Polycrylic taking forever to cure?

[Zelg]

Hey all....so I'm at my witt's end with this dang cage I built. I originally stained and finished with polyurethane and after like 6-8 months it still reeked. I went through a few boneheaded moments before I finally just bought a belt sander and sanded all of the inside walls, floor and ceiling and started over.

Most recently (4? weeks ago) I stained it with minwax cherry stain which is oil based I think. I then put on 3 coats of minwax water based clear satin polycrylic. Google searches had told me via forum posts that polycrylic cures to no smell within a few days up to two weeks. Well its been about a month now and it still smells like hell. I've tried a few days with a fan blowing on it with doors open....I've tried multiple days with a lamp on inside with the doors closed and yet I have not noticed any sort of decrease in the amount of fumes when the heat is on and doors closed. Heck, I can still smell the fumes when its just sitting there with the doors open. Of course not as strong as when the heat lamp is on and doors are closed but still...

I'm at a total loss as to what to do other than just sanding everything down and leaving it bare wood (I have acrylic sheets I'll be using to seal the floor with silicone.)

Has anyone else had this bad of an experience with polycrylic? Is it possible that what I'm smelling is the oil based stain below the polycrylic and I just need more top coats? Building this cage has ended up thus far being an enormous waste of time and money. I could have probably bought two cages by now. So frustrating.

Anyways, Hope someone can maybe point me in a good direction with this...

/venting

[phassin]

Sorry to hear the frustration ....Those forums may be talking about a polycrylic in an open environment not smelling. Like using it on a chair or table. Certainly the smell would last longer in a closed cage where there's little ventilation. If there's questions on whether it's safe, I'm sure you can post on wood working forums and ask. I would think people building cribs or baby furniture could probably tell you about whether it's toxic.

I didn't work with any stains but I painted mine with a latex paint. I know it's safe and all but I was nervous because even a month after applying it still stunk strong like paint. I hear it takes a while for the odor to go away, but it's still safe even so. Snakes have been living in there about a month and absolutely no issues.

Honestly since I finished my enclosures, I have stuck my head in a few times to investigate and all I can smell is bedding. I did, however add a few live plants cuz I hear they help clean the air and also help with humidity.

[pet_snake_78]

I have used polycryllic before and I would stick to a water based sealer myself (it is one). It certainly did not continue to smell for weeks in my case. You need to put on 4-5 coats to get a good seal and you need to let it try and do a very light sanding between coats. I put it on red oak and maple plywoods and it dried and cured fine. If you had something else on the wood first, it may prevent it from curing. Secondly, I did the entire boards and let them dry for two weeks before assembly.... if you assembled then coated, you probably need to start over. If you live in a very humid area, it may also take longer to dry and cure.

If you've had it with the product, you can also buy bar top epoxy for a smooth finish or drylock for a rough (I found much harder to clean) surface. It might be time to throw the wood out and start over honestly, plywood is pretty reasonable stuff. You could even do a tiny prototype cage for testing.

[Zelg]

Originally Posted by pet_snake_78

I have used polycryllic before and I would stick to a water based sealer myself (it is one). It certainly did not continue to smell for weeks in my case. You need to put on 4-5 coats to get a good seal and you need to let it try and do a very light sanding between coats. I put it on red oak and maple plywoods and it dried and cured fine. If you had something else on the wood first, it may prevent it from curing. Secondly, I did the entire boards and let them dry for two weeks before assembly.... if you assembled then coated, you probably need to start over. If you live in a very humid area, it may also take longer to dry and cure.

If you've had it with the product, you can also buy bar top epoxy for a smooth finish or drylock for a rough (I found much harder to clean) surface. It might be time to throw the wood out and start over honestly, plywood is pretty reasonable stuff. You could even do a tiny prototype cage for testing.

Hey thanks for the reply. As far as assembly, I left the pieces to dry and cure for about a week and a half and then put the cage together again. My humidity is probably around the 35-40%, so nothin crazy.

As far as starting over, I'm a stubbern s.o.b. and trying like hell to avoid doing that Though I think I'm willing to try one more thing until I do actually start over. I'm wondering if I put the bar top epoxy right over the polycrylic if that would be enough to lock everything in, fumes-wise. From what I gather and in my uneducated opinion, considering it is equal to "60 coats of varnish", that should be just fine. Thoughts on that? Of course if that doesnt work I'll just be starting over. At this point I'm less concerned about spending another 30 bucks on another product and more inclined to make what i have work....like i said, stubborn.

[Zelg]

aaaand I just realized that the bar top epoxy is $80 per gallon. Not sure where I got 30 bucks from lol. Hmm. Decisions decisions. Now I'm thinking it my be more practical to do more coats of polycrylic since I still have about half of my quart and see how that goes. I'm kind of hoping that 3 light coats of polycrylic was just not enough to block out the stain. I think I'll add more coats tomorrow and see if I get any improvements over the next week or so.