Concrete Slabs

[James]

Hey All

For the people who have their aviaries on a slab, roughly how thick did you make it.
I would think 50mm would be sufficent, but am interested to hear what has been done before
Also what did you use to mouse proof the slab
Cheers

[GregH]

This question is really like how long is a piece of string? A 10mm slab would be mouse proof until your foot went through it. A50 mm slab would be fine if it's not supporting too much weight and you're not on dry sand. I have two aviaries on 60-80 mm slabs but the aviaries are bolted to the wall and they are on a nonreactive clay under the house eave and after two years nothing has happened. My aviaries are snake and mouse proof because I used 6mm or smaller mesh and made sure that all gaps were <6mm too. I get a few geckoes in there but otherwise no potential preditors/disruptors of the peace are able to get in. If the slab has to support the weight of the aviary don't forget that if you bolt it to the slab it carries not just the weight of the aviary but any wind resistance and if you're get high winds you definitely need a substantial slab and a substantial bolts.

[gomer]

I would have it atleast 50mm.The thicker it is the stronger it is,And will have less chance of cracking.For larger aviarys or areas you will also need rio.For walkways 75 mm is needed.

[bleeding green]

I would htink that for a slabbigger then about 1.5m X 1m you would need a minimum 75mm slab with reo. Minimum ground movement and a 50mm slab will crack like a wafer biscuit.
If your concrete slab it solid ie: not cracks, no mice will get through it.

[gouldianpaul]

The slab I will be laying for my new avairy will be 100-120ml with reinforcing. Might sound over the top, but I want to ensure my avairies are strong enough to cope with any strong wind gusts...all togher the footprint of my avairies is about 20sqm...so the extra cost to go from 70ml to 100ml is less than $100 of extra concrete.

[gomer]

At a 100mm with reo if you ever need the space you will be able to park your car in the aviary

[James]

Thanks for the replies
I did not think of the wind factor
Will go with 100mm I think due to its size

[bargara]

Save yourself a lot of money and put about 4 inches of gravel from the gardening supply instead of cement. . I find it is far better than concrete. My reason being that concrete in the tropics has a bad habit of getting all sorts of growths that eventually prove disasterous to finches or any birds for that matter. The gravel will dry the pooh up preventing disease. My own special way of cleaning the aviaries at my place is to wet it down and walk in with a pare of good old Queensland thongs. (the ones that go on your feet! : ) Scrub the gravel by rubbing it over the gravel.

Hopes this helps.

Bargara

[jusdeb]

Am finding the gravel ( river pebbles )to be a lot cleaner than my concrete floor with sand over it , a good rake over once a week and good as new . It dries quick unlike the sand however my favourite and easiest to clean of all 3 of my aviaries is the suspended aviary ...just love how easy they are to maintain.

[JohnP]

For the record, my aviary has a concrete slab, unreinforced approximately 75mm thick. It has a footprint of 8m2. I find it very easy to clean as I place grass clippings (not from the lawn but from parks where it has been slashed approx 200mm long) over the slab with slightly thicker layers underneath popular perches and then when it comes to cleaning I simply remove the grass to waste and put fresh grass in. Before the fresh grass goes in I give a sweep and a wash down (the slab has a 10mm fall so it is self draining), works well for me