Hi guys, my snake room is in need of new flooring, and I know nothing about remodeling or things like that.
So, I thought I’d say what I’m thinking, and see what people think about it.
1st, it’s about a 450 SQFT room, right now it’s got carpet (eww, gross!) so it’s got to go.
The option that calls to me, is just ripping it up, and having someone come out and smooth the concrete, and maybe stain it.
But, are animals able to be around any chemicals, or will they have to be moved out…?
If so, suggestions on the least stressful ways to go about that?
The snake room is part of the home, so moving snakes out isn’t a huge deal, the living room will just be full of racks for 48 hours I guess. lol
Ideally though, I’d like to just clear off half the room, let the floor be treated and dry, move everything to that side, and finish out the room…
What do people think? Is this probably the easiest way to go? Any problems going with this option that maybe I’m not thinking of?
Recently I removed the carpeting in my reptile room and put down OSB and vinyl flooring. I like the OSB with airflow because of the high humidity in that room. I also repainted with Killz Mold & Mildew (the expensive one) to help protect the drywall and used pvc baseboards. Its a lot messier now though (I got two more racks since this picture hahahaha). I agree with @toadhall, I think the cement might be rough on both you and anything you drop. The flooring was pretty easy, just a little bit of elbow grease and patience.
They hung out in the living room. I waited for like a day and a half while I let the room air out until I couldn’t smell the paint before I moved them back in.
If you do decide to stain your concrete, I believe that has a much longer curing time and its likely the reptiles will need to be out of the room for longer. At least I remember when we stained our garage floor as a kid (like 25 years ago), we couldn’t go in there for a few days because its pretty potent and likely depends on the brand you use.
Btw if you decide to go with smooth stained concrete you with probably slip if the smooth concrete gets wet. Concrete slabs are usually smoothed out when they are drying. It’s part of the “finishing” process. The homes we work in are super slick if it rains and the floors get wet. You will want some sort of textured floor finish if you stay with concrete. Just a thought.
My room I’m doing right now, I’ll be doing epoxy. If you were to do the same, you’d need to also chemically etch the concrete to get the epoxy to grab. Advantages to epoxy are it’s just short of bullet proof when your done. Moisture isn’t a concern at all. However it’s prep and cure time is rough, no way could you leave animals in there, you’d actually need to seal the room off from the rest of the house and vent it out a window or something. As others said, it can be rough on the feet and joints as you will still be walking on concrete. Good shoes or sandals can fix that tho.
Vinyl and other similar material shouldn’t be effected by moisture, but you’ll be at the mercy of how flat your floor is, concrete in general tends not to be very flat unless is was finished to be. So you might have some leveling prep work to do. Besides that, it’s a vapor barrier and a easy install. Could do it a section at a time, might be your best option given your situation.
Stay away from peal and stick type flooring, it will let moisture through at the seams. It’s just for looks, not protection. You want the stuff that locks together.
Laminate never lasts, I’d avoid it as well.
Over concrete, tile is another option. Don’t need cement board then lol. Probably not the cheapest option and pretty labor intensive. Could do in sections and it looks pretty.
