Contruction help - drainage related

[Olimpia]

I'm building drainage tables for my chameleon cages, so I can set them up well in the move next week. But I have a question.

I'm building a table with raised sides, big enough for two 2x2 cages. Then there is a "grill" of wood bars that hold the cages raised above the bottom of the table, so the water falls down.

But we wanted to use something to create a slope towards the middle drainage hole so water doesn't pool in the corners. We were given sand mix at home depot, but I don't think it's really what we want. Obviously we want something waterproof (the wooden tables are already sealed with several layers of sealant) but what should we use?

The people are home depot, lowes, and sherwin williams are completely lost! Hopefully you guys have better ideas than cement. I can post an illustration of the tables if someone needs them to give me better help.

Thank you!

 

[reptoman]

I'm building drainage tables for my chameleon cages, so I can set them up well in the move next week. But I have a question.

I'm building a table with raised sides, big enough for two 2x2 cages. Then there is a "grill" of wood bars that hold the cages raised above the bottom of the table, so the water falls down.

But we wanted to use something to create a slope towards the middle drainage hole so water doesn't pool in the corners. We were given sand mix at home depot, but I don't think it's really what we want. Obviously we want something waterproof (the wooden tables are already sealed with several layers of sealant) but what should we use?

The people are home depot, lowes, and sherwin williams are completely lost! Hopefully you guys have better ideas than cement. I can post an illustration of the tables if someone needs them to give me better help.

Thank you!

Not sure if this is what you mean but when I built my 5'x5' shower walk in shower floor, I used a PVC liner from lowes on top of thinset mortor and then used 1" tile squares on top of that for the floor. If you can get the slope to the drain with some sandmix or thinset underneath, lay out the PVC liner ontop, cut to size like you would when laying fabric out in a drawer liner and glue the corners together with PVC cement. It is pretty thick rubbery stuff and will seal with PVC cement.
Pics of the tables would help.

 

[reptoman]

Now that I thnk about it, you dont really need to create the slope with thinset or sandmix. If these are square tables, you could cut 1/4" plywood in 4 triangles and lay them in with a 1" wood trim around the edge of the table. with a drain hole cut in the middle. Then you could just line the entire table with the PVC liner once the slope is established.
To get the right size for the 4 triangles, just cut a square slightly smaller (1/8") than the inside dimension of the table and cut from corner to corner. mark the size of the drain hole with a sharpy and cut that out before putting them ontop of the 1" trim all the way around the inside perimeter of the table. The PVC is thick enough to cover the small seams the will be between the triangles. This should give you a 1" slope to the center and a water proof surface.

 

[Olimpia]

This is the rough design. It has a "grill" of removable bars to keep the cages above the water, the bottom of the cage ventilated, and to keep them level with the raised edges, so I can still open the bottom of the cage.

I think perhaps we will use the remaining scraps of wood to do something instead, something similar to what you suggested. The PVC liner is an excellent idea, I think we'll look into that tomorrow. I need both tables finished by my move on Friday, so waiting for sandmix to cure was not really fitting in well with the schedule. This seems like a great alternative idea.

Thank you!

 

[summoner12]

if you use a flexible material and weight it down water will flow to the center....

 

[SliK JiM]

Old trick but looks good: get yourself a piece of plexiglass that'll cover the base, then using a heat gun (a hairdryer works if it's thin plexiglass!) heat the middle until it sags enough so that the water drains down into the middle. It doesn't need to be much of a sag for it to work! Then fix it down and trim the edges!

The other option which is easier, is to just use pond liner! Pull the middle through your drainage hole, then fix the top/edges in place using a staple gun around the edge where the slats are being fixed and finally cut an opening in the middle bit you pulled through. It won't look particularly amazing, but if you cut the liner after pulling I through the hole you'll have a very good outflow to put a bucket under instead of it just dripping everywhere!

 

[Vegas Chad]

Our cages are set up with a 2” PVC pipe run along the back of the racks, this allows the water to drain forward and into a gutter which then drains outside.