Rustoleum Ultimate polyurethane, ready for use in 7 days.
Is it pine or not? Is it poisonous or not?
I could say the same to you, you either diddnt read my post or diddnt comprehend it. What exactly did I say? Did I say “Cyber is an idiot, there is no way a cricket can eat through a fiberglass screen!”? No, I did not. Maybe you should take the time to comprehend what your trying to read and not be so quick to the keyboard.
Hmm, funny as you did the same thing.
Rustoleum Ultimate polyurethane is a Water based Poly. Yes it off gasses very quickly. It also is worthless for sealing after a year or two, it does not last nearly as long as Oil based, but has the pro of off gassing faster. I stated that in my OG post. That I was talking of Oil and water based is junk.
There is much better solutions, such as the ones I gave. Flex seal, is okay, it's rubber emulation isn't toxic after 24 hours and is really waterproof. It's also a rubberized coating that can scratch off easily, and silicon will not stick to it.
Pond Shield and Sweetwater cost more, are harder to apply, however they are hard surfaces, they will last as long as you will probably have the cage, and won't leak. The 1000 gallon reef guys use those, to make Plywood Aquariums.
Pine wood itself is not toxic, the Aromatics is what is toxic, the Aromatics come from the oil and saps in the wood. You know the saying "Smells Like Pine", Pine has that Smell that tree smell, it smells fresh and good, or we are trained to think. That smell is poision, it destroys our lungs. Grab some Pine at Home Depot, you will see the smell I am talking about.
Humans are not as badly affected as animals, especially small animals. However Humans burning it in their fireplace are known to get sick, not everyone not every time, but it's especially bad on people with asthma. However it can and does kill small animals. Want to nix your kids gerbil, throw some pine shavings as bedding in there, it will be dead in a month.
Now the select wood that you buy, has been kiln dried. When they did that, they completely dry the wood, fully of all oils and saps. They are still there, they are just super duper dried, so they don't let out the smell anymore. They are not releasing as much pine toxins into the air. The furring strip is fresh cut, super smelly pine wood. It will let out mass amounts of aromatics. If the wood is 100% air tight sealed it should not let out Aromatics, however unless your are resin dunking the cage I wouldn't bet on it.
Further, the way you attach the screen door play a part, you are now reopening holes in the wood.
Also, when pine, even kiln dried gets wet, it releases an absurd amount of Aromatics. Wet and burning pine are the worst. So if the cage begins to leak into the wood, and rot, that's when you have the biggest problem with the pine.
There is people here, that have made Pine cages that later leaked, and they noticed that by their animal having RIs that would not going away. As that's what pine does. It's causes RIs, especially in small animals, like Chams and Snakes, and Gerbils lol.
Pine is just our unluckily most common wood. The US has the largest pine forests in the world, so it's easy and cheap for us to get. I think it's actually more expensive for pine across the pond. If you use Douglas fir, it's still a softwood so still has some Aromatics however they are not nearly as much or as bad as pine. The price is pretty similar, "Whitewood" is just a generic for some type of softwood.
This could be Pine, Cedar (worse than pine) Fir Spruce, or a I think a few others. So that's just as bad. But they sell Fir Wood, and it's cheap and not as bad. It's not as cheap as "furring strip" as Fir is sold for AC grade so cabinets, and trim boards where it is dried and it is finished on 1 (for plywood) or all 4 sides (S4S). This is usually knot free, sanded smooth not as Bowed, or bent, it's just a better quality wood for making furniture ect. Though Hardwood is still much better.
Though for most DIYers. I still prefer the PVC, it's pretty strong if built right, only costs a little more than good plywood (I have seen it from 80-120 per sheet) and it can be glued whilst mechanically fastened and be 100% leakproof and waterproof permanently. It's plastic it doesn't warp, it doesn't expand, it doesn't contract, it doesn't rot. It will last in theory for ever.
For me it's hard to source, the closest would be a 5 hour drive. Which is why I don't use the sheets, I wanted to for my big Viv, but it was just too much to ship and too much to go get. Though I think my future designs I am going to use it. I just need to buy a ton of it, at once to justify it.
Here's a good viv of using the sheets. But the strips (1x2, 1x3, 1x5) are at every HD / Lowe's I think as it's used for outside baseboard trim.
