Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I googled polyurea and found alot of interesting info (the cardboard box video was great..)I noticed alot of comercial applications for this was for pools, ponds and factory type areas.
My questions would be, would other products like "pond shield" or swimming pool paint do the same thing for painting the interiors of wood enclosures? What about Rust-oleum's Epoxy shield?
Thanks,
-Blue

Not all of the polyurea blends are the same but really any of the 100% polyurea blends should work. I say that not exactly sure of the extremes. Some go on super thin, some go on super thick. Likewise, the hardness of the cured polyurea can vary so that factors in as well.

EpoxyShield comes in both waterborne and solventborne versions. While I find the waterborne epoxy paints very intriguing, the one unanswered question in my mind is are they flexible enough for a wooden enclosure?

The solventborne EpoxyShield has been used in reptile enclosures and for sure is flexible enough. Not the most pleasant material to work with but once cured it is safe and very durable.

When you get into these price ranges I also think it's a good idea to consider the marine epoxy resins. Don't let the cost fool you, marine epoxy is 100% solids and is effective in reptile enclosures as 10 mil dry thickness. It takes a lot more epoxy paint to achieve the same dry mil thickness since they are not 100% solids for the most part.

I don't know what else to say. I do believe polyurea has the potential to be the very best sealant for wooden enclosures. If there is a downfall to the stuff is that you can't use any sort of adhesive to attach stuff to it. But that same property probably also makes it an absolute dream to clean since urates won't stick to it either.

Thanks Chris, That's what I was looking for. The water borne Epoxy shield says it goes out at 10 mil. I might give it a try..

>> I might give it a try..

Please post pics if you do, many here would love to see the results.
-----
Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0.2 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic
0.0.3 Normal

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Well, I went to Herp Depot today and found the Rustoleum product. It looks like it would work, it said it was flexable and it's not effected by heat (the wording was it wouldn't pull up if your hot tires rolled on it).. My biggest issue - The $125 price tag!!! Now granted, it was 2.5 car garage floor worth of product, but that's a bit too rich for my blood. The pool and pond paint will be back in store next spring and I found out that it does come in pint, gal and 3 gal sizes and (oddly enough) 6 colors..
I chickened out and went with a nice, white indoor/outdoor acrilic laytex...Being my first real build and all...
OHH, and whilst looking for some pre-cut white wood, I saw some PVC boards that an be used for decks.. Looks like it getting popular enough to take over some traditional wood projects...I couldn't snap it in two (I did try hard..) but it was real flimsy feeling...I think it was 1"x .5" and 6' long..

Or was the kit two gallons total? A gallon of base and a gallon of activator?

I'll assume it was a gallon. I just looked it up and the percent solids of the waterborne garage floor epoxy is only 52.6% by volume.

What this means is you're only getting half a gallon of solids per gallon. Once everything evaporates your film thickness decreased by 50%. They even say this on their site.

So my point is that if you're comparing this waterborne product to a marine resin, which are 100% solids, you really have to factor in you're paying just under $250 for a gallon of resin with the waterborne epoxy.

So whether this was a one gallon or two gallon kit for $125, it's still way more expensive than even an expensive resin like West Systems.

I know what I'd choose.