MDF for tortoise table

[LincsBren]

Pros and cons?

I'm looking to build a 4' x 2' table. I've found that B&Q sell sheets of 1" thick MDF board, 4' x 8' for just £25 (and will cut it to size for free, bonus!)

My thinking is I could a little larger with the table (no point in waste!) - by my reckoning, that one sheet would do a 4' x 3' base, and 15" high sides. I'd then have to think about sealants / waterprood liners for the base - any suggestions?

What about to generally 'prettify' the MDF in a tort friendly way? I'm tempted to paint it - the torts will be living in our garden room, which is very light and airy, and painted cream and terracotta and with mediterranean plants in, so they should feel right at home so I'm thinking it would be nice to paint the outside terracotta or a nice vibrant blue, but would this be safe? If only the outside, the torts shouldn't get to it.

Do I need to paint the inside with something to prevent moisture soaking into the MDF?

Many thanks.

[michael5370]

Hi, yeah mdf would need sealing or eventually would start to swell. Just a thought, argos sell a lovely wooden sand pit with ground cover and wood already treated, cut and slots together. £25 half price.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...3ESAND+PIT.htm

[Alan1]

In B&Q they sell packs of flooring for about £13.99. They are 2100mm long which is about 6ft 10 in old money so basically you can make a roughly 1200 x 900 (almost 4ft x 3ft) rectangle with just 4 boards (that's two boards high giving a height of 9.5 inches). Then a 1200 x 900 sheet of thin plywood does the base

they don't have it in packs online but in store they have it in packs of 5 (in B&Q Warehouse at Edinburgh they do anyway). This is what it is http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.js...isSearch=false tongue and groove spruce

if you use MDF for a base you can cover it with vinyl. It's a good idea to do that anyway, I have vinyl on mine as continuous damp on any wood will cause black mould. I got a vinyl remnant from a carpet store for £10 and it did two tables, it was big enough that it would have done a small room.

If you wanted to make it one row higher you'd need to buy one more single board, they sell single ones as shown in the link

I have one that's MDF and one that's plywood and both are fine with the vinyl on them. if the water dish is placed on a slate instead of on top of the soil it helps too. I use 12 inch square slate floor tiles and water dish and food dish both fit on it

[LincsBren]

Michael, great idea and I love the sandpit, but it's just a bit too big for inside. It needs to be able to sit safely on top of the units - if I didn't have other pets, I'd have the sandpit on the floor, but with dogs and cats I want to protect them as much as possble (I'll also be making a tough wire-mesh lid on inside and outside enclosures).

Caledonia, great idea on the vinyl, thank you! I'd thought about flooring but I was worried about getting gaps where the planks meet the base - have you found that to be a problem?

[kreacher]

Kreacher's old table was made of mdf and we didn't have any trouble with it...I painted it and then varnished over the top to seal it so it didn't soak in any water and her claws couldn't rip it to pieces

[Alan1]

There is also stuff called HDF (High Density Fibreboard as opposed to MediumDF) and it's used for damp areas like bathrooms. Bath panels are made from it and the likes of doors for bathroom cupboards. I can't say I've ever seen it to buy in B&Q though. It is an absolute nightmare to cut with a handsaw, harder than any hardwood I've ever worked with