferdinan)
0.0.1 Red Spotted Newt ( red)
0.0.2 Bull Frogs (goliath and tubby)
0.0.1 Rainbow Ameive (jack)
0.0.1 Spectacled caiman (wilbert)
0.0.3 Green Anoles
1.0.0 Bahama Anole
0.0.1 Long Tail Grass Lizard
Lots Of Fish

"...it seems not many people in my area refinish floors anymore."

There's not a whole lot of refinishers anywhere, but there are still some around. A good one will be booked 2 weeks or more in advance, unless they have a recent cancellation.

Call every floorcovering store around and ask them to recommend someone to you. Some will try to act as the middle man but try to get in touch with the refinisher himself for a better price.

I install floorcovering but don't refinish hardwood. I did my house before we moved in. Someone else will be doing it next time.

Later!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com