Hi all! Today I come asking for advice! I found this piece on the street in Barcelona, and I’d like to convert it into a vivarium. I’m currently formulating a plan and making shopping lists. My primary concern is that the wood will rot and I will need to waterproof it with silicone or insulating foam. As the door is wooden, I’d also have to give this a really robust varnish and some weather-stripping. I’m going to buy glass to replace the missing panels (I like the mirror in the back, so I’ll try and keep that element of it for the final build), and I’d also put a glass panel in the bottom and front and seal them with silicone. I’d also drill a hole in the top for a grow light and a fan. Do you have any thoughts or advice that could help me? Any brands of silicone, foam or varnish that you have experience with? If specific glass would be best or if the whole plan is flawed and the wood won’t survive a humid environment no matter what? This is a first build project of this type for me and I’d love some pointers!
by swigityswag24
4 Comments
You could try painting all of the interior wood with dryloc (a few coats) to seal it and then silicone all the joints but that thing will rot in 5 minutes if you use it as is.
I saw that someone else used polycrylic on the walls and flex seal for the substrate level.
There are others who have posted about doing similar projects on here. Look through this sub and find those people, dm them to ask what worked and didn’t for them. The dryloc way would be what I would go with.
Latex paint or acrylic just make sure that it is inert (hopefully i have the term right buy basically it doesn’t leach anything off of it