# Melamine/Contiboard vs Veneered MDF for boa vivs



## Kaouthia (Sep 30, 2010)

Ok, so after the success of the http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/habitat/594993-10x-33l-rub-rack-build.html, I'm looking to build their future homes, rather than buy.

Ultimately it's going to be a set of stacked vivs/racks, sliding glass fronts. With either 2 or 3 6ft vivs next to a 2ft wide hatchling rack (to whatever height the 6ft vivs are), with 2 or 4 4ft vivs above those (side-by-side in pairs) covering a whole 8ft width wall in my office.

I do very much prefer the look of natural woods and grain over the kitcheny clinical appearance of melamine/contiboard, and I've been hearing one or two people mentioning the veneered MDF, and after doing a little digging ran across "Moisture Resistant Veneered MDF" on a few websites ("call for quote", no real prices, as such).

So, for those of you who've used veneered MDF, or looked into this before, how does the veneered MDF stand up to being used as a boa viv? Does it need some kind of extra protection as it's already "moisture resistant" (which I'm assuming to not mean "water proof") or does it stand up ok to poop, water bowl spills, etc? If you protect it, what with? Yacht varnish? or something else?

How does the cost of 18-19mm veneered MDF stand up against Melamine for an 8x4 sheet?? Is it about the same if you're using a cheaper type of veneer (I've seen quotes of £35-75 for Oak veneered MDF depending on whether you go with cheap standard oak or really nice looking bog oak for an 8x4 sheet) or is there generally a pretty drastic difference in price?

Also, for those that have made vivs out of veneered MDF, any chance you could post/link to a couple of photos so I can see what kinds of things you've done with it?

Thanks guys.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

I always use veneered MDF for my vivs, I too prefer it to the cheap looking plastic laminates.

When it says Moisture Resistant what it means is that it won't delaminate, and the MDF core won't absorb moisture quite as easily as the normal stuff, however as you have realised it's not actually waterproof and it does need a coat or two of something to seal it, exactly what you use depends on just how wet it's going to get! 

I've used it for my corn vivs and just used a few coats of water based floor varnish, I don't get much spillage as I use large flat water bowls which the snakes don't turn over, and it's generally fairly dry in there. If you're likely to get a lot of spillage I would recommend varnishing the walls, but using a piece of melamine faced board for the base, you won't see it under the substrate anyway, and seal around the edges with silicone. 

Prices typically start around £35 for a standard 2440 x 1220 sheet, with fancier veneers costing more.

TBH in most cases the normal veneered MDF is adequate if it's well sealed and the viv isn't going to get too wet, especially if you use melamine or conti for the floor as I suggested.

This is one of my snake vivs made using standard Walnut veneered 15mm MDF, I mitre all the corners and use waterproof adhesive, no screws or other fixings at all...


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## Kaouthia (Sep 30, 2010)

Looks like the veneered MDF is gonna be the way for me to go, thanks for the info. Now I just have to work out how many 8x4 sheets I need. 

As far as the floor, I was going to line it with lino, with it wrapping 4 inches up the walls (sealed on the edges and corners with aquarium silicone) as a sort of permanently fixed basin in the bottom to hold any poop or water bowl spillage - plus the 6ft cages will hopefully house gravid female boas eventually, which ultimately gets quite wet and messy when the time comes.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

> As far as the floor, I was going to line it with lino


Yes that would work just as well, as long as it's sealed so that no standing water can seep into the wood.

I built a dartfrog viv using MDF and tanked out the bottom with fibreglass, it had several inches of water standing in the bottom all the time, the rest was sealed with epoxy resin as it was an extremely humid environment. 

For a snake viv though the floor varnish is adequate for the walls, the water based stuff has vitually no odour or toxic fumes, you only need to leave it for a couple of days in a warm place, or with the heater on and doors open, then it's ready for use.


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