So I decided to put some cork flooring for Rocco, seems to be working pretty well. Its not fully cork like a cork board its more of a floor thats used by humans lol my dad had some brand new floor pieces in the basement and we decided to cut up a piece. Looks like this http://www.corkfloor.com/images/FF2edges72.jpg. It has cork at the bottom, some really hard cardboard in the middle and the top part is like a hard floor but its not completely HARD. If you put ur nails in it the shape would stay there for a bit. Temperature seems to be doing fine about 92*F and he seems to like it. The one thing I'd be concerned about is the chemicals in the floor? anyone know if its safe for him? Ive read on here that some people use vinyl or tiles, dont those have chemicals in em too?
Cork floor?
- Thread starter jrcb07
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From skimming the manufactures website I’d guess it’s safe since the site says "All pigments, varnishes and adhesives that Globus Cork uses in producing its tiles are water-based, solvent-free and have no VOCs.", but you might want to test it. I'd put it under a heat lamp or something and let it heat up, then sniff it and see if it smells like chemicals. If it does it might leach chemicals into the tank over a period of time. Just be sure you don’t light the flooring on fire. Parents generally frown on that.
Dog Shrink
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... something about cork, and it is stated on the site you linked to, is it's an insulator, which means it's going to be harder to get heat thru the board to heat the other side, where as using a more conductive surface like plastics/vinyl is going to transfer heat more efficiently/effectively.
Another thing that would concern me is the higher chemical content in making these tiles. All the adhesives and binders used to make it a processed hard "wood" type flooring, it's not like using a natural piece of cork milled and processed in it's natural form. I'm pretty sure most of the chemicals used in the process of making those composite baords have a high heat rating since some are touted as "useable with in/under floor heating" elements which can heat over 100*F. I'd like to know what kind of heat rating this product had (the point at which it starts to melt/burn/etc. that's when you're gonna have off gasses) I'd want to know before using them.
Another thing that would concern me is the higher chemical content in making these tiles. All the adhesives and binders used to make it a processed hard "wood" type flooring, it's not like using a natural piece of cork milled and processed in it's natural form. I'm pretty sure most of the chemicals used in the process of making those composite baords have a high heat rating since some are touted as "useable with in/under floor heating" elements which can heat over 100*F. I'd like to know what kind of heat rating this product had (the point at which it starts to melt/burn/etc. that's when you're gonna have off gasses) I'd want to know before using them.
Dog Shrink
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You're not always going to be able to detect the scent of off gasses the way a herp could. They have more sensitive sense of smell and could likely pick it up even if you can't. Obviously the test could help in the case you could smell something but... even beyond what it's made from being harmful (or potentially) I think it's too smooth as well. A surface should have some degree of texture for footing or young/juvie leos can develop issues like splayed legs.
dang thats some pretty good points there..it was kind of hard to get some heat..took about 2 hours for it to heat up. so I was thinking, since is has worked for you Dog Shrink, maybe I should just go to Home Depot and buy 3 pieces of vinyl or is tile better? If I use vinyl i wont be able to take it off because it sticks right? what kind of tiles should i get?
Dog Shrink
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You can take the tiles off if you heat them up with a blow dryer for about 20 minutes or bake then under a heatlamp. Just warm them up to about 110 degrees and it should be easy to remove them. get high end ones that would crack rather than flex when you bend them. $2+ and over range is a good place to start.
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