- Beardie name(s)
- Kepler
Kepler's mansion has been in progress for several weeks now - the back wall of the enclosure will all be filled with custom backgrounds. Since the tank is (assuming my math is correct) 160 gallons, there is plenty of area that needs to be covered with these backgrounds.
I've just sealed + stained the entire inside of the enclosure, and I'll be caulking all of the cracks tonight. My next step will be permanently installing the XPS boards that I've been building over the last week, then spraying foam in, and then grouting. My main concern right now is that the XPS board that I'm using is fairly shiny and smooth. I'm worried that the grout won't even stick to the boards that I've made, leaving bare spots or very thin areas. I'm curious if anyone knows of some methods to make the grout stick to the boards more effectively? My only idea thus far has been to use a low grit power sander to roughen up the surface of the boards, but I don't know if that will be enough. Any help or ideas are welcome!!!
P.S. It's still a work in progress, not everything in the pictures will make sense - just to give a glimpse of the vision: the ramp looking thing that Kepler is chilling on will form a boulder that encloses 1 gigantic hide that is separated in the middle to form 2 hides (there are horizontal blue lines on the right side that show where the 2nd level will be) - the lil guy has his own duplex in his mansion. The ledge will be sealed off, it's not a tunnel, and there's much more coming for the rest of the tank. Feel free to point out any oversights or dangers that you might find!!!! Thank you in advance!
I've just sealed + stained the entire inside of the enclosure, and I'll be caulking all of the cracks tonight. My next step will be permanently installing the XPS boards that I've been building over the last week, then spraying foam in, and then grouting. My main concern right now is that the XPS board that I'm using is fairly shiny and smooth. I'm worried that the grout won't even stick to the boards that I've made, leaving bare spots or very thin areas. I'm curious if anyone knows of some methods to make the grout stick to the boards more effectively? My only idea thus far has been to use a low grit power sander to roughen up the surface of the boards, but I don't know if that will be enough. Any help or ideas are welcome!!!
P.S. It's still a work in progress, not everything in the pictures will make sense - just to give a glimpse of the vision: the ramp looking thing that Kepler is chilling on will form a boulder that encloses 1 gigantic hide that is separated in the middle to form 2 hides (there are horizontal blue lines on the right side that show where the 2nd level will be) - the lil guy has his own duplex in his mansion. The ledge will be sealed off, it's not a tunnel, and there's much more coming for the rest of the tank. Feel free to point out any oversights or dangers that you might find!!!! Thank you in advance!