Building a rock wall!

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paulnattress

Guest
Hi folks!

I've been browsing around the forums admiring the rock walls that people have built for their vivariums and I've decided to build my own.

The basis for mine is a cheap corner shelf unit. I bought a banister railing (basically a 1.5" x 1.5" x 3 foot piece of wood) to cut up and use as supports for it.

The rest is built up using polystyrene from TV packaging and a thick cardboard tube that some carpet underlay was wrapped around.

First off, I built the corner unit:

View attachment 11203

Then, I built up the polystyrene to form the basic shape of the wall. I placed a piece of the cardboard tube at the bottom right:

View attachment 11204

I stuck it all together with some universal bonding solution (Unibond I think it was) but found that it wasn't all that stable to I added in some more support plus I cut a hole in the tubing so they can crawl through it:

View attachment 11205

Here it is from some other angles:

View attachment 11206

View attachment 11207

So we have a nice little cubby-hole in the bottom left corner, a little tube for them to lie in or crawl through and a couple of steps up to the main ramp which leads to the corner shelf.

The next stage is to cover the polystyrene with tile grout to keep it all stuck together and to provide a nicer surface to walk on. The setup is currently drying out so hopefully I'll be able to continue this later this week. I'll post more pics once I've done the next stage although I may try it out in the virarium for size first.
 
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Surf_420

Guest
very neat, i like that these forums have alot of "do it yourselfers".

what size tank is this going in? 55 gal
 
Baker14

Baker14

BAK3rr
Messages
1,297
Location
Florida
That looks very good and will turn out great. Ive made one myself, and they are very rewarding. Make sure you do about 3 layers of grout, If you want it to look very good, make sure the grout is liquidy, and not lumpy or hard. Also, you could use a paint brush to make it go smoothly.
 
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paulnattress

Guest
Thanks for all your comments! I'm going to round off the corners tonight and shape the polystyrene a bit more. I'll post pics once I'm done.

I got the corner shelf at B&Q (I'm British so it's a British store, the equivalent to Home Depot in the States). It cost around £3 ($6 or so).

I've read a bit about using grout and a few people recommend a few coats and I did buy a brush to use for it too. I hope it turns out ok!
 
Pookachu

Pookachu

I am the Chosen One
Messages
225
Location
Waldwick, NJ
Very cool looking and creative. Definitely way out of my league as far as building something like that myself.

Make a playstation game out it though and i'll take down any challenger =p

I'm looking forward to seeing the end results!
 
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paulnattress

Guest
I've just rounded off the corners of the polystyrene to make it look more natural. I'm hoping to put the first layer of grout on tomorrow. I'm hoping I don't mess it up!

View attachment 11241

Pookachu - I'm usually really terrible at practical DIY work like this but just have a go and see what happens. You may end up with a broken mess but it may work out too. So far, I've avoided the broken mess but there's still time! :)
 
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paulnattress

Guest
Surf_420 said:
what size tank is this going in? 55 gal
Click to expand...

No idea what the gallon size is but the tank is 4 foot wide by 18 inches deep by 24 inches tall. I measured the space where I wanted it to fit as I wanted the rock wall to go from the left corner to around 2 foot into the tank. I need to keep some space for the hides especially so as we're going to move 2 more geckos into this tank once they're big enough (there'll be 3 in total in there).
 
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paulnattress

Guest
I'm using normal tile grout. I've read the warnings too but I plan to cover it all in matt emulsion paint which is safe when dry. I did a bit of research and a lot of people state that the tile grout isn't toxic once dry. The warnings are there for when it's still wet as it can swell up in your (and your pets) stomach.

All of the websites I've read that show you how to build rock walls all recommend tile cement or tile grout and say it's safe.
 
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paulnattress

Guest
Sorry for the delay in updating this, I've been heavily distracted recently with other stuff.

Anyway, I've put the first layer of grout on and it looks great! I used a brush to apply it (tip: wash the grout off before it dries as it dries hard and is now waterproof!). I've used some fine sandpaper to smooth out and sharp edges. I've ran my hand around it many many times and I can't feel anything that could snag a gecko's skin.

View attachment 13739

I've applied the grout all over including on the underneath of the corner shelf part. I didn't apply the grout to the base or the back or the left side as I want these to sit flush against the wall of the vivarium and I didn't want the grout to stop there from being a fairly smooth join.

The next step is to add a little step onto the middle step as it's going to be a bit of a stretch for the leos to climb onto it. I'll then cover that in a bit more grout. I may also look into filling in the gap at the back of the tube so that crickets and mealies can't find their way around the back so easily. I'm quite happy with the finish at the moment but I've got half a tub of the grout left so I may put another coat on to give it a smoother, more natural feel to it. After I'm happy with that, I can paint it!

Here's a pic of the work in progress showing the technique used to apply the grout - which was basically slap it on thick with the brush!

View attachment 13740

Hopefully more pics to follow soon, I promise not to leave it so long this time :)
 
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paulnattress

Guest
Thanks for your comments, I'm really really enjoying building this. :)

I just need to add some extra support at the bottom of some of the bits that are sticking out (beneath the tube and the little step I put in at the front) as I added those on whilst the whole thing was on an uneven surface (whoops!) and they don't quite sit flush with the ground. Once that's done, I can start painting it and hopefully it will still look nice once I've done that!
 
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