High impact flooring

[waterbug]

At work I've noticed a few people buy high impact flooring and thought it might be a good flooring material for the mews. Here's a link so you know what im talking about. It comes in "puzzle pieces" so you can buy as many sets as you need to keep expanding your area.
www.sweatbandfitness.co.uk/shop/detail.asp?productGroupID=13099
It seems easy to clean etc but mostly I was wondering how it would affect talons.

[WildEd]

I use it in my mew and it works fine. I have the kind that goes in stables. I freeloft Joe(A Harris Hawk) and his talons are razor sharp. However, I rarely see him on the floor.

[crbhawking]

I use it to

[waterbug]

Ed- thats what I was thinking, when I freelofted Alki he was almost never on the floor so the possible dulling qualities of the material weren't important.
Well I'm glad people already use it. I will probably use it next time around.

[stormcloud96]

I looked at similar stuff they sold at Sam's club for garages. and considered using it, but I guess I'm not allowed cause Susan probably has never seen it in her life, and wouldn't approve.

[kurt]

I've used it for three years, my son's using my old stuff now,(forth year). Stuff lasts forever, he should get at least two more years out of it. With a teathered bird you may only get a couple years but for the price I don't think you can beat it. Kurt

[Joby]

I've used it for a few years now in my mews, which is in my garage and thus has a concrete floor. I cover one layer of the foam blocks with two additional layers of carpet padding and it doesn't matter if the bird lands on the floor as the padding doesn't dull their talons.
-Joe

[chrismt89]

does it absorb and hold water though? it looks like some sort of foam to me from the stuff ive seen around here are there different kinds?

[miket307]

No it doesn't hold water at least the stuff I have seen and use. I hose it off every few days and can't tell that the water damages it at all. I got mine from Lowe's in the flooring department.


I couldn't find the pads at the lowe's website but they were in the store.

[waterbug]

Everything I've seen online and in the store is labelled as waterproof.

[nieko]

Would there be a problem with water getteng trapped ender the concreate and molding etc.?

[Isa]

I'm looking for a flooring solution in my mews that's a bit easier to move than pea-gravel, since I rent, and this stuff came to mind. With something like this as flooring, what would you do for drainage? Is it something that should have holes drilled through it?

[justice]

Here's an idea......a framework with a screen on it that you can place inside the floor of the mews that holds the pea gravel like a sand sifter that you see when people are trying to look for treasure on the ocean floor or an archeological dig site. Know what I'm getting at ? The ones they use are a small 2X2 size with a screen on it...they scoop excavated dirt into it...rock it back and forth...and the sand or dirt goes through it and the "treasure" remains behind.

Same principal for your application...however...you would use screen small enough to RETAIN the pea gravel and let the slices, mutes or pellets be rinsed through to the ground beneath your mews.

Picture it this way....you have the floor of the mews...and sitting snugly inside the floor of the mews is a rigid 4X4 or 2X4 framing...that has fine enough screen to hold the pea gravel and prevent it from slipping through.

You could use anything really....2 inch PVC would work just as well if you didn't want to use pressure treated wood. Another consideration would be to use something like 1/4 inch hardware cloth to make a rigid support screen and lay landscaping fabric over the hardware cloth to act as the pea gravel screen !

The pea gravel could be rinsed off with a garden hose if you want to clean out the mews....AND when it comes time for you to move...you could scoop out the pea gravel into 5 gallon buckets (cleaning and rinsing as you go of course) and you can take your pea gravel with you to your new location when/if you decide to move !

If I'm not explaining this clearly Isa....let me know and I can draw up a little schematic and send it to you. I can see it clearly in my head but as is the case sometimes...some things are lost in translation ! lol

[Isa]

Thanks, Justice. I think I have a pretty good idea of what you're getting at with the frame work and the filter system. I planned on putting mesh down as an anti-critter barrier already, but the finer mesh is a really good idea. Thanks!