Share thisFinishes in a vivarium play a very important role in creating a stable environment and protecting the health of the animals contained there. Finishes help prevent vermin infestation, keep surfaces free of contaminants, and provide a durable layer to protect building materials from everyday wear and tear
Before finishes are selected and detailed, certain issues need to be understood by the design team. How will the spaces be cleaned? What kind of rolling traffic (i.e. racks, carts), if any, will the spaces be subjected to? Will the animals be in contact with any of the finishes? Will access to valves and other building system components, located above the ceiling, be permitted from the spaces? Questions like these need to be asked early in the design process because they will drive much of the decision making.
Easily cleanable floors that can stand up to high traffic from rolling carts and racks are typically hard surfaces that appear continuous, covering large areas with as few joints as possible. The flooring must have enough grit to provide slip resistance and yet be smooth enough to clean easily. Two types of flooring used in these areas are epoxy resin and MMA (methyl methacrylate). Both systems have an integral cove base, so there is no joint where the floor meets the wall. Epoxy resin has been around much longer than MMA and is more widely used – although MMA is gaining in popularity. Epoxy resin can be easily applied to both floors and walls. MMA is difficult to install on vertical surfaces, but is an excellent choice for floor applications because it chemically binds itself to the concrete slab, preventing delamination, and it is extremely chemically resistant and durable. With qualified installers MMA is also fast to apply, curing in about two hours.
Areas that have less stringent cleaning requirements and not as much rolling traffic may be able to use a seamless sheet vinyl system made up of large sheets of chemically resistant vinyl with the seams heat welded together. This system includes an integral base and is often used in labs. VCT (vinyl composition tile) should only be used in areas where cleanability is not a major concern. VCT does not have an integral base, has gaps between each of the tiles, and must be waxed regularly.
Walls in a vivarium can either be constructed of gypsum board over metal stud framing, or concrete masonry units (CMU). The recommended finish for both types of construction is a high-build epoxy paint system with a urethane top coat to prevent yellowing. This is a very tough, hard coating that is highly resistant to chemicals, cleaning agents, and disinfectants, while still being vapor permeable. With a semi-gloss to gloss finish, this system creates a very smooth surface that is easily wiped down.
Both gypsum board walls and CMU walls typically have guard rails to protect the paint coating, but gypsum board walls must be designed to be stiff enough so they do not flex when a cart or rack hits the guard rail. The epoxy paint coating will crack if the surface that it is applied to flexes.
CMU walls are very rigid, but they do not have a smooth surface like gypsum board walls. Even with the application of two coats of block filler, a cementitious coating used to smooth out the CMU surface, it is still possible to get pin hole sized gaps in the epoxy paint due to the irregularities of the block. There are companies that manufacture CMU specifically intended for the application of epoxy paint, with a face that is much denser and smoother than standard CMU. This greatly reduces the opportunity for pin holes.