staing and urethaning a cage?

[josh payette]

I built a new cham cage to big to get out of the reptile room, so I have to stain it inside. The man at the hardware store said to use oil base stain and urethane because it would hold up to the mister. I put a fan in the window blowing out any fumes and one in the door to get fresh air in. Now I have to urethane, is this going to stink just as bad as the stain or should I get a water base urethane.

 

[OrangeCrush]

I currently have my cage I built stained. It looks real nice like a piece of furniture. I feel like stain make it feel more like a tree because I stained it a darker cherry. Idk I guess it up to u.

 

[espressodude]

As a general rule of thumb most oil based products tend to hold up better against water then water based products. The stain wouldn't matter to much as it will be protected by the the finish (top coat.). The bad news is they do smell and usually take longer to cure (dry completely). In the long run the oil based product should last along time inside. The only thing is I would never count on any normal paint product to act as water-proofing. They'll be fine for vertical surfaces it's the floor where you can run in to trouble.

 

[josh payette]

I just got the first coat of clear on and it looks great. The floor is going to have a piece of plastic with a sink drain to keep it dry. I'm also puting plastic on the sides 3-4 feet high and sealed to the bottom. hopefully every thing will be water tight. sorry about any wrong spelling.

 

[bigben2057]

its gonna stink for about 2-3 days.

 

[laurie]

Send a pm to hoj, he did a great job on his. And he researched every product before he used it to make sure he did not harm his chams.

 

[josh payette]

what would you guys sujest to use between cages so the chams can't see each other and still always air flow? the fumes from the clear coat on the new cage isn't as bad as the stain 2 more quick coats and a little dry time and it should be good.

 

[josh payette]

sorry my spelling stinks! I slept through english class.

 

[Carlton]

I built a new cham cage to big to get out of the reptile room, so I have to stain it inside. The man at the hardware store said to use oil base stain and urethane because it would hold up to the mister. I put a fan in the window blowing out any fumes and one in the door to get fresh air in. Now I have to urethane, is this going to stink just as bad as the stain or should I get a water base urethane.

I'm not sure using a water-based urethane sealer over an oil-base stain will work. Oil and water don't mix...the sealer may just peel away or not cure. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always used water-based on water-based, oil-based on oil-based.

 

[Carlton]

what would you guys sujest to use between cages so the chams can't see each other and still always air flow? the fumes from the clear coat on the new cage isn't as bad as the stain 2 more quick coats and a little dry time and it should be good.

Lots of options...a piece of cheesecloth or other loosely woven fabric, a double layer of windowscreen, laying flat branches of those decorater silk plants across the cage screen.

 

[espressodude]

Carlton: If it's truly just a stain it won't matter. The problem is a lot of stains are stains-sealers. The general rule is almost all oil based products will go over water based, some oil base products are to slick for water to grab onto. I often used straight Naptha and mix in oil based colorants used to tint oil based paint. If it's drying to fast just ad in a little paint thinner. What so cool about that method is if your good with colors you can make any color you want and you don't have to settle for only pre-made colors. Naptha stain dries in just a couple of minutes, in fact that's why I mentioned about adding paint thinner is that it can dry to fast. Either way once dry you can use anything you want to top coat.