# Fake wall question..



## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

I made a fake wall for my beardie and used a low odour varnish but it took weeks with the light on (in an empty viv) for the smell to go.
I'm making one for the collared but have no spare viv to put it in to air it. Is there any varnish that is totally odour free that i can use to put straight into the viv or would it be ok to grout the polystyrene, pva it and sprinkle sand onto it? would it be strong enough without varnish to harden it?


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## DeanThorpe (Apr 9, 2006)

as far a si know...nothing is ok to put straight in after varnishing.

but grouting the polysterine, pva and sand would be fine, i expect a few hours/half a day drying time though...

Can you make it so the fake wall can be slippled in place once dry and then maybe..pegged into place? liek a very basic rabbit hutch door?


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

I always used varnish and have had a background drying out for weeks/months and it was only ready for the second coat of varnish the other day,

After buying some reps and equip from steve at the living rainforest,And him saying his mate uses pva i tried it for the first time,And i wont be going back to varnish unless i am doing something where time isnt a issue,

Go pva its brill to use and rock solid as long as you grout as usual underneath: victory:.

And its suprising how little it uses compared to the varnish.


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

Ay-up Meko! Just spotted the thread, and thought I'd put a 2p into it!

I bought polystyrene sheet from Wickes and grout & tile adhesive (all-in-one premixed) from B&Q. Using a little white spirit, "painted" lines onto the polystyrene which causing it you melt and form pits. I left that to air in the porch for a few days, then grouted the whole "rockface", finishing off by pushing sand into the wet grout. When I do it again, I'm going to reinforce the back of the sheet because once it's done, it's heavy and I nearly split it in half (was 2ft square).

Cut the polystyrene with a very sharp (maybe even hot?) knife to get a flat edge, you don't really want rough edges as the poly balls will come off and get everywhere. Though you can sieve your substrate to clean that up!

It's not as impressive as the rock walls built using layers of broken polystyrene grouted together but, it does give the lizards extra places to climb! Watch your basking lamp though, the might want to jump onto it!


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

cheers people, i just needed confirmation the pva and sand would be ok so i'll just do that.


ViRMiN, it's just a basic one as he's just got the back wall to climb and always tries to climb the bare walls. The basking light is on one side wall so i'm going to leave that one bare. Luckily i measured the door to make sure i'll be able to get it in when it's finished.


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

Mine try to climb the bare walls too; I will do all three walls sometime. I bought them a live plant yesterday, which so far, is coping with the pair of them quite well! Another favourite of theirs is to run up the wall and climb onto the UV reflector, or sit on the top of the fake wall. I'll probably let them out for a bit today...


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## KXC (Sep 30, 2007)

Meko said:


> I made a fake wall for my beardie and used a low odour varnish but it took weeks with the light on (in an empty viv) for the smell to go.
> I'm making one for the collared but have no spare viv to put it in to air it. Is there any varnish that is totally odour free that i can use to put straight into the viv or would it be ok to grout the polystyrene, pva it and sprinkle sand onto it? would it be strong enough without varnish to harden it?


I'm toying with the idea of making a wall like this some time in the future. Isn't it possible to make the wall to size outside the viv and place in position once 100% dry and fume free? (probably in sections to fit through the viv doors) The only thing that puzzles me would be how to secure the wall if its made this way.


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## This is my Clone (Jul 8, 2007)

When I made a fake wall, I backed it with wood. That way I could attach it to the back with screws. Any bits of wood that were visable through the wall got a coat of grout etc...


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

If your making it to size just grout and sand the back aswell just incase any small crixs get behing it,(if you dont they will chew away at the back,

Also why not make the background with 1 side also attached and make the other side seperate ?,

If you think a 2ftx2ft peice is heavy try my latest 1 which is (4x2ft) with 1 side on it attached (2ftx18 inch)and because of the way it is all i have to do is sit it in place,get someone to hold the front while i drill a couple of small holes through the back of viv into the background,And place a couple of dowels through and bobs your uncle ????? your aunt jobs a good en,

Will post a piccie tomorrow of the very very nearly finished background: victory:.


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

It's heavy in the sense that the weakened polystyrene is likely to snap if only lifted at the edges. Look forward to the pics!


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

KXC said:


> Isn't it possible to make the wall to size outside the viv and place in position once 100% dry and fume free? (probably in sections to fit through the viv doors) The only thing that puzzles me would be how to secure the wall if its made this way.


It 'is' possible but being fume free in a normal household environment and being fume free in a confined and hot viv are totally different. 
When i did the fake wall for the beardie it all seemed fine, then i fitted it into the new viv, shut the doors and turned the lights on. The increased heat and small area brought more fumes out so i had to leave it a few weeks with the lights on to burn the smell out.


When this one goes in it's going in 2 sections, they'll meet at one of the corners where i'll stick a brick or something to hold it in place. Then i'll add couple of inches of sand for substrate and that should hold it as well. Might even go Blue Peter and use double sided sticky tape to hold it to the wall.


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

I've tried sticking the fake walls to the real wall using sticky pads designed for outdoor use and high-temperatures but, my collared's still managed to prise them apart! Heheh! They like to climb down the back and even sit on the top in the gap.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

good point.. i did catch him yesterday hanging down the back resting his elbows on the top with his head popping over the the edge.


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

That's exactly what mine get upto! It's warmer up there as heat rises!


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

back to the drawing board for me i think... the basic wall is tiny and looks naff... he'd rather try and climb up a 6inch ledge and climb the window.


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

Heres a pic as promised (4ftx2ft backwall),(sidewall 2ftx18inches)all built in one straight peice,
2 layers of grout with a coat of varnish and sand,(takes that long to dry so) final 2 layers of sand are pva glued.much much quicker and not as messy and also i dont mind washing the brush afterwards,with the varnish option i always throw the brushes away :lol2:.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

looks the nuts. i need to do something proper like that for mine but its a nightmare when you're trying to put something in a viv the little critter is living in


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

Very nice! Well done!


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

Thanks guys,If you get your background and cut to size and put in the viv to check,
them remove it and cut your peices to shape and place on the background and mess about until you get the look and shapes you want,
Then just marker pen round them and then start 1 by 1 to fix onto the background you end up with the look excatly how you want it,

That peice is very nearly finished,ie(just a couple of little touchups tomorrow and a few days to let the pva dry)and hopefully time permitting it will be going in the viv this weekend,(If not next weekend at the latest).

This is the first time i have used pva and i must admit i do prefer it to varnish and i will continue to use the pva method from now on,

Heres a cool hide also going in the same viv but i have only got the grout on it so far,


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

The hide's pretty cool! The viv I've got has a lip of about 4" at the bottom so would be a bit of a PITA to squeeze in a full-height background; especially as there's block inside screwing the panels together. To be honest, I think my two would be a bit narked if they couldn't get behind the fake wall; they like the extra dimension that it gives, and each time I try to sort it out, they un-sort it! Hey-ho, as long as they're happy, I'm happy! Keep up the good work, looking very good so far! I'm sure Meko'll agree too!


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

this is the start of the wall i did for my beardie.










what i did was stick 2 one inch thick pieces of polysyrene together, cut the ledges to size and then drew round them on the polystyrene. Then i cut the top layer of the poly out and slotted the ledge in to it so it slotted together.
Then i stuck cocktail sticks through the back piece for a bit of extra support.


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

:lol2:that post was quick,

I know what you mean about them re-arrange'ing it to there tastes.

I aint looking forward to telling them i am seriously thinking of a winter project of a 8ftx5ftx4ft viv all fakewalled in the shed for them :lol2:.

1 male with a harem of females :mf_dribble:.


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

Dont remind me i have i to do 1 for the beardies :lol2:,looking good there : victory:,
looks like you have signed it in expanding foam :lol2:now that would be wicked,

Thats the only problem with beardies you gotta think of there size and weight so you cant do as much as with smaller lizards.


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

Lookin' good that Meko! One day soon, I'm gonna have to get back into sorting out my walls! Still got a big sheet of polystyrene stood vertically behind the couch! I think my visitors know better than to ask what it's for; they already think I'm weird/mad for having one rep never mind ten! :grin1:


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

it works fine with a beardie on it, it's got a few coats of grout on it, followed by varnish followed by pva and sand followed by more varnish.










i hate the expanding foam though. Prefer to just splodge lumps of grout on it to give it a rocky appearance.


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

After seeing that background i remember seeing it somewhere recently,could it have been pic of the month competition ? 

It seems huge,what size is it ?.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

he is in the post of the month hanging off the ledge by 1 foot.

It's a 5 foot long viv but i think the poly is only 18 inches high.


this was the POTM pic


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

Strange effect, looks kinds of rusty and brassy at the same time...


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

yeah its B&Q oak low odour varnish but the expanding foam didn't take it as well as the grouted poly and i didn't think it'd be so dark.


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## karma (Jul 12, 2007)

ViRMiN said:


> Strange effect, looks kinds of rusty and brassy at the same time...


pink wouldnt of suited a male :lol2:.
I know the beardie doesnt look that big but i thought it look bigger than a 4footer,(the tank that is): victory:.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

well you were right.. although he's been down graded form a 6x2x2 to a 5x2xnearly 2


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

Lucky BD! How come you've lost a foot then?

When I said it was a weird effect, it was in a positive way. I don't think you could plan to get a finish like that! I did wonder how you'd done that POTM photo!


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

car accident :lol2:

here goes a story for you:
Back in January i had an idea that i wanted a bearded dragon even though i had no idea what they were so i started looking at forums and asking for advice. I needed to build it into a unit in the bedroom as i had no room and asked if one would be ok being high up. Somebody got the wrong end of the question and said that high up would be more suited to a water dragon thinking i meant an aboreal viv. Off i went to B&Q to get the stuff to build a viv / tv unit and then decided against it (couldn't get all the wood due to the size of the car). 
The wood i had was big enough for a 6*2*2 with some left over so i did one that size for the bedroom. Then i got a gecko which i kept in a fishtank in the lounge and decided to turn the spare room into a rep room. Room wasn't wide enough to build a 6*6 frame so i had to go for a 5*6*2

just spotted the dragon asleep.. feckin weirdo


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## ViRMiN (Aug 6, 2007)

My collared's sleep like that but hanging the other way; i.e. from *behind* the background overlooking the rest of the viv!


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